Costa Rica. The General Manager of Refrimundo referred to the trajectory of Refricon, an event held annually in Costa Rica and which reached its eighth edition in 2024.
Similarly, in an interview with ACR Latin America, Jara Villalobos shared his expectations for the future and the growth prospects he has for Refricon.
How did this initiative come about?
Alberto Jara Villalobos: Refricon began with the objective of bringing information to the Costa Rican market that was not easily obtained. From the beginning, we had a group of sponsors that over the years has been growing and that has allowed us to have a larger audience, to have more space for the participants, who do not have to pay absolutely anything, to have access to the Congress and learn about the new technologies that the manufacturers that sponsor us present during the event.
What is the purpose of the event?
A.J.V.: The purpose is to bring knowledge; We take care to bring specialists in different topics to give talks. They are not commercial, their forte is the enrichment of knowledge. They are speakers who collaborate with us with the technical talks, many of them without charging to present their presentation. This year, we have an audience of almost 300 people. The first Refrigeration was attended by 70 people and thanks, as I insist, to the manufacturers and companies that sponsor us, today we have an audience that is practically four times what we had in the first one.
What are Refricon's short-term expectations?
A.J.V.: The key to Refricon is the talks, the exhibitions. That is what generates the interest of the public and precisely, as the quality of the talks and the exhibitors we have has been growing, the number of people who want to participate has also increased. Painfully, more and more of us are leaving out for space reasons. So, one of the challenges we have is to continue raising the quality of the talks and exhibitors, while at the same time achieving more sponsorships from companies to have a greater opportunity for space and invite more people to participate.
Have you and your team considered increasing the duration of the event from one day to two?
A.J.V.: I think the event has to evolve; We can't stay the way we are. The same expectation has to make us think about new challenges and one of them has to be, definitely, to be able to have conditions to be able to accommodate more people and to be able to take more advantage of the effort made by sponsors and the technology they bring.
What does a media outlet like ACR Latin America bring to the event?
A.J.V.: I thank you very much because throughout the process, ACR Latin America has always been with us. And we need them to be there because the magazine has to be a vehicle for the important growth that we are going to have. Currently, we are the only congress in the country, there is no other congress like this in Costa Rica and, unfortunately, we see that it is not in the region either. I believe that we should reach more places with this experience and, without a doubt, ACR Latin America is a very important actor to be able to communicate this in the future.
How is the Costa Rican Association of Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Ventilation (ACRAVE) doing?
A.J.V.: The Chamber is already formally constituted, however, government issues in Costa Rica are extremely slow. So, the legal entity has not come out and we are hoping that it will happen soon because there are many people queuing to be able to register and be able to belong to the Chamber. We have two specific programs under this Board of Directors: the first is the issue of licensing and the second is the issue of training to provide knowledge through the Chamber. One of them is being formalized with NATE and others from entities such as the National Learning Institute and the University of Costa Rica, through one of the members of the Board of Directors. We have an excellent relationship with Fabio Clavijo; He has been a very important manager of this effort and we know that with his support we will be able to articulate an alliance with ACAIRE to be able to continue sharing knowledge.
