The 35th International Dental Show (IDS) closed on 16th March 2013, after five days in Cologne. The world's leading dental trade fair attracted 125,000 trade visitors from 149 countries. (A 6% increase compared to the previous event). Records were also set in terms of the number of exhibitors and the occupied exhibition area. This year 2,058 companies (+5.3 per cent) from 56 countries presented a wide range of innovations, products and services on 150,000 square metres of exhibition area (+3.4 per cent). With 68 per cent of the exhibitors and 48 per cent of the visitors coming from abroad, the fair was also more international than ever before. A large contingent of Pakistani Dental Trade over 65 exhibitors participated to enrich the exhibition, presenting their high quality Dental equipment and instruments. These offerings have consistently placed the Pakistani Dental trade enterprises on the international map, and always earn a high volume of export business each year. "The degree to which IDS's global attraction increases from one event to the next is impressive," said Dr. Martin Rickert, Chairman of the Executive Board of the Association of German Dental Manufacturers (VDDI). "Thanks especially to the trade visitors' high level of internationality and decision-making authority, we expect the positive effects of the fair to continue for the rest of the business year. We're also expecting sustained growth in the German and international healthcare markets." IDS 2013 was opened by Ulrike Flach, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Germany's Federal Ministry of Health. In her opening speech Ms. Flach stressed that the safety and quality of medical products have the highest priority. She also pointed out the excellent conditions for innovation in the healthcare industry. For example, she said, Germany is much faster than many other countries when it comes to bringing medical innovations into the mainstream of medical practice and thus making them available to everyone who needs them. She also stressed the importance of maintaining the balance between open access to innovations and the long-term financial stability of the system. A successful global trade fair - An Exhibitors delight This year's IDS featured endless halls filled with visitors. Representatives from all of the relevant professions - from dental practices to dental laboratories, the dental trade and the university sector - came to IDS from all over the world. A large number of visitors represented growth regions, such as; China, Russia and Brazil, Japan, Ukraine and Turkey. The decision-making authority of the visitors was also high, because the customers were very well informed and showed great interest in new technologies. It enabled the exhibitors to establish contacts with top-quality potential customers. This was also confirmed by the initial results of an independent visitor survey, which reported that 83 per cent of the IDS trade visitors are involved in purchasing decisions at their companies. A large number of orders were placed, besides facilitation of great business opportunities subsequent to the trade fair. Highly satisfied visitors Trade visitors were also highly satisfied with the event. The visitor survey revealed that 74 per cent of visitors said they were (very) satisfied with IDS. What's more, the fair's comprehensive spectrum of products and numerous innovations caused 79 per cent of the visitors to rate the product range as either good or very good. In terms of reaching their trade fair goals, 74 per cent of the visitors surveyed said that they were satisfied or very satisfied. Overall, 95 per cent of the visitors surveyed would recommend a visit to IDS to their business partners. Tremendous interest in innovations Individuals from the specialist trade as well as end users were especially interested in innovative products and technologies. Nowadays it is almost taken for granted that developers will come up with functional enhancements, more rational digital workflows and software updates for existing CAD/CAM systems. Even so, many participants were still impressed by the large number of new materials for computer-controlled processing, besides new methods and materials for preservation of teeth and implantology. Germany is at an excellent international level technically and scientifically, as was demonstrated by this year's IDS. The International Dental Show is held in Cologne every two years. The new products database and an image database with photographic materials can be found on the Internet at www.ids-cologne.de in the "Press" section. The next IDS - 36th International Dental Show will take place from 10th to 14th March 2015..
