All space available to exhibitors at “interpack” 2014 (Düsseldorf / Germany; www.interpack.com) has been booked, the organisers have said. The city’s exhibition centre with 19 halls will host around 2,700 exhibitors from 8 to 14 May, representing industries from food and beverages, confectionary and baked goods to pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, non-food consumer goods and industrial goods. Exhibitors representing around 60 countries will occupy 174,000 m² of space.

A number of events and displays are running parallel to the exhibition – “components for processing and packaging” is a special event being staged for the first time in 2014 as an additional exhibition for suppliers to the packaging industry. Companies engaged in drive, control and sensor technology, products for industrial image processing, handling technology, industrial software and communication, and complete automation systems for packaging machinery, are exhibiting in the Düsseldorf “Stadthalle” in congress centre south. Manufacturers of machine parts, components, accessories and peripherals for packaging applications will be represented. Around 75 companies will participate and the event is accompanied by a daily lecture forum.

Another event, “components”, will take place during the first three days of interpack from 8 to 10 May. Visitors and exhibitors will have direct access to “components for processing and packaging” as entrance to both events is linked.

Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE, Brussels / Belgium; www.plasticsrecyclers.eu) will be hosting a recycling conference at the fair – see Plasteurope.com of 13.02.2014 – and European Association for Unoriented Polyester-Films (EuPET, Frankfurt / Germany; www.eupet.org) has organised a “PET Film Expert Forum” at the nearby Airport Cologne/Bonn – see Plasteurope.com of 21.03.2014.

On 7 May, before interpack opens, the “Save Food” congress will be held in the congress centre south. The two-day event is directed at both non-profit organisations and packaging industry and will highlight global food loss and food waste. A co-operation between the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN (FAO, www.fao.org) and Messe Düsseldorf (www.messe-duesseldorf.com), Save Food was originally launched in 2011 with a successful congress staged parallel to interpack and is now supported by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP, www.unep.org).

Complementing the congress, “Innovationparc Packaging” (IPP) will this year be staged under the motto of Save Food. Over 20 participating Save Food members, companies and associations will showcase their solutions for avoiding food loss and food waste. The event will present practical approaches from areas including food processing, packaging design, packaging materials and machine construction to fight the problem. IPP will be staged on an area of around 2,500 m² in the outdoor space between halls 2 and 3.

Finally, the interpack website has been redesigned and brings useful tools to help visitors plan their agenda efficiently. Examples include the exhibitor database where visitors can generate a personalised hall floor plan, a “matchmaking” function for establishing contact with exhibitors, and information on developments being presented by the participating companies. The interpack services can be accessed by mobile and downloadable iPhone and Android apps are available, offering daily updated exhibitor and event databases, halls maps and exhibitor data, including contact details, product information, forms for arranging meetings and a facility to compose notes on individual exhibitors.