FDBusiness.com

The 24th iba has drawn to a close with a new world champion confectioner, Haoran Lyu (China), 76,800 trade visitors, and trade fair contracts worth €2.1 billion. Trade visitors were particularly interested in testing new products and the presentation of innovations in production technology, raw materials, and shopfitting.

58 hours of ambience, exchange, and contacts: iba has set standards for the next three years and showed the trends in the industry, with everyone’s focus being on the main topic – digitalisation. Digital products were professionally exhibited at nearly every trade fair stand. Both exhibitors and trade visitors saw digital solutions and processes, new business models and product safety as the key developments for their sector. This was the result of a survey of the 1,373 exhibitors and 76,800 trade visitors. The bakers and confectioners surveyed particularly appreciated the 360-degree view of the future that only iba offers. As such, 94 per cent of surveyed backers and confectioners considered their personal trade fair goal of collecting “information about new products” to be entirely achieved.

In addition to being the leading exhibition for products, iba is also a ground-breaking knowledge platform. In this spirit, iba presented a new main topic from the sector each day, e.g., at the iba.FORUM or the newly created iba.SPEAKERS CORNER. Altogether, there were more than 100 lectures in these two areas for knowledge transfer alone. The aim was for the audience to not only have the opportunity for personal exchange with experts, but to also gain practical know-how of topics that will significantly influence the industry. This information package by iba, specially tailored to the target group’s needs, can be quickly and profitably integrated into day-to-day business.

A digital milestone has opened up a whole new world of technological possibilities, as seen during the premier of the iba.Virtual Bakery Tours. There were long queues outside the 3D cinema, but that did not deter the visitors whose curiosity saw them happily waiting to get a look behind the scenes at how their colleagues work. With the help of virtual reality glasses and 360-degree videos, they travelled to innovative bakeries in Germany, Greece, Iceland, Austria, and the USA and received inspiration for their own businesses.

The UIBC Junior World Championship of Confectioners ended with a loud cheer. Haoran Lyu of China prevailed over seven competitors. Participants from Taiwan, Iceland, Norway, Brazil, China, Japan, and Germany conjured up pâtisserie artwork at the highest level. The UIBC Junior World Championship of Confectioners was the grand finale following the UIBC Cup of Bakers and the German Championship of Master Bakers — for 86 per cent of the trade fair audience, these live professional competitions were highlights of the fair.

The lively atmosphere in the halls was also reflected in the general assessment of the industry’s economic development. The future of the industry is looking good: In an independent survey, seven out of ten iba visitors said that the economic situation would improve or remain equally good.

The next iba is set to take place in Munich from 23rd to 28th October 2021.