Introduction

We had all hoped to have a regular SEPAWA® CONGRESS in 2021. This wish has not been granted. The unchanged epidemiological situation has left us as organisers with the only option of organising a congress in virtual format. So now for the second year running there will be no congress on site at the Estrel Congress Centre in Berlin, no face-to-face contact between the participants, the speakers and the exhibitors.

With the experience gained from the first virtual congress last year and the web-based congress portal, which has been further improved in the meantime, the congress ran pretty smoothly. In this regard, special thanks go to the staff of the organising team from Verlag für chemische Industrie in Thannhausen.

Despite the exclusively virtual format, the congress statistics can be summarised as follows: Participants - 844 (including 231 exhibitors), exhibiting companies - 78, co-exhibiting companies - 42, number of presentations - 125 (including 67 in the Forum for Innovation and 58 scientific presentations), posters - 13.

Conclusion: The 68th SEPAWA® CONGRESS was held virtually together with the 17th European Detergents Conference (EDC) and now for the first time with the Cosmetic Science Conference (CSC) of the DGK e.V. Given the external circumstances, there was no alternative to the chosen congress format. The SEPAWA® CONGRESS together with the EDC remains the most important industry meeting place for the detergent/ cleaning agent, cosmetics and perfume industry in Europe.