Labelexpo Europe 2007 Breaks All Records
BRUSSELS, Belgium—Labelexpo Europe 2007, which took place Sept. 26-29 in Brussels, surpassed all of its previous records in terms of visitors, exhibitors, and equipment sales. According to the show producers, this makes Labelexpo Europe 2007 the largest and most successful label event ever to have taken place.
In total, 24,752 visitors from 114 countries attended this year’s show, an increase of 7 percent over the 2005 event. This included large delegations from Australia, Brazil, China, India, Japan, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, and the Middle East.
Sixty-six percent of visitors extended their visit by at least a day (compared to 2005), which meant that the daily attendance was higher than the overall figures suggest. Of the 511 exhibitors at the show, 145 were exhibiting for the first time.
Exhibitors reported a marked increase in machinery and material sales and by the end of the show, 85 percent of exhibiting space had already been re-booked for Labelexpo Europe 2009, which is the show’s highest re-booking rate yet.
In order to give visitors the opportunity to see as much of the technology on display, the traditional conference program was condensed to three keynote presentations, presented by Mike Fairley and Andy Thomas.
The topics covered were:
• Challenging our business - Today’s RFID and environmental opportunities
• The European and global label markets - Trends, opportunities and issues
• The future of label converting - Materials, technology, solutions, and management
More than 600 people attended the gala dinner and award ceremony at Autoworld Brussels on the first night of the show.
The following award winners were announced:
• R. Stanton Avery Lifetime Achievement Award: Andrew Jack, Dow Corning
• Label Industry Award for Continuous Innovation: Rotoflex International
• Label Industry Award for New Innovation: AVT
• European Converter of the Year Award: Schreiner Group
A major development for Labelexpo Europe 2009, announced at this year’s event, is the creation of the Digital Experience in Hall 9. This hall will be opened to exhibitors in 2009 and will have a strong focus on digital technology. Within a week after its announcement, more than 70 percent of the available space had already been booked by suppliers including HP, Xeikon, Epson, EFI, and Grafisk. Event organizers are currently looking at ways of making more space available.
During the opening press conference, Roger Pellow, Labelexpo managing director, announced the acquisition of the India Label Show, which is taking place Dec. 3-6, 2008 in New Delhi. This was followed by several large new bookings for the show. The acquisition will pave the way for the further development of the event, in one of the world’s fastest growing label markets.
The results of a new converter survey (conducted in August 2007) was published for the first time at the show. Forming the basis for one of the seminar sessions, Label Converting in Europe analyzes the key trends and technologies in Europe.
Pellow said, “Labelexpo Europe 2007 was the largest label event ever to have taken place, and we are pleased to have been the showcase for a number of exciting new technologies. The many new exhibitors and large international delegations show the healthy state of our industry, which continues to grow steadily. This event is really the industry’s meeting place where everyone comes together to do business, to learn and to meet friends, old and new.
