The world in Nuremberg

This year’s organization of the three highly international events – POWTECH, TechnoPharm and the World Congress on Particle Technology (WCPT6) – in parallel made the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg Europe’s top ­meeting-place for process technicians, process engineers, production managers and scientists for four days (Fig. 1). 680 exhibitors from 27 countries at POWTECH and 276 exhibitors from 13 countries at TechnoPharm presented their products and innovations (Fig. 2) to the over 16 490 visitors (2008: 15 117) from key industries like chemicals, pharmaceuticals and food. The leading exhibiting nations after Germany were Switzerland, Italy and Great Britain at POWTECH, and Switzerland, Italy and Austria at TechnoPharm. At WCPT6, some 800 par­ticipants from more than 30 countries discussed the latest findings from all areas of particle technology daily during the exhibition.

The mood in the halls at POWTECH and TechnoPharm 2010 was exceptionally good. The exhibitors at the exhibition duo also emphasized the visitors’ increasing willingness to invest. “The feedback from the exhibitors reflects the growing optimism that the time of budget freezes and restraint is past,” sums up Claus Rättich, Member of the Management Board of NürnbergMesse. “ After all, some 9  % more visitors than in 2008 came to source information, for example, about the latest innovations from the machinery and plant manufacturers. So Nuremberg also sends a distinctly positive signal for the relevant industries.” The results of a survey by an independent market research institute also indicate this trend: When asked about the present economic situation, 72  % of the POWTECH exhibitors and 61 % of the TechnoPharm exhibitors assume a slight to strong rising trend. The exhibitors’ estimates of follow-up business after the exhibitions are also in the high two-figure ranges. 84 % of the TechnoPharm exhibitors and 93 % of the POWTECH exhibitors expect noticeable follow-up business from the contacts and inquiries made during the events.

The two exhibitions in 2010 were also geared to innovative processes for process optimization and continuous improvement of safety standards in areas such as explosion protection. Protection against dust explosions and the presentation of new technologies for detecting and avoiding these risks have already been an integral part of the high-tech exhibitions for many years, but a lot of exhibitors attached particularly high priority to explosion protection this year. For example, they showed new ways of detecting and preventing the risk of spontaneous combustion of dusts in good time or minimizing the risk of electrostatic charging during the transportation of powders. In line with the vital im­portance of this issue, the pro­-gramme offered at POWTECH and TechnoPharm 2010 included special seminars, congresses, guided tours, live explosions and panel discussions.

The latest findings from all fields of particle technology were combined and discussed at the 4-day world congress WCPT6. Some 800 scientists from more than 30 countries came to Nuremberg for WCPT6 to source information and exchange views on 13 subjects ranging from “Particle Characterization” to “Food/Pharma/Life Science Applica­tions”. Production, properties and health aspects were dealt with in detail, also the use of the technologies in the development of new and optimized products. This combination of exhibition and congress will probably be found again in future events, so naturally at the PARTEC Congress 2013 as well.

www.powtech.de,

www.technopharm.de

and

www.wcpt6.org