Over 3,000 delegates will participate in an event that will be held for the first time in Spain
Expoquimia will host the 10th World Congress of Chemical Engineering in 2017
The 18th Expoquimia, Fira de Barcelona’s International Chemistry Show, which will held from the 2nd to the 6th of October 2017, will host the tenth World Congress of Chemical Engineering. The event, to be held for the first time in Spain, will be attended by over 3,000 chemical engineers. Barcelona’s candidacy, presented to the Federación Europea de Ingeniería Química por la Asociación Nacional de Químicos de España (ANQUE), the Asociación de Químicos e Ingenieros del Instituto Químico de Sarrià (AIQS), the Colegio de Ingenieros Industriales de Cataluña (AEIC) and the Sociedad Española de Química Industrial e Ingeniería Química (SEQUI), won the final vote beating Florence (Italy) and Omoroz (Slovenia).
The four associations, making up the Spanish counterpart of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE), presented a complete dossier for their candidacy with the input of the organisers of Expoquimia, which offered to host it. The tenth World Congress of Chemical Engineering (WCCE), which will be held during Expoquimia’17, will follow the ninth edition taking place in Seoul (South Korea) in 2013. This event is held every four years, alternating between Europe, the United States and Asia. Since its first edition in 1976, the congress has been held in Amsterdam (Holland), Quebec (Canada), Tokyo (Japan), Karlsruhe (Germany), San Diego (United States), Melbourne (Australia), Glasgow (United Kingdom) and Montreal (Canada).
With the theme “Chemical Engineering in a global world: a tool for cooperation and development”, the congress will cover a wide range of topics from the development of new products and processes, the integral management of resources and health to energy and bioengineering. The president of the 10th WCCE’s scientific committee is the head of the Chemical Engineering Department of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), Félix García-Ochoa. The congress’s international committee will be chaired by Ángel Irabien, professor at the Universidad de Cantabria.
The best venue
The President of ANQUE and of the congress, Carlos Negro, said that the appointment signifies “writing one of the future pages in the history of Spanish chemical engineering” and added “it represents an opportunity to increase the visibility of an area of know how in which Spain is an international reference”.
The President of SEQUI and executive director of the congress, Jaume Soley, stated “the participants will be able to explain their projects to the main partners of international chemistry” on occasion of the congress within the framework of Expoquimia, while the dean of the Escuela de Ingeniería del Instituto Químico de Sarrià and director of the local committee of the congress, Rosa Nomen, said “it will not only promote and facilitate exchange of know how but will also intensify participants’ capacity for entrepreneurship”.
Oriol Martínez, AEIC representative, who will be the director of the exhibition committee, said that the world congress, which will be held in Barcelona, “will represent the biggest showcase for chemical engineering that has ever occurred in our country; a big opportunity for the sector and the profession”.
Lastly, the director of Expoquimia, Pilar Navarro, expressed her satisfaction with Barcelona’s appointment as venue for this event. “Hosting the World Congress of Chemical Engineering gives enormous added value Expoquimia. The sum of these two events will turn Barcelona into southern Europe’s most meeting point between science and industry”, she said.
Barcelona, tradition in chemistry
The first ever Expoquimia took place in December 1965. After the 1968 and 1971 shows, Barcelona established its fair as a major meeting point for the chemical industry, held every three years as an international event.
In 1984, Expoquimia began to be held jointly with Eurosurfas, the International Paint and Surface Treatments Show. Three years later, in 1987, Equiplast, the International Plastics and Rubber Show, joined these two events, giving shape since then, every three years, to the Applied Chemistry Event of the Mediterranean, which makes Barcelona southern Europe’s capital of chemistry.
Barcelona’s experience in organising fairs and congresses is also undeniable, as is made manifest by the success of the Mobile World Congress, the leading global mobile communications event. In this sense, the city is second most popular meeting destination in the world ranking behind Vienna, according to the International Congress and Conventions Association, ICCA.
The next edition of Expoquimia will take place in October 2014.
Barcelona, April 2012