Pittcon 2009 reported today that 19,018 attendees from 90 countries participated in the annual Conference and Exposition, which was held in Chicago, IL from March 8 to March 13. The scientific event was marked by a 6% increase in conferees over Pittcon 2008. A detailed summary of attendance statistics is available at www.pittcon.org.
Pittcon 2009 President Ed Ladner commented, "Overall, we are extremely pleased that this year's growth in conferee attendance exceeded expectations, particularly during a time when there is so much economic uncertainty. The strong attendance is testimony to the value that Pittcon brings to the global scientific community. We are very grateful for the support of our exhibiting companies and all of the scientists who make Pittcon the premier scientific event every year.”
The Exposition included 1,006 exhibiting companies, occupying 2,249 booths, who showcased their latest laboratory instrumentation, equipment and services across a broad range of products and technologies, including separation sciences, mass spectrometry, spectroscopy, nanotechnology, laboratory automation and informatics. More than 100 companies exhibited at Pittcon for the first time. The Exposition also featured a new area called the Green Corner where 13 companies displayed products and services for green chemistry solutions, resource conservation and laboratory pollution prevention techniques. “The value of the Exposition has always been the ability for conferees to get a first-hand look at new products and to engage in face-to-face interaction with the technical experts from the exhibiting companies,” said Penny Gardner, Pittcon 2009 Exposition Chairwoman.
Pittcon 2009 also recognized Mallinckrodt Baker and Matheson Tri-Gas for achieving a significant milestone as 50-Year Pittcon Exhibitors and for their continued commitment to Pittcon and the scientific community.
The comprehensive Technical Program included more than 2,200 individual presentations distributed among Invited Symposia, Organized Contributed Sessions, Achievement Awards, Workshops, and Poster presentations. More than 100 invited speakers addressed topics of global interest, including alternative and sustainable energy, food and drug safety, environmental issues, new materials development, and bioanalytical techniques. Dr. George M. Whitesides, the Woodford L. and Ann A. Flowers University Professor at Harvard University Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology delivered the plenary lecture to a near capacity crowd of 1,000 attendees on Paper Diagnostics?Using First World Science in Developing Economies. Dr. Whitesides presented new technology that he believes has great potential to enable low-cost diagnostic solutions for developing countries.
Pittcon 2009 Program Chairman, Mitch Johnson, said: “The Pittcon technical program continues to be sustained by our core technologies in analytical chemistry and spectroscopy. However, new, novel applications of these core technologies continue to expand the program into the life sciences, pharmaceutical and other areas of growing interest.”
More than 1,500 Conferees also took advantage of the educational opportunities afforded by the Pittcon Short Course program, which offered 100 courses in 60 topics areas.
Pittcon continued to grow its community through co-programming partnerships with external scientific organizations. Pittcon 2009 welcomed the American Chemical Society Division of Analytical Chemistry (ACS-DAC) for their contributions to the Technical Program for the third consecutive year. Pittcon also hosted symposia, workshops and presentations from the Japanese Analytical Instrument Manufacturers Association (JAIMA), Society for Applied Spectroscopy (SAS), Society of Electroanalytical Chemistry (SEAC) and the Analytical Laboratory Managers Association (ALMA). Pittcon has also collaborated with the Professional’s Network in Advanced Instrumentation Society (PAI-NET) in Japan and look forward to future co-programming.
Networking opportunities were abundant at Pittcon 2009. In addition to the ongoing informal interactions during the Conference and Exposition week, this year’s program included 35 networking sessions on a variety of topics and was attended by 430 participants.
“We are greatly encouraged by Pittcon’s success in 2009 and look forward to continuing our mission to facilitate productive face-to-face scientific interaction as the premier annual forum for the laboratory science industry,” Mr. Ladner concluded.
For final statistics on Pittcon 2009 and preliminary information on Pittcon 2010, which will be held February 25 – March 5, in Orlando, FL USA, visit www.pittcon.org, contact us at 800-825-3221 x 203, or send an email to [email protected].