London-UTECH EUROPE 2006 broke all previous attendees records, as well as attracting over 150 exhibiting companies from around the world and occupied a 10 000 sq.m hall.
During the middle day of the event over 1840 visitors registered for the event, organised by Urethanes Technology publisher Crain Communications Ltd and Dutch exhibition specialists IPI BV.
A great range of technology was on display, covering machinery, basic raw materials, additives and service companies and made this year's UTECH an unmissable occasion for the world's polyurethane specialists.
This is supported by the numbers attending from the PU sector. Individual entries were 3026, plus 519 delegates to the parallel UTECH conference. Some 40 percent of visitors attended for more than two days, an indication of the importance of the UTECH event as a place to do business, say Tony Kenter of IPI and Paul Mitchell, managing director of Crain Communications Ltd.
Attendance was up by more than 14 percent compared to the previous UTECH Europe congress held in 2003 in The Hague-a figure which firmly supports the move to Maastricht, the organisers said, in an announcement on the event..
Maastricht, with its location close to the German, French and Belgium borders, "encouraged more exhibition visitors to make use of the vast European motorway network to drive to the MECC Exhibition Centre," the organisers said.
UTECH Europe 2006 also saw a strong increase in visitors from eastern Europe, including the Russian Federation, Turkey and Asia. In all over 500 visitors came from outside Europe.
"It is our intention" said Kenter "to make sure that UTECH EUROPE 2009 maintains this growth and keeps its position as the most important European show for the polyurethanes industry."
The pic shows Dr Pierre Duin of Resina Chemie BV, who said the company's stand at Maastricht had seen twice or even two and a half times as many visitors as at the previous UTECH EUROPE event. "