European Coatings Show Continues to Grow

By Kerry Pianoforte, Editor | 04.13.17

The ECS broke attendance records from previous show.

Final attendance figures confirm that this was the largest European Coatings Show (ECS) to date. Held April 4-6 in Nuremberg, Germany, the ECS attracted 30,198 visitors from more than 100 countries. The ECS had more than 1,100 exhibitors in seven halls.

"Even before the ECS opened its doors, visitors were waiting outside, eager to dive into the world of coatings. Halls and stands were brimming with life. Everyone was taking the opportunity of meeting face to face to find out about products and to connect with business partners,” said Amanda Beyer, head of events at Vincentz Network, co-organizer of the show.

Exhibiting companies presented innovative and new products and services for every aspect of paints, coatings and sealants production. In particular, waterborne systems, food contact, bio-based coatings, antimicrobial coatings and automatization in coatings production seemed to be trending topics, according to the show’s organizers.

Both exhibitors and attendees were impressed with this year’s show.

Angus Chemical Company was a first-time exhibitor at ECS. “We were very pleased with the show, said Matthieu Perdon, regional marketing manager at Angus. “We have been very busy and have had lots of traffic at our booth. We will definitely be attending ECS in 2019.”

Claudio Brocani, production and logistics manager for Sestriere Vernici, an OEM and architectural coatings specialist from Torino, Italy, said that he found the show to be good for gathering technical information. “It’s good,” Brocani said. “There’s a lot of suppliers and possibilities to meet their technical people.”

Victor Hernandez, technical director for Lanco Manufacturing Corp., an architectural and industrial coatings specialist headquartered in Puerto Rico, was pleased with the show as well. “It’s the biggest show,” Hernandez observed. “There are a lot of people here. It’s perfect for us.”

Global ink manufacturers also reported that the ECS was a strong show for them. Emad Takla, president and CEO of Enkana Printing Inks, Egypt’s largest liquid ink producer, said that he finds what he needs at the show. 

“The European Coatings Show is a great show,” Takla said. “We can meet with all of our suppliers here and find everything we need, from raw materials to machines."


The European Coatings Show Conference on April 3-4 also grew in scope. The Conference had over 840 participants from approximately 50 countries  and set another record.

The winner of the European Coatings Show Award for best paper for the 2017 European Coatings Show Conference was Bas Tuijtelaars and his team at DSM Coating Resins in The Netherlands. The title of the award-winning paper is "Health risk-free resins for a better future, based on fatty acid modified polyurethane dispersions.”



The next European Coatings Show will be held at the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg from March 19-21 2019.