Chillventa 2020 cancelled

Chillventa 2020, a prominent Germany-based biennial event on the European HVAC&R calendar, has been cancelled. While a digital congress has now been scheduled to take place on the original dates (October 13-15), the next Chillventa will be held on October 11-13, 2022.

For its tenth outing in 2018, the European event had surpassed 1,000 exhibitors for the first time, attracting a total of 35,490 visitors.

Citing travel restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and economic uncertainty as primary reasons, show organiser NürnbergMesse GmbH said that the decision to cancel this year’s event was partly based on survey results.  

“This wasn’t an easy decision,” says member of the management board of NürnbergMesse Petra Wolf.

“To gauge the mood of the industry, we carried out an extensive survey of the more than 800 exhibitors from around the world who registered for 2020 and all the visitors who attended Chillventa 2018. The results informed our decision to cancel Chillventa for this year.”

The viability of the Nuremberg-based event had been in question since Wolf admitted in May that the coronavirus epidemic situation was “a matter of serious concern” for autumn events like Chillventa.

It was revealed then that in Germany alone, 469 exhibitions had been cancelled, including around 20 cancelled or postponed at the NürnbergMesse, the venue where Chillventa would have been held. 

The decision to cancel was made following discussions with Chillventa’s Exhibition Advisory Board, and its international network of representatives. The feedback of participants to an online survey conducted in May was also taken into consideration.

The survey results showed that concerns stemming from the current global uncertainty in the HVAC&R industry, dampened investor confidence and international travel restrictions would deter the participation of trade fair visitors and exhibitors.

“We are very grateful for the many candid and constructive conversations we have had with our exhibitors, professional associations and the Exhibition Advisory Board in recent weeks, all of which have helped us with our decision-making process,” says NürnbergMesse GmbH. 

“From the outset, Chillventa has enjoyed an extremely high level of international participation – about 70 per cent in the case of exhibitors and about 60 per cent for its visitors,” says Chillventa exhibition director Daniela Heinkel.

“This year, we would be unlikely to achieve the level of international participation that’s important to both our exhibitors and trade visitors, considering the current international travel restrictions and the economic situation as a whole. So by deciding not to hold the exhibition again for a further two years, we are lining up for a successful Chillventa at the Nuremberg exhibition venue in 2022.”

According to Wolf, there is a possibility that parts of the Chillventa event, such as the Chillventa Congress, may be taken online.