Pittcon 2019, the 70th annual conference and exposition for analytical chemistry and applied spectroscopy, saw an increase in attendance over last year’s Orlando event. Pittcon successfully congregated top scientists, instructors, speakers, researchers, and exhibiting companies in the historic city of Philadelphia, Pa. Some highlights of Pittcon 2019 include:
- $14.6 Million Economic Impact in Philadelphia, Pa.
- Nobel Laureate presented Wallace H. Coulter Lecture
- Approximately $9,000 raised for the PEAL Center
- Exhibiting Companies from 27 Countries
Increase in attendance over Pittcon 2018
This year’s event brought together 12,541 attendees and exhibitor personnel, an increase of 9.9% over last year’s attendance number. Pittcon’s global attendance has remained stable, with nearly 24.7% of attendees traveling from 93 countries outside of the United States. These top five countries were China, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom and Mexico. Attendees include lab managers, scientists, chemists, researchers and professors, from industrial, academic, and government backgrounds. They represent an equally broad number of scientific disciplines including life science, food science, drug discovery, environmental, forensics, nanotechnology, water/wastewater, energy/fuel, agriculture and bioterrorism.
Exposition offers many attendee engagement opportunities
The dynamic exposition floor (386,907 total sq. ft, 130,200 sq. ft. exhibits only) consisted of 713 exhibitors from 27 countries occupying 1234 booths displaying the latest innovations in instrumentation and technology used in laboratory science. This year, we welcomed 101 first-time exhibitors, many of whom took advantage of the high-trafficked New Exhibitors Area in the exhibit hall.
The exhibit hall was open for three days, Tuesday, March 19 – Thursday, March 21. To allow attendees ample time to visit the expo floor, there was an exhibits-only afternoon on Wednesday. A celebratory cake was cut for Pittcon’s 70th year on Wednesday afternoon and cupcakes were served to attendees.
Other Pittcon exhibit hall staples such as the Pittcon Park and NEXUS Theaters were a hit. The NEXUS Theaters had a packed schedule of 40 entertaining and informative presentations, panels and forums in a variety of topics including scientific marketing, diversity in STEM, lab management, cannabis and more.
The Pittcon Park boasted 40 DemoZone presentations from exhibitors, 2 Lab Gauntlets totaling 20 different challenges, LEGO® Gravity Car Racing, Virtual Reality Experiences, the Pittcon Booths, a pictorial look at Pittcon’s last 70 years and more.
The 2019 event sponsors included: Platinum Sponsor Shimadzu and Silver Sponsor Sartorius
The third annual Pittcon Today Excellence Awards recognized ingenuity and innovation at this year’s exposition. Finalists were selected by a blue chip panel of experts, who evaluated exhibitor entries based on ingenuity, creativity, implementation and outcomes. The awards were presented at each exhibitor booth recognizing gold, silver and bronze winners across three sales categories. Recipients include:
Less than $10,000,000 in sales category:
- GOLD: Gate Scientific, Inc. - SmartSENSE pH Sensing Stir Bar
- SILVER: Lumex Instruments.- AriaDNA
- BRONZE: Pendar Technologies– Pendar X10™
$10,000,000 - $100,000,000 in sales category:
- GOLD: Raptor Photonics Ltd.- OWL 1280 HD VIS-SWIR InGaAs detector
- SILVER: Tosoh Bioscience LLC - TSKgel FcR-IIIA-NPR Affinity HPLC Column for Fast Evaluation of ADCC Activity of Monoclonal Antibodies
- BRONZE: Metrohm USA - OMNIS Karl Fischer Titrator
Greater than $100,000,000 in sales category:
- GOLD: Shimadzu Scientific Instruments – Nexera UC Prep
- SILVER: Phenomenex - Zebron™ ZB-624PLUS GC Column
- BRONZE: Bruker AXS Inc – S6 JAGUAR Benchtop WDXRF
Robust Technical Program Offers Multiple Educational Opportunities
Pittcon offered more than 2,000 technical presentations presented in 66 symposia, 10 award sessions (14 awards presented), 10 oral sessions, 84 contributed sessions, 4 workshops and 41 poster sessions.
Nobel Laureate, Sir Fraser Stoddart gave the Wallace H. Coulter Lecture, “Serendipity Stokes Discovery: Disrupting Established Industries.” His talk focused on disruptive technologies and how they can be used to create a more sustainable world. For the second time, Pittcon also held a Plenary Lecture on Tuesday evening, “Preserving and Revealing History - Challenges of a Cultural Heritage Scientist.” Dr. Fenella France from the Library of Congress discussed the challenges one faces while working with one-of-a-kind artifacts and collections and how there is very little room for error. Both sessions were well attended and were followed by happy hour at Pub Pittcon.
The 35 Attendee Networking sessions provided a unique opportunity for collaboration in a roundtable setting to discuss particular topics. These facilitator-assisted gatherings covered several academic, industry, career development, and diversity topics.
Continuing Education Short Course Program Continues to Grow
The Short Course program offered an opportunity for skill-building training and continuing education for laboratory professionals at an affordable price. This year, 75 short courses were offered to 902 participants in wide variety of topics including analytical methods in environmental, food and life sciences; nanotechnology; water/wastewater; petroleum and pharmaceuticals. Lab management courses are also a significant part of the program and provide critical insight into the interpretation of the requirements of regulatory aspects, global guidelines, and laboratory standards.
Pittcon is looking to expand the Short Course program to include online courses throughout the year. The first course will be announced this spring, and will be scheduled for late summer or fall.
Employment Bureau Assists Attendees With Career Growth
Pittcon provides a free onsite employment service for candidates to review active job openings and for employers to review candidates’ credentials and resumes. The 2019 Employment Bureau reported there were 74 employers, 257 positions, 231 candidates and more than 255 interviews.
Pittcon raises approximately $9,000 for the PEAL Center
The charity focus of 2019 was the Parent Education & Advocacy Leadership (PEAL) Center. The Pittcon organizing committee, exhibitors, and attendees were able to raise $9,000 for the PEAL Center, as well as raise awareness for individuals with autism and other disabilities.
Pittcon makes the US TSNN Top 250 Shows Again
Pittcon has consistently remained on the United States Tradeshow News Network’s Top 250 Shows list. TSNN revealed the 2018 list, and Pittcon 2018 made the list again. Pittcon is excited and proud to remain one of the leading, and largest, annual scientific conferences in the US.
Source: https://pittcon.org/
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