"We are trying to reduce the square footage of the largest exhibitors somewhat"
Remarks by Werner Matthias Dornscheidt, CEO of Messe Düsseldorf (photo). The reason: K Düsseldorf is full; with 3,200 exhibitors spread across 300,000 gross square meters (net: 175,000 square meters), it is bursting at the seams and cannot accommodate any additional exhibitors. There are 140 so-called ‘world-leading trade fairs‘ or simply “leading trade fairs” around the world.
Leading trade fairs are the world's number one trade fair in their sector. Most of them take place in Germany, 24 of them in Düsseldorf alone. Unlike at many trade fairs, this is where the heads of the respective industries meet because this is where they do good business. This is the reason why leading trade fairs are also known as the "vanity fair".
The strong position of German and Düsseldorf trade fairs is constantly being put to the test. Werner Matthias Dornscheidt: "The benchmark is: How good is the quality of the visitors? If that's not right, we're quickly out of the picture." At K, 97 percent of visitors are decision-makers. "You won't find that at any other trade fair in Düsseldorf," says Werner Matthias Dornscheidt.
Global megatrends demand new ways of thinking from the industry. At K, exhibitors will present their answers to these challenges. The high quality of trade fair visitors drives innovation. As a result, nowhere else in the world is there such a wealth of world premieres from the plastics industry. K takes place every three years, which corresponds to the industry's innovation cycle.
Trade fairs also play a socially influential role. In the context of K, the plastics manufacturing industry founded the initiative to avoid plastic waste www.endplasticwaste.org with a budget of 1.5 billion euros.
90 percent of plastic waste in the sea comes from 10 rivers around the world. 8 of these are in China, 2 in Africa. This is where Endplasticwaste wants to start.
The "Save Food" initiative with the World Health Organization (WHO), which aims to make food last longer through better packaging, originated at the Interpack trade fair in Düsseldorf. 30 percent of food spoils, most of it due to a lack of shelf life.
240,000 visitors from 150 countries will come to K from October 16 - 23, 2019, including 4,000 from Switzerland, compared to 5,000 from China and 14,000 from India. Switzerland will be represented by 92 exhibitors, Dow Chemical alone on a stand area of 3000 square meters. International experts gave K 2016 top marks.
