Covid-19: Four more events postponed

At the end of June, three more major exhibitions that attract high attendances from the fine and speciality chemicals and which were due to take place in the autumn, were cancelled or postponed to 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic: CPhI Worldwide, In-Cosmetics, ChemUK and Making Pharmaceuticals. This leaves only Chemspec Europe among the major events still going ahead, as things stand.

Organiser UBM has cancelled the CPhI Worldwide that was due to take place in Milan on 13-15 October. They said that they were confident of being able to deliver a safe and secure event, but that, “with other countries and locations at different stages of recovery from COVID-19 and with international travel only returning gradually”, it would have been difficult to ensure the usual “level of participation and high-quality, in-person experience”. I

n its place, UBM is launching the ‘Festival of Pharma’, which will run on 5-16 October. This is described as the “world’s largest pharmaceutical virtual meeting”, combining an online expo with presentations and networking opportunities. Over 20,000 attendees from over 700 companies are expected to participate.

Likewise, Reed Exhibitions has postponed In-Cosmetics Global for the third time. The next show will take place, still in Barcelona as envisaged for this year, on 13-15 April 2021. As with CPhI Worldwide, there will be a virtual event on dates to be confirmed in October .

Over 80% of In-Cosmetics Global attendees are international from countries at different stages of the global pandemic and with varying government advice and travel restrictions, so we concluded 2020 is not a viable time to hold a live event in Europe,” Reed said. In-Cosmetics Latin America and North America will also not take place this year for the same reasons. However, with business recovery in the region and the ongoing discussions to re-open borders for business travel, there are as yet no plans to change the dates of In-Cosmetics Asia in Bangkok on 3-5 November.

Despite the show being UK-specific, ChemUK 2020 has also been postponed due to the “continued uncertainties regarding Covid-19 disruption to individuals, organisations and businesses”. It will return on 12-13 May 2021 at the new venue of the NEC in Birmingham, thus allowing it to expand to 300+ exhibitors and 120+ speakers, the organisers, UK Industry Events, said.

Similarly, the small-stand Making Pharmaceuticals event has been put back from 26-27 October to 6-7 July 2021, still at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, UK. The organisers said that “organising an event with two-metre social distancing measures whilst feasible, is impractical”, because it restricts the layout, access and flow of attendees, thus diminishing the value of a face-to-face event.