The international nonwovens community came together once again in Geneva this week for INDEX™23. Attendees were delighted to see such a global presence, with 610 exhibitors from 43 countries showcasing their products over 50,000 m² of gross exhibition space. This represented a significant increase in exhibitors compared with 2021 and is a clear indication that the entire nonwovens industry is back in business. The number of attendees also increased, with 12,017 visitor entries from over 100 countries joining the event.
Confirming the attraction of this unique event, exhibitors made the most of the four intensive days to meet potential new customers and extend business with existing clients. As the world’s leading nonwovens exhibition, INDEX™ once again presented an exceptional opportunity to demonstrate the latest breakthroughs and innovative developments across all nonwovens’ applications to thousands of visitors from around the world.
The INDEX™ Lab, an exchange hub displaying samples from innovations and new developments, also showcased the winners and runners up from each of the five categories of the INDEX™ Innovation Award. Open to any EDANA member company or exhibitor at INDEX™23, the winners were announced on the first day of the exhibition during a dedicated ceremony at the EDANA stand. The “Nonwovens Journey”, an immersive experience that takes a look at the innovative role of nonwovens, as well as how innovation has progressed in time around both sustainability, and how nonwovens are used in everyday life, also allowed visitors to discover the versatility of nonwovens.
“We are here to do business, but the nonwovens industry showed me that our supply chain is also one big family,” said Murat Dogru, EDANA’s General Manager. “It was a real pleasure to see the industry reunited once again in person to exchange, smile, negotiate, network, debate, and much more as we addressed challenges and discussed innovations.”
“It has been heart-warming to see so many representatives from the younger generations who feed the industry’s need in terms of new ideas, sustainable solutions, and business architecture”, added Pieter Meijer, Chairman of the INDEX™ Advisory Board.
Running alongside the exhibition itself, there was also a full programme of side events that were enjoyed by participants: Exhibitor Product Presentations from 33 exhibitors; a series of informative seminars covering a myriad of topics including medical nonwovens, sustainability, circular economy, geosynthetics, textiles, mobility, fair trade, gender equity, innovation, and market trends; country-specific briefings offering insights into the nonwovens market in various regions around the world; and a nonwovens tutorial intended as an induction to nonwovens for those new to the industry. These topics were all presented by leading industry experts and guest speakers, including among others, the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Concern for the environment has in recent years become increasingly important, and once again remained a key topic at INDEX™23, with companies pushing to achieve further CO² reductions and circularity across the supply chain.
Continuing on from its success during COVID-19, the INDEX™23 Mobile App and Virtual Platform was back. This tool offered participants – both in Geneva and those following from home – the chance to watch presentations live and interact with speakers, exhibitors, and other participants. Attendees were able to plan their visit and organize meetings, which was highly appreciated. Video recordings from the sessions will remain available online in the app and platform for the coming weeks.
“As INDEX™23 comes to a close, we are pleased to announce that INDEX™26 will take place as usual in three years from 21-24 April 2026 and look forward to welcoming the nonwovens community here again at Palexpo, in Geneva, and discovering how much further our dynamically evolving industry has progressed”, said Magali Fakhry Dufresne, Director of INDEX™.
“Based on my previous experience with trade shows and everything that I heard from our members since I arrived at EDANA, my expectations for INDEX™ were already extremely high, but even so I was still blown away. It was an exceptional week, from the moment I first stepped foot in Geneva on Sunday, until now, the last day of my first INDEX™. The future of this exhibition looks really bright, and I’m excited to work with the EDANA and Palexpo teams to see how we can continue to flourish and evolve for the next edition,” concluded Dogru.
For more information about the exhibition, please visit the dedicated INDEX™23 website: http://www.indexnonwovens.com. To view the list of INDEX™ Award winners: https://www.edana.org/about-us/news/index-awards-2023-winning-entries.