ACHEMA Opening in Frankfurt: World Forum for the Process Industry back in live format

Important topics in exhibition and congress are the digital lab, product and process security as well as modular and connected production. The focus of the opening press conference was on international cooperation and innovation. Industry experts stressed their importance for achieving climate goals and addressing challenges such as security of supply and stable supply chains.

From 22 to 26 August 2022, producers of lab equipment and processing components, plant engineering companies, automation providers and material developers exhibit their latest products and technologies. Around half of the exhibitors come from abroad. Despite existing travel restrictions, 74 exhibitors from China are represented at ACHEMA 2022. The response from India also remains high with 143 exhibiting companies.

At the opening press conference against the backdrop of recent political developments, the importance of sustainability and international cooperation came into focus.

Dr Wolfgang Große Entrup, Director General of the German chemical industry association (VCI), emphasised that these businesses would stick to their goals despite sharp rises in production costs and falling sales volumes. “We won’t be diverted from the path to transformation that we started on years ago. Protecting the climate, conserving resources, and preserving a circular economy will be no mean feat. But we will tackle these issues.” However, Dr Große Entrup has warned the EU Commission against imposing requirements on businesses given that they are already struggling to keep pace. “Our industry wants and needs to reconcile its ability to transform and be competitive. It benefits neither the individual nor the climate if our businesses flee the EU as a result of monstrous requirements and relocate their production to countries with run-of-the-mill standards.”

As Chairman of the ACHEMA Committee, Jürgen Nowicki highlighted that, in view of the massive challenges facing the industry, but also humanity as a whole, international cooperation can only be overcome through collaboration. ACHEMA creates exactly this: „The process industry, our community that we gather here at ACHEMA, holds many key elements, many pieces of the puzzle to solve, in their hands.“ Nowicki cited the following as examples of the industry's innovative strength: the rapid development and provision of high-performance vaccines, the effective contributions towards energy efficiency by providing the technological basis for the use of renewable energy sources or by giving circular economy the technologies needed for successful recycling, and, last but not least, drive the electrochemistry that is so crucial for e-mobility through innovations. Likewise, e-mobility would not progress without innovations in electrochemistry.

Dr Klaus Schäfer, Chairman of DECHEMA e.V., who is responsible for the ACHEMA Congress with almost 600 lectures, addressed the topic of innovation: “It is one key to surviving and continuing to be successful in such a challenging environment. The other – perhaps more than ever – is collaboration. With this year's ACHEMA, we would therefore like to send a signal that technological cooperation across industry, but also across national borders, is indispensable to master the crises of our time.” Innovations can be found at ACHEMA not only among the exhibitors and in the congress programme: For the first time, ACHEMA offers young companies in the process industry and start-ups a central meeting place with a Start-up Area. There, start-ups show how science and technology can be turned into new services, profitable products and the latest processes.

The statements from the ACHEMA opening press conference on 22 August 2022 as well as statistics can be found at https://dechema.de/pressconference_achema2022. Pictures of the opening press conference are available afterwards at https://www.achema.de/en/press.