Bilbao’s +Industrie 23 exhibition attracted more than 11,800 visitors to a cluster of six shows including the Subcontración subcontract manufacturing event, as well as events covering additive manufacturing, digital manufacturing, pumps and valves and industrial maintenance.
Xabier Basañez, General Manager of Bilbao Exhibition Centre (BEC), said “BEC has become for three days the epicenter of the latest technologies and developments in cutting-edge products, processes and solutions to boost competitiveness and activate new business opportunities around advanced manufacturing”.
Speaking at the opening of the event, by Tamara Yagüe, President of the Biscayan Federation of Metal Companies, said it was: “… a great opportunity to open up again to the world and show the capacity of our sector to a large number of visitors and a must for all the companies that work in this sector and for the industry as a whole.”
A total of 841 exhibitors attracted visitors from 58 countries around the world, predominantly from Europe but also from China, India, South America, The Middle East and Asia.
An extensive content programme included innovation workshops, networking events, B2B meetings and a conference. The conference featured 50 speakers and looked at the challenges, advances and trends that will impact on the future of advanced industry.
One of the key meetings was the 20th European Industrial Subcontracting Meeting . Organises by the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, CámaraBilbao and Bilbao Exhibition Centre, with the collaboration of the Spanish Chambers of Commerce.
Over three days around 1,000 meeting interviews were held with the participation of close to a hundred major buyers from countries such as France, Italy, Morocco, Czech Republic, Germany, Slovenia, Finland, Holland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and Tunisia, as well as Spain.
The first day was attended by subcontracting companies in general, while the second day was attended by representatives from the automotive, renewable energy and plastics sectors. The third day focused on additive manufacturing, defence and aerospace.
The meeting had the highest number of buyers to date, making it the largest B2B event of its type in Europe.
Josep Maria Gomes, International Business Developer Manager of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, said these meetings had established themselves as an essential platform with international recognition that bring together a select community of buyers from high value-added sectors looking for new partnerships and business opportunities.