Review 2007

Stuttgart. Whether carbon, glass or natural fibres, the spectrum of materials available to manufacturers of composite products continues to grow. This was clear at the second COMPOSITES EUROPE show, which took place on 6 to 8 November, attracting 200 exhibitors from 20 countries to the New Messe Stuttgart exhibition centre. With 4127 trade visitors (last year´s figure: 3700) COMPOSITES EUROPE is now established as an important international event in the composites industry. More than one third of this year`s visitors came from outside of Germany, and of the international visitors one in ten was from outside of Europe.

“The increase in the total number of visitors is great, but an even bigger success is the number of visitors coming from the application industries,” said Britta Wirtz, Director of COMPOSITES EUROPE, towards the end of the three-day show. The trade show grew specifically in the main end-use industries of reinforced plastics, such as automotive (with visitors from Daimler, Porsche, Mitsubishi and Skoda), aerospace (visitors from EADS, Boeing, DLR and Bombardier), as well as in the building and construction, and sports and leisure sectors. These results demonstrate that the show successfully reached its industrial target groups. Organiser Reed Exhibitions also reports success in attracting visitors from small and medium-sized companies which manufacture products for the marine, electronics, and wind energy sectors.

Of these visitors, around one third were interested in raw materials, one third in semi-finished and finished products, and one third in the technology and services on display in Stuttgart. A significant percentage of visitors (60%) comprised engineers involved in R&D and managing directors.

[reed more here]