Although the organisation of the fair began at the height of the economic crisis, machine tool manufacturers demonstrated their firm commitment to the event in which they were the most prominent group, occupying 24% of the net exhibition space.

35,363 people from 54 countries have come to Bilbao over the last six days since the fair started on Monday 31 May. The countries from which most visitors have come are: Portugal, France, Germany, Italy, Turkey and Switzerland.

The Fair has stood out for the outstanding quality of the stands which have been showing the main trends in technology, with those who came to the Fair especially attracted to the equipment for big machining applications in which the Spanish sector is the market leader worldwide, and specialist solutions for the wind power, railway and aeronautical sectors. Moreover, the role of technology centres has been significant in fields like automation, micro-machining, portable machines, artificial vision, dimensional control, robotics and new applications.

The announcement of the new Machine Tool "Renove" Scheme last Monday at the start of the fair was an important boost to reactivate operations and projects which have been agreed on over the last few days.

The presence of the different public bodies has also been striking. Together with their own interest, they have shown they understand the strategic interest of the sector for any sustainable economy. After the inauguration by the Prince of Asturias accompanied by the Basque Prime Minister Patxi López and the President of the Basque Parliament Arantza Quiroga, the Basque Minister of Industry, Bernabé Unda, the General Secretary for Innovation, Juan Tomás Hernani, the Provincial Council Leaders from Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia, representatives of ICEX (Foreign Trade Institute), the Adegi and Confesbask employers’ associations, SPRI, the Gipuzkoa Chamber of Commerce and the Basque Government’s Industry Commission, among others, have visited the exhibiting companies to gain first hand knowledge of the wide range of outstanding technology on show.