Dubai hosts the world’s leading energy and lighting exhibition

Scott E Nolen, Director of Marketing, Power Generation, Rolls Royce, said, “It’s our first time at the show, and we came because the demand for energy and power products is on the increase. We have already had some good successes in the region, and have sold 6 units into Qatar for the Dolphin Gas project, plus 2 engines are being installed in Sharjah at SEWA’s Wasit Plant. There has been a fantastic level of interest on the stand, and during the show we spoke to visitors from just about every country in the region. Middle East Electricity is a big show - easily as big as PowerGen in Cologne and the show in Orlando, Florida if not bigger. We have seen more visitors at this show than those two combined.”

The show, which this year featured over 850 exhibitors from 53 countries, attracted an all time record total visitor attendance - independently audited visitor numbers showed a year on year increase of 41% against 2006.

“Not only was this the largest Middle East Electricity Exhibition ever staged,” said Sarah Woodbridge, Group Director Exhibitions, IIR Middle East - organisers of the event - “It was also highly productive, both in terms of business generation and as an essential forum for the industry. Feedback from exhibitors and visitors confirms that the effectiveness of the exhibition is still on the increase - this is the result of the process of continual development that resulted in a dedicated focus on lighting, gas and new & renewable energy in previous years and the debut this year of a further focus area for the water industry - great interest was shown, particularly in the highly topical areas of desalination and wastewater, and visitors had the invaluable opportunity to meet some of the world’s leading experts during the show.”

Greatly expanded for this year’s show, Lighting at Middle East Electricity, the region’s largest, longest-running lighting exhibition, strengthened its international reputation as the most important event for the industrial, commercial and residential lighting sectors -covering over 4,500 square metres and featuring more than 300 lighting related companies, it also proved to be highly effective in generating business.

'It was our first time at MEE and it has proven to be a phenomenal success for us. We were amazed at the range and internationalism of visitors to our stand,” said Marie Johnston, Managing Director of Johnston Lighting and Accessories.

It wasn’t just new exhibitors that were impressed by the scale and power of the event - regular exhibitors from all over the world and from all sectors of the energy industry also enjoyed great success at Middle East Electricity 2007.

“We first took part at Middle East Electricity in 2001, and have been regular exhibitors ever since. Our participation at the show has always been very rewarding, and it is a very successful platform to reach the most important professionals from the energy sector - as a result of contacts made during this year’s show we expect a number of orders to be forthcoming,“ said Dr Yahya Shakweh, VP Corporate Development, Advanced Electronics Co., Ltd., Saudi Arabia. “We use our presence at Middle East Electricity to network, promote our brand and especially to find agents throughout the Middle East. We recently exported 14,000 of our digital meters to Syria, and see potential for further export orders. Last year, our business grew by 300%, and Middle East Electricity played a part in that.”

“We’ve been at Middle East Electricity many times now, as the Middle East is our largest market for the Tenby range of domestic wiring accessories,” said Karen Littlechild, Export Coordinator, Tenby UK. “The show went very well for us, and was even better than last year - with more visitors overall and more traffic on our stand, it met all of our expectations. We primarily came to make contact with existing customers, but Kenya is a new growth region for us, and Dubai’s strategic position makes it ideal to meet potential customers from North Africa.”

With a record number of re-bookings already confirmed during the show, the organisers are confident that 2008 will see the event continuing its incredible growth, further enhancing Dubai’s place on the international trade fair calendar.