RO0211

44 I roots2_2011 _With 115,000 visitors and nearly 2,000 ex- hibitors, this year’s International Dental Show (IDS) was the biggest dental trade show ever. The show boasted a 9 % increase compared with 2009. People from 148 countries travelled to Cologne to see new products, learn about innovative treatment me- thods and network with other dental professionals. Exhibitors from 85 countries seized the opportunity toestablishandfurthercontacts,winnewcustomers and open up new markets. “The world’s leading dental trade fair IDS closed, having achieved outstanding results,” the organisers summed up after five busy days. Organisers and exhibitors were especially pleased with the large numberofvisitorsfromabroad.“Themostcustomers we’ve had so far are from abroad,” Marian Tempel, responsible for marketing at Korean company Neo- biotech,toldrootsonthethirddayoftheexhibition. IDS visitors came mainly from Latin America and SouthAmerica,Australia,theUSandCanada,butalso from Italy, France, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, Switzerland,Russia,Ukraine,Turkey,Israel,Chinaand India. The exhibition halls were constantly busy and booths extremely well visited. According to the ex- hibitors, 66 % of which came from outside Germany, representatives of everything related to dentistry— dental practices and laboratories, trade, the higher educationsector—visitedtheirbooths.Thetradeshow meant a huge financial success for many exhibitors. Manycompaniestooknumerousorders,bothdomes- tically and internationally. “We have succeeded in making IDS even more attractive, both domestically and internationally. The strong increase in international participants especially shows that IDS is the world’s leading den- taltradeshow,”DrMartinRickert,Chairpersonofthe Association of German Dental Manufacturers, said. “Participants were able to forge high-quality busi- ness contacts between industry and trade profes- sionals as well as between the industry, dentists and dental technicians. Thus, the trade fair once again signalledbettertimesaheadandgeneratedmomen- Record-breaking IDS 2011 Author_Yvonne Bachmann, Germany I meetings _ IDS 2011 Photos: Koelnmesse GmbH