Germany: IFAT 2014 brings together watertech from around the world

IFAT 2014 brings together watertech. The world’s biggest trade show for environmental technology IFAT – taking place between May 5 and 9, 2014 in Munich (Germany) – will showcase important innovations designed to meet the environmental challenges in regions around the world. Around 3,000 exhibitors from 50 different countries will present their latest’s products and service for treatment of waste and water. Some 125,000 visitors are expected.

On the eve of the event the organiser, Messe München, reports significant new business potential is opening up in a number of different markets. For instance, Germany’s Federal Statistical Office reported early this year, in 2011 German manufacturers invested a total of 2.9 billion euros in the
protection of surface waters and ground water, for example in neutralization and sewage plant. Nevertheless the German market in the water sector is seen as virtually saturated, according to the German Water Partnership (GWP). Since 2008 this network of companies has therefore been identifying interesting markets abroad. One of the countries currently attracting renewed interest is Iran. Dr. Shahrooz Mohajeri, Managing Director of the Berlin-based inter 3 Institute for

Resource
Management and GWP Board Member, reports that “the Iranian water economy is facing the challenge of supplying more and more drinking water to a rapidly rising number of households, in the face of diminishing and ever poorer-quality water resources with wide differences in regional
distribution.”

Removal international sanctions
Together with the easing and possible removal of international sanctions against Iran by summer this year, significant potential would result for the international water sector. The Iranian government is planning, for example, to modernize the country’s drinking water plant and to build additional desalination facilities. Other focuses in terms of water and wastewater management in Iran are to extend the sewerage networks and treatment plants in the cities and build new installations in rural areas. A sum of around 25 million euros is to be invested in the coming years solely in connecting more households in urban areas to the municipal sewerage network – today only around 37 percent of properties are connected, and the plan is to increase this to 65 percent by 2025.

Jobs

Highlights of the event programme include: Think Green – Think Future / Research, education, continuous development. This year, for the first time at IFAT, a job center is being set up. In Hall B0 exhibitors will be able to present their companies to applicants of all levels of experience, and conduct talks with these prospective new employees. The motto for Hall B0 is “Think Green – Think Future”. The focus will be on research, education and continuous development. A Research & Education Area is being set up here, at which again 20 universities and other higher-education institutions will be presenting insights into their educational and research activities. The Job Center is being organized by Messe München International in close cooperation with the DWA (German Association for Water, Wastewater and Waste).

IESP Workshop
Taking place on 6 May, in the ICM – Internationales Congress Center München, is a one-day IESP Workshop entitled “Intelligent Peri-Urbanization through Decentralization – Towards an Overarching Approach to Sustainable Water Management”. The event is being organized by the International Expert Group on Earth System Preservation (IESP) in close cooperation with the Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection (StMUV), the Institute for Advanced Study, Technical University of Munich (TUM-IAS), the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences (CRAES) and Messe München International. The workshop is being supported by the German Water Partnership (GWP).

Meeting Point Pumps
Pumpe DE, a long-standing participant in IFAT, is organizing the Meeting Point PUMPS for the third time at the show. Covering over 80 square meters of space in Hall A6, this joint stand is a magnet for all trade visitors involved in pumps and pump systems, on the manufacturing, research and development or applications side.