ILMAC, the Industrial Show for Research and Development, Environmental and Process Technology at the Basel Exhibition Center, came to an end after four days on 28 September 2007. ILMAC scored well among exhibitors and visitors alike and clearly established its position as a specialist show for the pharmaceuticals and chemicals industry. 15,100 specialists attended the show, of which 30 percent came from abroad. The “Scientific forum” series of practical, scientific lectures gave rise to lots of interesting talks and discussions on the highly topical issues of energy and raw materials.

ILMAC 2007, Industry Exhibition for Research and Development, Environmental and Process Technology in Pharmaceuticals, Chemicals and Biotechnology, was a success. This was the conclusion drawn by exhibitors, visitors and the show organisers on Friday at the Basel Exhibition Center.
Some 15,100 visitors from Switzerland and its neighbours found out about the trends and developments in the pharmaceuticals and chemicals industry. It was also positive that so many new products were presented at ILMAC. There were a total of 571 exhibitors across an overall area of 36,000 m2, showing off their products in the laboratory supplies, analysis, biotechnology, cryogenics, process and environmental technology. The exhibitors were especially impressed with the decision-making capacity of the specialist visitors: of the 15,100 visitors to ILMAC 2007, 95 percent were at the show out of specialist interest. ILMAC confirmed that this specialist show is an ideal meeting point for the industry and the biotech areas of Switzerland, Germany and France.

Highlights
This year’s “Scientific Forum” presented a series of lectures on the highly topical and sometimes controversial issue of “Energy and raw materials”. There was a good turnout for the talks on all four days of the event and they sparked lively interest. The podium discussions in particular posed critical questions relating to bio-fuels and sparked interesting discussions.

The themed pavilions “Clean Room Technology”, “Paperless Lab Solutions” and “Pharmaceutical and Industrial Water” also went down very well with those involved. For all three special events, it is already clear that these current issues will take on increasing importance in the future.

The next ILMAC will take place on 21 to 24 September 2010 in Basel.

Exhibitors’ voices

Hans Zingre, President of SRRT (Swiss Clean Room Technology Society), Zurich
“The results were very positive, as we were able to have a number of good discussions. The idea of a joint stand for the clean room technology sector was an excellent one for us. It gave us the opportunity to present visitors to the show with the wide range of products, equipment and processes used in clean rooms in a single place. For us, it is already clear that we will be taking this idea and running with it.”
 
Wolfgang Müller, Basel Branch Manager, MCE Industrietechnik Salzburg GmbH & Co, Reinach
“We have developed into a leading supplier of plant and pipework for biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and precision chemistry. By setting up a branch in Reinach/Basel, we have taken a further step towards successful partnership in this area where three countries meet. At ILMAC, we were given the opportunity to present ourselves in the best possible light. Because of the high quality of the contacts, we will definitely be there again for the next ILMAC.”

Roland Bucher, CEO Bucher Biotec AG, Basel
“For us, ILMAC is the most important specialist show in Switzerland. We were able to use it as a platform not only to present our products, but also to maintain contacts with customers and suppliers. Compared to ILMAC 2005, we noticed that there were more visitors approaching the stand with concrete enquiries. It was also pleasing to be able to talk to so many customers from the west of Switzerland.”

Yvette Hatebur-Huber, Manager, Huber & Co AG, Reinach BL
“We are happy with the way the show went, as we had the right visitors to our stand – specialists who were interested in what we had to offer. As well as making initial contacts, it is also very important for us to look after our existing customers. So it must have helped that we were there with new products which generated a great deal of interest.

Ph. D. Tomás Michel, Export Manager, deisa (desarollos ecológicos e industriales, s.a. ), Barcelona
“We were at ILMAC for the first time to present the specialist visitors with a new waste water disposal solution (the OHP process removes the impurity using hydrogen peroxide). This technology is already established in Spain, and exporting into Switzerland, France and Germany is now very important to us. We have a few concrete enquiries and will definitely have plenty to do processing the follow-up work to the show.