Traditional fair

The current dominance of German trade fairs such as Hannover and Achema has strong historical roots: Emperor Frederick II inaugurated the first industry show in Frankfurt in 1240, declaring it the world’s first trade fair city, with wine, wool, furs and fabrics among the earliest products traded.

This tradition is today part of the German corporate psyche, says Dr Thomas Scheuring of DECHEMA, organisers of Achema, which next takes place 11-15 May 2009, at the Frankfurt Messe. In Germany, he said, exhibitions are widely regarded as important occasions to meet people, to do business and to learn about what is happening in industry.

Contrast that to the UK, where many major process companies no longer encourage or even allow their people to attend shows - in case, some say, they are used as ‘jollies’. Little surprise so that the large, and successful, UK exhibitions of the 1970s and 1980s are now distant memories.

Government funding for companies exhibiting abroad, meanwhile, has fallen, leading to a decline in the UK presence at many shows. Achema 2006, for example, attracted just 30 UK lab technology companies compared to 47 in 2003. This is despite official figures showing that every £1 spent on overseas exhibitions generates £17 for the UK economy.

While we can’t turn back the hands of time, the success of German trade fairs highlights the value of interaction with the wider industrial market, and the need to ditch such shortsighted corporate and government attitudes that serve our industries so poorly.

Please email your views on this issue or any other aspect of Process Engineering to: patrick.raleigh@centaur.co.uk