INDEX20, the world’s largest nonwovens exhibition, held in Geneva from 19-22 October 2021, closed a resounding success, featuring over 500 exhibitors on more than 45,000 square meters of exhibition space.

“With over 9300 visitor entries over the four days, and an overwhelming sentiment among exhibitors of an unexpected attendance and quality of key decision-makers from across the globe, we are told by all those we have met that this is undoubtedly a resounding success under the circumstances” says Pierre Wiertz, general manager of EDANA.

Following a record year for nonwovens production in Greater Europe, with a growth of 7.2% in 2020 to reach 3,075,615 tons (largely due to the highest ever demand for materials intensively used to fight the pandemic) this was the first opportunity in four years for the community of professionals from across the whole supply chain to meet in person.

The visitors count is even more remarkable considering that over a thousand further professionals joined the on-line version of INDEX™, as the show was presented for the first time ever in a hybrid format, allowing exhibitors to march their live with virtual stands featuring their products and services. The virtual platform will stay accessible until 15 November to allow all on-site and virtual participants to watch the content from the six sector seminars (Sustainability, Filtration, Geosynthetics, Transportation, Smart Nonwovens and Infection Prevention) as well as the content provided by all the exhibitors.

“We are delighted to note that this “augmented reality” offer was so well received, and since the Swapcard platform which supported this will continue to be accessible to the 2500 pre-registered delegates for several weeks, as well as any other new visitors, we expect that those who missed the numerous side events such as the six sector seminars, or wish to prolong their contacts with exhibitors, will continue to benefit from INDEX in an innovative way” says Magali Fakhry Dufresne, INDEX™ Exhibition Director, PALEXPO.

“Our business contacts at INDEX are usually all about long-term relationships and contracts, with additional new opportunities a plus; for this edition it has been first and foremost a matter of once again meeting business partners face to face after so many videocalls, and the pleasant surprise is that over all the result has exceeded our expectations. The level of engagement and quality of visitor makes INDEX a vital business development tool for industry players of all sizes, it remains the flagship exhibition of the nonwovens industry,” says Mikael Staal Axelsen, CEO of Fibertex Nonwovens.

Following this inspiring edition, we look forward to welcoming the entire industry back to Geneva in 18 months’ time for INDEX23, taking place from 18 – 21 April 2023.