I GUESS it had to happen. The organisers of IKK, the German show that grew to become the leading European air conditioning and refrigeration event over the best part of the last 30 years, is no more.
In the face of head-to-head competition from a new show backed by most of the leading manufacturers and suppliers in the industry, the organisers have given up the unequal struggle and cancelled this year’s event.

Its demise may be all part of the cut and thrust of commercial life but there are no winners – at least in the short term. The whole episode is a lesson in how intransigence, pride, commercial interests and selfishness has done a major disservice to the air conditioning and refrigeration business as a whole.

On the one side we had a large number of exhibitors intent on the exhibition moving from its annual two-centre frequency to a biennial event based in the quaint, if not easily accessible, city of Nuremberg. On the opposing side we had the VDKF, the German contractors association and owners of the IKK event looking to maintain the show as an annual event or risk a 50% reduction in the revenues which were a vital element of its own funding.

It could be argued that as IKK grew to become a major international event, a nationally-based association was perhaps the wrong type of organisation to understand the needs of its internationally-led exhibitors but some might now also question whether a group of major international companies with their own powerful commercial interests are any better placed.

Either way, the Chillventa exhibition, which now stands unchallenged, is currently unlikely to match the size of the last IKK. Many former exhibitors, unsure as to which exhibition would win out,took the opportunity to “sit on the fence” with many having now spent their exhibition budget elsewhere. Whether they can be attracted in to future shows only time will tell.

It will also be interesting to see how many visitors the new event will attract. Surveys by our own website have suggested that many potential visitors are still unaware of the changes and it will take a considerable marketing effort by the organisers to ensure that visitors turn up in sufficient numbers and quality to ensure the exhibitors find their particpation worthwhile.

Neil Everitt Editor