First Ever InnoPack Event Has Strong Turn Out and a Focus on Innovation

AMSTERDAM, Jan. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- UBM today announced results from the first ever InnoPack event for innovative pharmaceutical packaging concepts, which debuted alongside their flagship Pharma portfolio that also includes CPhI Worldwide for pharmaceutical ingredients, ICSE for contract and outsourced services and P-MEC Europe for pharmaceutical machinery, equipment and technology.  From 25th to 27th October 2011, the events were held at the Messe Frankfurt in Frankfurt, Germany where the line-up once again broke records with an 5%* increase in overall attendance from the 2010 events in Paris, which attracted over 28,500 attendees. Exhibitor numbers were also at record levels with an exceptional 13% increase from last year to over 2,200 from more than 152 countries, including 212 new exhibitors. Specifically, InnoPack featured over 100 new exhibitors and had attendees from more than 140 countries. By the close of the event, more than 89% of exhibitors at InnoPack had already confirmed a place for InnoPack 2012 in Madrid, Spain at the Feria de Madrid including Heinlein Plastik, Klockner Pentaplasts and Rexam.

InnoPack was introduced as a result of positive customer feedback to the 2010 ICSE Packaging Zone and post-show surveys that indicated a large amount of attendees with interest in an event dedicated to innovative packaging, supplies and resources. The event offered a unique platform that brought together buyers and sellers from the packaging and pharmaceutical industries and created business opportunities in a global forum. The exhibitor profile at InnoPack 2011 represented a wide range of pharmaceutical packaging sectors from companies spanning across Europe, China and the United States offering resources for materials, closures, labelling, anti-counterfeiting solutions and software and track-and-trace solutions.

"InnoPack offers targeted resources to companies that are looking for innovative and cost effective packaging designs, as well as ways to deal with the recent counterfeiting issues. As quality and purity concerns have come to the forefront of the market, pharmaceutical packaging has become more important than ever," Haf Cennydd, Global Brand Manager of InnoPack noted. She continued, "The pharmaceutical packaging industry is expected to continue growth at a rate of at least 5.9% per annum(1) and is an area where a lot of innovation is taking place.  With worldwide movements towards efficiency and sustainability showing no sign of abatement, this is an area where we have seen a lot happening in a short amount of time."

In addition to the show floor, InnoPack featured many additional educational elements during the three days in Frankfurt. The opening day featured "Innovation Briefs", which offered no-cost presentations from high-level executives in the packaging industry on current trends and innovations in the sector and were organised with NVC: Netherlands Packaging Centre and UBM Canon's Pharmaceutical and Medical Packaging News. These presentations were complemented by InnoPack "Speaker's Corners" which allowed for extended learning and networking benefits. InnoPack also served as the starting point for the "Packaging Trail" which highlighted tailored resources for pharmaceutical packaging needs throughout the events. Along the "Packaging Trail", the Contract and Outsourced Services event, ICSE, featured resources such as contract packers and drug delivery systems, while the Machinery, Equipment and Technology event, P-MEC Europe, featured manufacturers of innovative packaging related technologies such as Track and Trace solutions, tabulating resources and capsule fillers. And finally, the Innovative Pharma Packaging event, InnoPack, featured the Labelling Zone with resources for anti-counterfeiting and track and trace needs.

Exhibitors at the event had positive feedback about the new exhibition. Fabian Su, Marketing Manager at Gerresheimer commented that, "InnoPack is a very good platform for us to meet existing clients and look for potential new ones. InnoPack is also a great way for us to catch up on new trends and see what competitors are offering."

CPhI Worldwide, ICSE, P-MEC Europe and InnoPack will all return to offer a unique business and networking platform for the varied sectors of the pharmaceutical market from 9th to 11th October 2012 at the Feria de Madrid in Madrid, Spain. Further information about InnoPack, CPhI Worldwide, ICSE and P-MEC Europe can be found online at www.innopack-pharma.com, www.cphi.com, www.icsexpo.com and www.p-mec.com.

UBM's market leading schedule of annual pharma events include India (30 November - 2 December, 2011, Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai), Japan (21-23 March, 2012, Tokyo Big Sight Exhibition Centre, Japan), CPhI  SouthEast Asia (10-12 May, 2012, Jakarta International Expo, Indonesia), ICSE USA (22-23 May, 2012, Pennsylvania Convention Centre, Philadelphia), China (26-28 June, 2012, SNIEC, Shanghai, China), South America (21-23 August, 2012, Transamerica Expo Centre, Brazil) and Worldwide (9-11 October, 2012 at the Feria de Madrid, Spain).

(1) http://www.economywatch.com/world-industries/packaging/pharmaceutical.html

*All figures subject to ABC Audit

Notes for Editors:

UBM is a division of UBM Plc (LSE: UBM) a leading provider of business information services to the maritime, travel, fashion, technology, healthcare, media, and property industries. UBM offers services in trade shows, online, news distribution, and publishing to customers across the globe. Its brands are represented in more than 30 countries and are organized into specialist teams that serve their business communities helping them excel in their market by working effectively and efficiently. For more information, go to www.ubmlive.com.