InformexUSA to Return to New Orleans for 2012

PRINCETON, N.J., Feb., 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Informex, the leading meeting place for buyers and sellers of high-value chemistry for a broad range of applications, today announced that next year's event, the 28th installment of the show, will return to the home of Bourbon Street, Mardi Gras and Cajun food for 2012. The event will take place February 14-17, 2012 at the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans with the Hilton Riverside as the hosting hotel. Interest in the 2012 event has been so great that 67 exhibitors, including Albemarle Corporation, BASF, Piramal Healthcare, Lonza, and WeylChem Corporation, had already re-booked before the 2011 show opened its doors in Charlotte this week.

New Orleans has hosted InformexUSA many times, most recently in 2008. The advanced manufacturing industry in the region has the advantage of perfect location, unparalleled infrastructure, lucrative incentives and a talented workforce, making it an ideal location to host the annual event.

"As always, we are excited to be returning to Informex's 'spiritual home' of New Orleans, which is always a popular venue for our exhibitors and visitors, a fact underlined by the unprecedented level of early re-bookings," comments Jennifer Jessup, Global Brand Director of Informex. "There are more than 300 major chemical plants located in Louisiana which employs over 23,000 people. Louisiana alone exports nearly $4.5 billion in chemical products each year(1). This will be more important as the demand for US-made chemicals is predicted to increase in 2011 as the nation's economy continues to recover and maintains a trade surplus for the second year in a row(2)."

The Chemistry Innovations Poster Pavilion will return in New Orleans featuring innovators and academia. It is designed to allow companies to display their latest innovations, new products, technologies and services to influential industry players.  Open to both exhibitors and non-exhibitors, the Poster Pavilion is sure to attract notice from attendees in diverse sectors ranging from discovery stage innovations to new technology platforms.

For 2012, Informex will again present an educational conference program, which will run alongside the tradeshow. The conference sessions serve to provide an added information resource to attendees, as well as to provide a place for quality networking.

Also for 2012, show organizers will bring back the technology showcases. These sessions will offer sponsors a forum to display and present advances in their technologies. For the third time, InformexUSA will feature the Profiles in Sustainability Award, which was created to celebrate organizations that are at the forefront of innovation in sustainable chemistry. The award winning organizations will be chosen and announced by a panel of judges from the American Chemical Society, SOCMA, the leading trade press and academia.

In addition to the regular networking receptions, on Monday February 13th, InformexUSA will feature an exciting off-site networking event, similar to the event in Napa wine country when the show was held in San Francisco in 2010. Details of this event will be announced soon.

For further information on InformexUSA and online registration please visit: www.informex.com

UBM Live (UBMLive) is a wholly owned subsidiary of United Business Media plc (LSE: UBM) a leading provider of business information services to the maritime, travel, fashion, technology, healthcare, media, and property industries. UBM offers services in trade shows, online, news distribution, and publishing to customers across the globe. Its brands are represented in more than 30 countries and are organized into specialist teams that serve their business communities helping them excel in their market by working effectively and efficiently. For more information, go to www.ubmlive.com.

About Informex: Organized by UBM Live, Informex is the leading meeting place for buyers and sellers of high-value chemistry for a broad range of applications. As the premier, must-attend, event for the chemical industry for the past 27 years, Informex is a marketplace for networking and doing business in the fine, custom and specialty chemical manufacturing industry. The show traces its origin to a group of members from the Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Associates (SOCMA) who were looking for an annual place to meet and do business. Each year the event brings together an international mix of more than 4,000 fine and specialty chemicals professionals and 500 exhibitors for the all encompassing, 4 day event.

(1)  http://gnoinc.org/industry-sectors/energy-petroleum-plastic

(2)  http://www.icis.com/Articles/2011/01/03/9419971/OUTLOOK-11-US-chems-to-grow-on-recovery-exports.html

SOURCE Informex