Special issue - towards PLAST 2012 (Milan, May, 8-12)

With less than a month to go before doors open to PLAST 2012 – the largest show of this year in Europe dedicated to the plastics and rubber industry – there are significant signs of success in the large number of visitors who have pre-registered on the website www.plastonline.org.
Many technological innovations and new applications have been pre-announced by Italian and foreign exhibitors (1,400 from 58 different countries). Visitors will find information on them at the above-mentioned PLAST website.
A part of the fairgrounds is set aside for RUBBER 2012, an exhibition within the exhibition organized in cooperation with the publisher EDIFIS and sponsored by the trade association ASSOGOMMA.
Another area that might interest those seeking to establish contacts with foreign companies, intending to prepare applied research projects, or desiring to benefit from technical training initiatives is the PLAST-Community in Hall 11 of Fiera Milano. The heterogeneous PLAST-Community includes a number of universities (Bergamo, Brescia, Castellanza, Naples, Palermo, Pisa, Milan Polytechnic), public and private technical training centres (CESAP, Istituto Sobrero, ITIS Natta, Plastlab, Poli.Design, Proplast) an information point on the foreign technical press, the stands of 30 trade associations representing the plastics and rubber processing industry in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Ecuador, Egypt, EL Salvador, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Mexico, Morocco, Paraguay, Peru, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela, and, lastly, information points for plastics and rubber fairs in Argentina, Egypt, India, Iran, Poland, Turkey, and the United States.
This has been a summary of some of the high points meriting attention at this year's PLAST, during which our magazine will also be represented at a stand in Hall 15.