• Premiere of the new platform experience.science.future.

• Around 29% increase in visitor numbers

• Compelling topics: diversification of water supply, e-waste and SDGs

India: 9.633 trade visitors and 311 exhibitors – these are the record figures for the seventh edition of IFAT India 2019, which ended on October 18, 2019 at the Bombay Exhibition Centre (BEC) in Mumbai. At the top of the agenda of India’s leading environmental technology fair was the question of how technology and innovation can lead the change towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The exhibition also focused on solutions for developing sustainable waste management and modernizing the environmental infrastructure.

Stefan Rummel, Managing Director of Messe München, draws a positive conclusion: “The visitor numbers at IFAT India have continued to grow further this year. The increase of 29 percent underlines that the show has once again proved to be the most important solution platform for India’s pressing environmental challenges.” Most visitors – 97% – came from India. Germany, China, Indonesia, South Korea and Austria (in this order) were among the top visitor countries.

In terms of exhibitors, international participation jumped by over 30%, underlining the growing demand on the subcontinent. With a record participation from 23 countries, it was the most international IFAT India ever with a first-time pavilion from Canada. Bhupinder Singh, Managing Director of Messe Muenchen India: “IFAT India 2019 brought together national and international companies like no other event in the country. It pooled know-how and technologies from across the world in one place with the aim to jointly and sustainably advance the development of India.”

In total, the number of exhibitors grew by 29 percent (2018: 242 exhibitors), the area increased by 32 percent to 14,500 square meters (2018: 11,000 square meters).

Diversifying the Water Supply
Seawater desalination, wastewater treatment, closing the water cycle – in view of the current water crisis in Chennai, solutions for diversifying the water supply were particularly in demand. A start-up on the new future platform experience.science.future., which had its debut at IFAT India, also introduced a new product for water extraction. “We used IFAT India to present our innovation to the Indian market for the first time: a mobile and modular machine that can produce water of varying quality from moisture in the air,” says Martin W. Kolodziejczyk, Managing Director of the Berlin-based start-up greentecAQUA. “The fair provided us with many business contacts – the ideal market entry.”

Waste Management, Handling of e-Waste, Sustainable Cities
The fair also covered the areas of e-waste and waste-to-energy and was well complemented by the extensive supporting program. “The e-waste sector in India is growing rapidly, creating a demand for environmentally sound e-waste recycling and thereby opening up a lot of opportunities in green jobs as well as technical innovations and entrepreneurship,” says Ms. Deepali Sinha Khetriwal, Managing Director of Sofies Sustainability Leaders Pvt. Ltd. Also on the agenda were sustainable solutions and best-practices for development of urban infrastructure in India. This was underlined by the respective visits of Chief Guest Suresh Prabhu representative for G7 and G20 and was also echoed by Praveen Pardeshi, Municipal Commissioner of Mumbai.

The next edition of India’s leading environmental technology fair will take place from October 13 to 15, 2020 at the Bombay Exhibition Centre in Mumbai. In early 2020, a new solution platform for northern India will be launched: from January 29 to 31, 2020, Messe München will celebrate the premiere of IFAT Delhi taking at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi – co-located with the World Sustainable Development Summit 2020.

IFAT worldwide
In addition to the world’s leading trade fair IFAT, Messe München has profound competencies in the organization of further international trade fairs in the field of environmental technologies. These include: IE expo Chengdu in Chengdu, IE expo Guangzhou in Guangzhou, IFAT Africa in Johannesburg, IFAT Eurasia in Istanbul as well as IFAT India in Mumbai and IFAT Delhi in New Delhi. All IFAT trade fairs together form the world’s leading network for environmental technologies.

Messe München
With more than 50 proprietary trade fairs for capital goods, consumer articles and New Technologies, Messe München is one of the world’s leading trade fair organizers. Every year, more than 50,000 exhibitors and about 3 million visitors come to the over 200 events on the Munich fairground, the ICM (International Congress Center Munich), the MOC (Veranstaltungscenter München) and abroad. Together with its affiliates, Messe München organizes trade fairs in China, India, Brazil, Russia, Turkey, South Africa, Nigeria, Vietnam and Iran. Having a network of holding companies all over Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America and about 70 agencies abroad working for more than 100 countries, Messe München is present all over the world.

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