IFEAT 2017 Athens Conference Report

The IFEAT 2017 Conference was held in the beautiful and historic city of Athens, Greece, at the InterContinental Athenaeum Hotel, from Sunday 24th – Thursday 28th September.

The Welcome Reception, held at the InterContinental hotel on Sunday 24th September, was attended by over 900* delegates and accompanying persons. Guests were greeted by Greek priestesses who presented them with a traditional olive wreath, before they moved into the cocktail reception to enjoy a wide range of canapés and drinks. The Welcome Reception is always popular and is particularly enjoyed as the first opportunity for people to see old acquaintances and meet new people. This year’s Conference was somewhat special as we celebrated 40 years since IFEAT’s inception in Kyoto in 1977 and we welcomed a record number of 1,237 delegates (1,098 of which are IFEAT members) from 59 different countries, representing 639 different companies/subsidiaries. We also welcomed a record number of 105 accompanying persons. The record attendance levels continued throughout the Conference at the plenary sessions and the Closing Banquet*.

Not only did we celebrate the history of IFEAT, but we looked at the first steps into the ongoing journey of 40 centuries of perfumery. On Monday 25th September, IFEAT Athens Conference Chairman, Dominique Roques, formally opened the Conference by welcoming everybody to Athens and summarised what was to come over the forthcoming 4 days. “We are fortunate to have brought together an impressive range of talent who will deliver some highly interesting presentations”. Celebration opened the Conference on this first morning with a special presentation by Dr Wladyslaw S. Brud and Mr Richard C. Pisano Snr., who have been with IFEAT since the beginning. They presented 40 Years of IFEAT – The History; the first of two sessions looking back over the past four decades. Their second session took place on the morning of Tuesday 26th and was a photographic review of all Congresses with IFEAT participation and IFEAT Conferences from 1979-2016. To follow on the first day, Michael Carlos, President of RIFM and IFRA offered his highly-experienced view on the past and future of perfumery and creation, while Professor Jean-Pierre Brun, from the Collège de France, took us through a fascinating journey in our knowledge and discoveries of what Perfumery in Antiquity really was.

The Monday afternoon session dealt with Challenges and Opportunities in Essential Oils with a joint presentation from Catherine Crowley and Jalal Charaf on Africa Rising: Naturals as a Challenge & Game Changer and Somalis’ Historical Frankincense Trade: Valuing Sustainability by Dr Anjanette Decarlo. This was followed by a panel discussion which was, as ever, an animated affair!

On Tuesday morning, the IFEAT Business Session commenced with the AGM during which the Report & Accounts for 2016 and the appointment of the Auditor were approved. IFEAT’s outgoing President Raúl Amigo proposed two new members, Zahra Osman and David Tomlinson, to vacancies on the Executive Committee as well as Alastair Hitchen as his successor as IFEAT President. Antonella Corleone, IFEAT Executive Committee Chair, delivered the Annual Review for the year 2016-17 and this was followed by the Education Reports from the IFEAT programmes at Plymouth and Reading Universities. IFEAT President, Raúl Amigo, then revealed the destination for the 2018 IFEAT Conference to be Cartagena, Colombia. This will be IFEAT’s first visit back to South America since Buenos Aires in 2001. A report on the successful 2017 Bulgaria Study Tour was given along with a memorable video diary of the Tour. News of the 2018 Study Tour, which will take place in Spain in June, was presented by Jordi Calonge. With IFEAT Study Tours becoming increasingly popular, and usually fully booked within hours of registration opening, we expect the 2018 tour to be no exception. The 2nd part of the joint Richard Pisano Snr and Dr Brud presentation on IFEAT’s 40-year history then followed. The Tuesday morning session culminated with presentation of the Best Student Medals to Ruth Bare from the ICATS Course (Plymouth University) and Matteo Oldani from the Flavourist Course (Reading University).

The Scientific Session on Tuesday afternoon covered Regulatory and Legislative Developments, starting with Pesticides in Naturals, presented by Michel Meneuvrier (SAPAD) and was followed by REACH, 10 years of defending the EU market access for our naturals, presented by Julie Cena. The session continued with Safety Assessments – The natural next steps, presented by Jim Romine, (President of RIFM), and was followed by Limonene: From a Calculated to a Data Based Hazard Classification for the Environment – The Impact on Essential Oils, by Dr Hans van Bergen. The programme finished with another discussion panel with a highly esteemed line up of Jim Romine, Michel Meneuvrier, Kim Bleimann, Jens-Achim Protzen, Martina Bianchini (President IFRA). The discussion was moderated by Sven Ballschmiede (Executive Director of IOFI). We were pleased to see a good number of delegates attending these sessions – more than in previous years.

On Tuesday evening, the IFEAT Annual Dinner was held at the impressive Zappeion Hall, a building which dates back to the 1880s. Despite the unseasonable heavy rain showers, guests enjoyed the splendour of the building and an evening which was particularly special with IFEAT honouring some of its most influential contributors from the past 40 years. Firstly, with the presentation of the 2017 Founder’s Award which was presented to Michael G Boudjouk in recognition of his many years of dedicated service to both IFEAT and the F&F industry. Dominique Roques and Antonella Corleone then invited to the stage some very special guests. Each was presented with an individually engraved 40th Anniversary award, thanking them for their valued contribution towards IFEAT’s success over the past 40 years. Some of the recipients, although not now officially part of the current Executive Committee and organisation, are still very actively involved, whereas others have not attended an IFEAT Conference for a number of years, so we were delighted that they could join us in Athens. Awards were presented to:

• Ronald V Neal (Founding Member of IFEAT, Past IFEAT President and Past IFEAT Executive Committee Chairman) – presented to his son Christopher Neal.
• Jose Luis Adrian (Founding Member of IFEAT and Past IFEAT Executive Committee Chairman)
• Richard C Pisano Snr (Founding Member of IFEAT, Past IFEAT President, Past IFEAT Executive Committee Chairman and IFEAT Founder’s Award Recipient)
• Dr Wladyslaw Brud (Past IFEAT President, Past IFEAT Executive Committee Chairman and IFEAT Founder’s Award Recipient)
• Hugo Bovill (Past IFEAT President and Past IFEAT Executive Committee Chairman)
• Michael G Boudjouk (Past IFEAT President and Past IFEAT Executive Committee Chairman)
• Sant K Sanganeria (Past IFEAT Executive Committee Chairman and IFEAT Founder’s Award Recipient)
• Katrina Neale (Past IFEAT Executive Committee Chair)
• Martin Gill (Past IFEAT Executive Committee Chairman)
• Alastair Hitchen (Past IFEAT Executive Committee Chairman)
• Stephen Manheimer (IFEAT Founder’s Award Recipient)
• Dr Peter Greenhalgh (IFEAT Founder’s Award Recipient)
• Mr Thierry Duclos (IFEAT Founder’s Award Recipient)

There were some additional award recipients who were not able to attend Athens so they will receive their award at a later date:

• Necati Guler
• Dr Clinton Green
• Dr Brian Lawrence
• Takio Yamada

Wednesday 28th saw the opening of the two-day Exhibition at the InterContinental Athenaeum Hotel with 29 exhibitors representing many different countries and areas within the F&F industry. Almost 800* delegates visited the exhibition on Wednesday alone, leaving exhibitors extremely happy with their experience. A full list of exhibitors can be found at the end of this report. In addition to the Exhibition, IFEAT ran two pre-bookable one-day workshops this year on Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday, Michael Zviely ran a Flavours and Flavourings workshop and on Thursday Joanna Norman ran an Intermediate Perfumery Workshop’. The workshops were very well attended and the feedback from both was very positive. We were excited to include a round table discussion on A Sustainable Future for Olibanum and Myrrh in Somaliland on Wednesday 27th September.

A new addition to IFEAT Conferences, this fully booked discussion allowed an in-depth follow-up to Dr Anjanette Decarlo’s presentation on Monday 25th. Due to its popularity, this discussion panel format will be included in future Conference programmes. The Conference ended with 850 delegates and accompanying persons attending the Closing Banquet held at the stunning beachfront location of Balux Prive. Guests were greeted by stilt walkers and drummers before making their way up the ‘IFEAT blue’ carpet to take a glass of Champagne. They could then take in the beautiful views during sunset (the rain held off!) before witnessing a rousing firework display over the sea. The band proved very popular this year with delegates and accompanying persons dancing until the early hours of the morning.

As it was IFEAT’s 40th Birthday, the evening could not pass without a birthday cake celebration! Dominique Roques and Antonella Corleone took to the stage to thank all of the sponsors, Athens Committee members and IFEAT staff, but it was then the turn of the IFEAT staff to thank them for their fantastic efforts towards making the Conference such a huge success – by crowning them ‘King and Queen of IFEAT Athens 2017’! The growing number of delegates year on year is testament to the ever-present relevance of IFEAT to the flavour and fragrance industries. People attend every year for the unrivalled business and networking opportunities that the Conference offers as well as the varied programme of lectures and workshops on offer. Delegates are attending from all over the world with large numbers from India, China and other parts of Asia hot on the heels of delegates from Europe and the USA who still lead the way in terms of representation. We look forward to the 2018 Conference in Cartagena, Colombia and to the next 40 years of IFEAT’s success.

*Data source: official scanning data, each person counted once as a unique visitor. A huge thanks to all our Sponsors.