glasstec 2008 - Resounding Success despite Financial Crisis.

Top "Glass & Energy" Theme marked the Leading Fair in the Glass Sector

25 October 2008 -- "Glass and Energy" was a theme high on the agenda at the 20th glasstec in Dusseldorf now drawing to a successful close on 25 October. Over 1,300 exhibitors from throughout the world presented their innovations in the fields of glass industry, glass machinery and equipment construction as well as the glazier trade. For the first time glasstec altogether occupied in excess of 73,000 square metres of net exhibition space.

Commenting on the results Joachim Schafer, Managing Director at Messe Dusseldorf GmbH, said: "Despite the tough economic situation glasstec 2008 was extremely successful for all parties involved. Glass boasts incredibly innovative potential - one leveraged by producers, finishers and machinery manufacturers here in an exemplary manner. The solar theme, in particular, provided this year's glasstec with fresh momentum."

About 55.000 visitors - a slight increase in comparison to the previous event - attended the world's most important trade fair for the glass sector. They travelled to Dusseldorf from throughout the world with the proportion of international visitors standing this year at roughly 58%. As the most important countries of origin France, Italy and the USA once again posted increases in their attendance figures. Over half the visitors were in the top management. Exhibitors gave accordingly satisfied testimonials: "For us glasstec this year was more successful than ever. It has fully lived up to its reputation of being the glass sector's foremost trade fair throughout the world and proved to be a meeting point for visitors from around the globe. Many first-time customers signed important contracts on site where we installed a fully networked, automatic manufacturing unit at the stand," says Manfred Lesiak, Manager Marketing & Event at Lisec.

Apart from solar technologies top subjects covered by this year's glasstec included the latest finishing and treatment technologies, innovations for technical glass as well as energy-efficient glass products and applications. Many solutions were launched and presented to the public for the first time at glasstec 2008: such as a novel anti-microbial glass that kills up to 99.9 % of all bacteria therefore making it ideal for use in hospitals or nursing homes. For architects these new types of functional glass mean more scope for creativity. Exhibits presented included glass which can be switched from transparent to frosted at the touch of a button thereby rendering shutters superfluous. In the solar sector interesting innovations such as novel thin-film modules were on display offering a promising alternative to conventional silicon-based solar cells with their films measuring as little as few thousandths of a millimetre.

Siegfried Glaser, Chairman of the glasstec exhibitors' advisory board, summarised the overall verdict of the trade fair: "There are happy faces of both exhibitors and visitors to be seen everywhere. The industry can report pleasing orders in the pipeline which means we can look to the future with optimism despite the financial crisis."

This year the Special Show "glass technology live" proved to be the major attraction for visitors. The exhibition with accompanying symposium provided interesting insights into the future of glass technology. Its organiser, Professor Stephan Behling, Senior Partner at Foster and Partners, and his team from the Institute for Building Construction at the Stuttgart University compiled a spectacular array of current product developments, architectural projects and tomorrow's technologies. The absolute eye-catcher of the Special Show was a bent bridge of cold-formed glass with a thickness of just 3.7 centimetres and a carrying capacity of seven tons.

Also meeting with avid interest was the Architecture Congress focusing on the topic "Transparency! Glass and Facade Technology" held on 24 October. Internationally renowned architects, structural engineers, climate engineers and facade planners such as Lise Anne Couture of Asymptote Architecture in New York presented their latest projects here.

The next glasstec will be held in Dusseldorf from 28 September to 2 October 2010.