Markus Püttmann
Opening Achema
Mr. Schäfer, Hall 4.0, Saal Europa
At ACHEMA 2024, the world's leading trade show for the process industries, 2,842 exhibitors from 56 nations showed 106,001 participants from 141 countries the latest equipment and innovative processes for the chemical, pharmaceutical, food processing and related industries at the Frankfurt exhibition grounds from 10 to 14 June 2024.
Exhibition Groups
In terms of exhibition space, the exhibition group " Pharmaceutical, Packaging and Storage Techniques" was the largest for the first time at ACHEMA 2024, followed by " Pumps, Compressors, Valves and Fittings" and "Instrumentation, Control and Automation Techniques".
Internationality
After Germany (1,042 exhibitors), China (438 exhibitors) and Italy (250 exhibitors) had the largest number of exhibitors. At 63 per cent, the proportion of foreign exhibitors is higher than ever before. In addition to the record participation of Chinese exhibitors, ACHEMA 2024 also recorded the highest exhibitor participation from India to date (185 exhibitors).
Atmosphere
The products and technologies presented met with great interest from the audience: the stands in the halls were very busy and at times there was no getting trough in the aisles. "The exhibitors we spoke to and we ourselves are extremely satisfied, in some cases there was so much going on at the stands that the stand staff couldn't keep up. Many of the discussions were directly related to projects or investments", confirms Jürgen Nowicki, Chairman of the ACHEMA Committee and CEO of Linde Engineering.
The exhibitors also share this impression. Thomas Manzeck, Regional Sales Manager, KSB: "We are delighted to be here again. For us, ACHEMA is a strong platform for introducing and demonstrating our new topics, such as additive manufacturing with 3D printing and 3D scanning, to customers. ACHEMA is a great platform for trade visitors."
Frank Börner, Managing Director of GEA Wiegand, adds: "ACHEMA is important for us as GEA to present our innovations on the way to Net Zero and to enter into dialogue with customers, suppliers and competitors, from which we all benefit. And nowhere else is this as concentrated as at ACHEMA."
“We are back at our most favourite exhibition for the IMA Pharma Group. We have plenty of very skilled customers visiting us and we are tackling the new requirements from the industry regarding digital. While we are exhibiting our new machines at ACHEMA 2024 we are starting already to think about the next ACHEMA, because ACHEMA is for the pharmaceutical industry the place to be”, says Thomas Fricke, Commercial Director Pharma, IMA Group.
Also, the six innovation themes of ACHEMA 2024 – Process, Pharma, Green, Lab, Digital and Hydrogen – met with great interest. They focus on key challenges that are affecting the process industry today and in the coming years and present concrete business cases for solving them, particularly at the Innovation Stages. The innovation themes have a more overarching character and were organised together with partners from industry, SMEs, associations and institutions.
Attendees
106,001 participants from 141 nations came to this year's ACHEMA. Every second participant (48.9 per cent) came from abroad. “ACHEMA is more than just finding new customers, it is a nice platform to communicate and to develop new products to face the challenges of the future. ACHEMA is a hub for international visitors. If you are working in the lab branch and looking for international visitors, ACHEMA is the place to be”, says Ulrike Gerecke, Business Development Manager, SmartLab Solutions GmbH.
Congress
The ACHEMA Congress covered the entire spectrum of chemical process technology and biotechnology. The lectures provided insights into current research and development projects as well as the latest scientific results.
On each day of the trade show, there was a highlight session:
- Pharma Innovation: Next generation pharma manufacturing – current advances in cell and gene therapy (Monday, 10 June)
- Hydrogen Innovation: Hyperscaling hydrogen – turning strategy into reality (Tuesday, 11 June)
- Digital Innovation: Artificial intelligence and autonomous systems in the process industry (Wednesday, 12 June)
- Green Innovation: Beyond fossil fuels – exploring alternative carbon sources for a sustainable chemical industry (Thursday, 13 June)
- Process Innovation: Nature as a role model – maximum resource efficiency in the chemical industry (Friday, 14 June).
In the congress programme, the hydrogen topics as well as lectures on electrification and flexibilisation met with particularly great interest. In addition, the lectures on pharma and life sciences as well as on digitalisation (e.g. AI, MTP, APL) were among the best attended.
Overall, the high-calibre and broad ACHEMA congress programme with over 900 lectures, discussion panels and workshops was once again very well received. "With more than 30,000 listeners in the congress, the attendance figures are higher than ever before, and the programme of the six Innovation Stages played a major part in this" says Dr Andreas Förster, Executive Director of DECHEMA e.V. Dr Björn Mathes, CEO of DECHEMA Ausstellungs-GmbH adds: "The exhibition and congress once again showcased the technological future of our industry and set an outstanding accent for a more sustainable and competitive process industry."
Perspective
The next ACHEMA will take place in Frankfurt from 14 to 18 June 2027. Process Innovation Asia Pacific – Powered by ACHEMA will take place for the first time in Singapore from 19 to 21 November 2024 and AchemAsia will be held in Shanghai from 14 to 16 October 2025.
More at www.achema.de/en