IDS 2015 breaks its own record... again

The 36th International Dental Show - IDS 2015 - has come and gone for another two years and again broken all the records. Some 138,500 visitors from 151 countries attended the world’s leading trade fair for the dental industry... including a few hundred from Australia and New Zealand looking for the next big thing.

Seeing everything at IDS is an exercise in logistics as much as anything else. IDS runs for a full 5 days - from Tuesday to Saturday - which sounds like a long time, but it evaporates quickly! This year, there were 2,201 exhibitors spread over 11 exhibition halls, occupying 157,000m².

To put that into perspective, a typical major dental exhibition in Australia fills around 10,000 square metres... so think ADX and multiply by 15.

At IDS 2015, on a gross exhibition area of 157,000 m² (2013: 147,900 m²), 2,201 companies from 56 countries participated (2013: 2,058 companies from 56 countries). These included 658 exhibitors from Germany as well as 1,543 exhibitors from abroad. Including estimates for the last day of the fair, around 138,500 trade visitors from 151 countries attended IDS (2013: 125,000 trade visitors from 149 countries), approximately 51 percent of whom came from abroad.

IDS is literally the epicenter of dental innovation. For five days, you can see every player in the dental market in one place. You can talk to decision makers; you can speak to R&D teams; and you can see into the future of dentistry (though much of what you see in that future never eventuates in its current form or at all).

Overall, IDS 2015 focused on the intelligent networking of components for computer-controlled dentistry. Today, the world of digital systems in diagnostics and production encompasses the entire workflow from clinical practice through to the laboratory. Computer-controlled workflows are continually expanding the options and indications for use every day.

In this edition as well as upcoming editions in 2015, we will continue to report on the latest and greatest from the one dental exhibition that sets the tone for the next two years and beyond.

For a wrap-up of IDS 2015 from a CAD/CAM and dental technology perspective, read Terry Whitty’s report starting on page 24 of eLABORATE Mar/Apr 2015.

For more images from IDS 2015, visit instagram.com/dentevents

IDS 2017 runs 21-25 March 2017.