Successful once again

ICCX Middle East 2019 confirms its commitment to quality

The ICCX Middle East 2019 was once again a great success with about 850 participants representing more than 500 specialised companies from the concrete and precast concrete industries. This third edition took place on 24-25^th November 2019 at Sharjah Expo Centre, United Arab Emirates. With its focus on the concrete and precast concrete sectors, the event clearly continues to be a unique feature that quite obviously meets the needs in this industry.

International Concrete Conference & Exhibitions – ICCX – are held as events spread over several days at different places throughout the world, currently at St. Petersburg, Warsaw, Bonn, Verona and in future also in Accra/Ghana, amongst others. The special feature with all ICCX events is their clear commitment to the concrete and precast concrete industries that, as a consequence, attracts a trade public geared to this industry. The compact, targeted event organised over two days in November in Sharjah had already become established as the new meeting place for the region’s sector with the launch event in 2017.

The ICCX Middle East is ceremonially opened by His Excellency Marwan bin Jassim Al Sarkal, CEO of the Sharjah Investment & Development Authority (Shurooq), and has received his support since the outset. It is also held under the patronage of His Excellency Saif Mohammed Al Midfa, CEO of the Expo Center Sharjah. Numerous other powerful supporters, such as the German Emirati Joint Council for Industry & Commerce (AHK), fib, Sharjah Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Medma lent their support to the 2019 edition.

Tradeshow with participation from the local industry

Visitors to the tradeshow at the ICCX Middle East were able to meet leading supply firms of the concrete and precast concrete industries from many countries of the world. Machine and systems suppliers exhibited along with consultancy service providers and displayed their products and services to the visitors.

A special feature of the ICCX Middle East tradeshow, when compared with other ICCX Events in differing regions, was that the local concrete industry (precasters) also presented and displayed their portfolio of projects that had been carried out or were currently in planning. It also means that the ICCX visitor value-added chain has been enlarged from machine and system designers and constructors to producers and project developers, who have recognised the advantages of constructing with precast elements and products and who are planning new projects particularly in view of the upcoming Expo 2020.

Ceremonial opening

In the presence of Dr. Holger Karutz, managing partner of ad-media GmbH, Andreas Wegner, Deputy Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany and Oliver Oehms, CEO of German Emirati Joint Council for Industry & Commerce (AHK), His Excellency Marwan bin Jassim Al Sarkal cut the ceremonial opening ribbon. In his inaugural address, His Excellency underscored the fact that the ICCX Middle East has very successfully played an important role in developing the construction industry in Sharjah and continues to enrich both its current and new prospects for partnerships with international experts and suppliers. It was a great pleasure for him to be able to take part in this growing B2B conference, which functions as a central point of contact for everything that has to do with the topics of construction, concrete and precast technology.

Adaptation through targeted demand

New this year was a session about autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) as a construction material. Here, discussions took in interesting aspects of planning, manufacturing and implementing this construction material, which is booming in the UAE. Complementary to this, a workshop was held by Medma (drymix.info), a cooperation partner, on the subject of dry mortar. Dry mortar has several interfaces with the concrete industry both with the visitors and likewise exhibiting companies.

Parallel to the official ICCX lecture programme, the fib UAE, together with the Society of Engineers, under the leadership of Prof. Sherif Yehia (Sharjah University), offered a further-training seminar for engineers that also took place in the Sharjah Expo Centre.

Outlook

Since, directly after the event, three-quarters of the exhibitors were already in favor of again participating in a 2020 edition, the date for the ICCX Middle East was immediately scheduled and confirmed. On 22^nd and 23^rd November 2020, experts from the concrete industry in the Middle East will come together for the fourth time in the Sharjah Expo Centre to foster business relations, extend networking structures and do business.