World News

Industry news and insights from Europe and around the World

UK News

Latest news and developments in the United Kingdom

Products

Keep up-to-date with the latest new products and technology

Features

General articles, applications and industry analysis

German decision boosts Chillventa prospects

GERMANY: Prospects for this year’s Chillventa show improved this week when the German government decreed that exhibitions will no longer be regarded as mass events under coronavirus restrictions.

The individual German federal states will decide in future, as to when exhibitions can be realised, if guidelines for hygiene and personal distance are fulfilled. 

Jörn Holtmeier, managing director of AUMA, Germany’s trade fair association described the news as an “important step” towards “rebooting” the trade fair industry. 

“As exhibitions are platforms for innovation and cooperation, they will stimulate the recovery of the German economy in the short and medium run,” he said. “The German exhibition organisers and AUMA, too, are prepared to provide the responsible authorities with expertise and experience concerning the realisation of exhibitions.” 

AUMA says it has already prepared recommendations that meet these high demands for hygiene and personal distance.

“The step-by-step reopening of hotels and restaurants, planned by the federal states, is an important signal for exhibitions,” Holtmeier added. “The reopening of borders and the resumption of transnational business traffic, too, are crucial for the success of exhibitions in the second half of the year.”

Chillventa, the refrigeration and air conditioning industry’s leading biennial meeting place, scheduled to take place in Nuremberg from 13-15 October, is under close scrutiny. Earlier this week, the organiser announced an online survey to gauge opinions on the event’s viability under coronavirus restrictions.

It is unclear what effect any worldwide travel restrictions in place in the autumn might have on the show’s international status and what measures might need to be taken to manage visitor density.

Related stories:

Serious concern over Chillventa 2020 – 4 May 2020
GERMANY: The Chillventa 2020 organiser is facing the possibility that this year’s event might not happen or, if it does, it may be more national in content. Read more…

Latest News

5th May 2026

Solid-state cooling company raises $10m

UK: Barocal, a Cambridge-based deep company developing solid-state cooling and heating systems, has raised $10m to accelerate development and scale its engineering team ahead of commercial deployment.
4th May 2026

Energy crisis boosts European heat pump sales

BELGIUM: Sales of residential heat pumps are said to have increased by an average of 25% in France, Germany and Poland in the first quarter of 2026.
4th May 2026

US customs to auction 15 tonnes of seized refrigerant

USA: The US Customs and Border Protection is to auction approximately 15 tonnes of HFC refrigerants seized in actions by its officers. 
3rd May 2026

Skills gap: the answer’s already on the van

Will Overton, director of Vectis Refrigeration and founder of the Wisdom Group FM, argues that the skills gap in refrigeration and HVAC is not a training problem: it is a…
3rd May 2026

Qvantum’s R290 water-source heat pump

UK: Qvantum has launched a new R290 water-to-water heat pump for communal ground-source systems and individual ground source projects.
3rd May 2026

IOR briefs on heat recovery

UK: The Institute of Refrigeration has published the first in a new series of Technology Briefs on the topic of heat recovery.