After the quiet, almost clandestine exit of “Composites Europe” organiser Reed Exhibitions, the German reinforced plastics industry interest group Industrievereinigung Verstärkte Kunststoffe (AVK, Frankfurt; www.avk-tv.de) has taken up the challenge of organising a new composites trade congress in the German-speaking region with industry leader JEC (Paris / France; www.jeccomposites.com). The first “JEC Forum DACH” under the leadership of event director Christian Strassburger is scheduled for 23-24 November 2021 at Forum Messe Frankfurt and in a different city of the DACH region every year after that.

This is a new attempt for the Paris-based company to gain a foothold in Europe’s largest composites market. Initiated by JEC in cooperation with Messe Augsburg in 2017 as a rival event to Composites Europe, “Experience Composites” disappeared from the scene in the same year as it appeared (see Plasteurope.com of 30.11.2017).

However, some of approaches planned at the time – such as visits to research institutes and factory tours – can now be found in the JEC Forum DACH, alongside well-established formats from the toolbox of the world’s leading trade fair for the sector in Paris, “JEC World”. The appointment of Strassburger to the helm is a small surprise: he has been responsible for JEC’s activities in Asia to date, while all events in the EMEA region are generally organised under the leadership of Adeline Larroque, including JEC World.

In addition to business meetings and specialist seminars, the JEC Forum DACH has also been tapped as the new home for AVK activities, according to the German group’s MD Elmar Witten. “We will cover everything there that has existed before: from the general meeting and the innovation awards to the trade congress and our annual market report.” There was no falling-out with Reed, Witten told Plasteurope.com; in fact JEC approached AVK after the cancellation of Composites Europe.

Composites Europe has been suffering from a decline in exhibitors and visitors for some time. The most recent plan was to hold the fair in November this year, but in a slimmed-down version as a trade congress with an accompanying exhibition.

In the meantime, Reed Exhibitions succinctly stated on its website that it “will no longer organise Composites for Europe in the future”. A spokesperson for the organiser told Plasteurope.com that there had been restructuring within the company – partly as a result of the coronavirus crisis. In this context, the firm had also parted ways with some trade fairs. The representative did not provide any details on whether Composites (for) Europe will continue under this name, possibly with another organiser.

The withdrawal also had obvious staffing consequences: the long-standing CEO of Reed Germany, Hans-Joachim Erbel (61), has left the company and was recently replaced by Benedikt Binder-Krieglstein (43), who holds the position in addition to his role as CEO of Reed in Austria. The two companies have been merged.

In France, on the other hand, JEC has decided to hold the leading composites world fair in Paris a little later than usual this year and as an online-only event. As “JEC Composites Connect”, the exhibition will take place from 1-2 June. However, a detailed programme has not yet been published on the official channels.

For more details on this year’s trade fairs and conferences, please see PIE’s extensive event list.