Alles Gute zum Geburtstag! Analytica 2018 marks 50th anniversary

An international trade fair for laboratory technology, analytics and biotechnology will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year.

Analytica will take place from April 10-13, 2018 at Messe München in Germany.

Agilent, Anton Paar, Bio-Rad, Bruker, Buchi, Eppendorf, Gerstel, Metrohm, PerkinElmer, Shimadzu, Themo Fisher Scientific and Waters are among the exhibitors.

When the first analytica took place in 1968 many laboratory devices still had analogue displays.

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analytica 1970. Picture: analytica

There were no computers for automatic data collection, no high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and no coupling of gas chromatographs with mass spectrometers.

In the 1980s, new developments in gene and protein analysis were the focus and in the 1990s, the call for miniaturisation and automation became louder. At the 1990 edition, visitors could learn about laboratory information and management systems (LIMS).

A total of 5,000 visitors from 24 countries and 90 exhibitors from ten European countries met in Munich from 29 April to 2 May 1968, at the first “ANALYTICA - International Specialist Exhibition for Biochemical Analysis” (originally: „ANALYTICA Internationale Fachausstellung für biochemische Analysen“), which covered 5,000 square meters on the old grounds at Theresienwiese in Munich.

The trade fair has always been every two years and four years after launch it had visitor numbers of 9,400 and by 1978 it was approaching 20,000.

Analytica 2016 welcomed 35,002 visitors from 119 nations and apart from the US, UK and Germany, China was one of the countries with the highest number of exhibitors. Of the 1,244 firms at analytica 2016, 44% came from abroad from 40 countries.

Lectures in the 2018 edition will cover basic research to application in materials, bioanalysis and food to pharmaceutical analysis. It will also feature Live Labs, special shows and a forum program.