Plenty of innovations

On balance the International Hardware Fair, which came to an end yesterday, 3 March 2010, turned out to be positive in general for both exhibitors and visitors. Nevertheless, only 56 500 trade visitors came to Cologne this year, or ten per cent fewer than in 2008. At 59 per cent the proportion of foreign visitors was one per cent up. The number of international companies on the exhibitor side saw growth of as much as eight percentage points to 85 per cent. However, the overall number of exhibitors was down to 2 686. Traders appeared particularly happy with the innovations on display, while the good quality of the visitors was highlighted on the exhibitor side.