During SOCMA’s annual dinner in New York on 8 December, a preliminary announcement was made that Chemspec, the leading trade show for the fine and speciality chemicals industry worldwide, will be launched in the USA on 3-5 May 2011 at the Philadelphia Convention Centre. Full details will follow with the official launch due on 1 February 2010.

Steve Diprose, vice-president of the Chemicals division at Quartz Business Media, organiser of the Chemspec events world-wide and publisher of Speciality Chemicals Magazine, was at the event to inform SOCMA members about the plans for Chemspec USA 2011. Also present were Paul Michael, managing director of Quartz, John Lane, sales director of the Chemicals division, and Ben Jones, global consultant to the Chemspec events.

Philadelphia was chosen in part because of its convenience as a location, Diprose said. In all, 60% of SOCMA members and 27% of American Chemical Society (ACS) members are based within 100 miles of the city. In addition, the key customer of the fine chemicals industry, pharmaceuticals, is heavily concentrated in the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

According to a recent report by the Milken Institute (www.milkeninstitute.org) entitled ‘The Greater Philadelphia Life Sciences Cluster 2009: An Economic & Comparative Assessment’, the life sciences  – allowing for ripple effects – accounted for 380,800 jobs and generated $39.7 billion worth of output in Greater Philadelphia in 2007. This equates to one of every six jobs and 15% of all economic activity.

Greater Philadelphia has a wide range of university research, teaching hospitals and spin-out companies, well supported by a network of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and professional services. Indeed, the report ranked it as the single most important life sciences cluster in the US.

The Milken Institute scored ten metropolitan regions in a ‘Current Impact Composite’ under three headings. Greater Philadelphia ranked first overall with a score of 100, ahead of Greater New York (93), Boston (91) and Greater San Francisco (81). It came first in therapeutics and devices and supporting industries, scoring 100 in each, and second in ‘healthcare industries’, with 81.

A more general ‘Overall Composite Index’ gave Greater Philadelphia a mark of 97.7, second behind Boston. Greater Philadelphia topped the rankings with 100 for ‘current impact’ (the economic impact and growth of the life sciences, including pharmaceuticals and biotechnology) and third with 91.3 for ‘innovation pipeline’ (comprising such factors as R&D capacity, risk and human capital, workforce and innovation output).

The launch of Chemspec USA also reflects the general renaissance of the flagship Chemspec Europe show. This has in recent years developed from a trade show to a networking event with a host of side features, such as the Pharmaspec and REACH Corner areas of the show floor, with their associated presentations, and the Royal Society of Chemistry symposium.

Chemspec Europe 2010, which takes place in Berlin on 17-18 June, will see the return of some industry heavyweights, notably DSM, and several leading fine chemicals and APIs manufacturers, such as Hovione and Siegfried, present as exhibitors for the first time, as well as such perennial leaders as BASF and Saltigo. Meanwhile, Chemspec India 2010 in Mumbai on 14-15 April, will see the launch of SOCMA’s first India Gala Dinner.

Earlier it was announced that Edward M. Black had joined Speciality Chemicals Magazine as North American sales agent. Black formerly worked with Ben Jones as manager of south-eastern and south-western Operations with Centcom, the ACS’s publications advertising group, and was also director of new business for all of Centcom’s show daily publications.