Stuttgart, Germany--VISION 2011, held November 8–10 at Messe Stuttgart, topped 2010's attendee count, with 7,055 guests compared to 2010's 6,752, representing the show's largest attendee draw to date. Thirty-six percent of attendees alone came from abroad—a two-percent increase from 2010—with 49 countries represented overall. Attendee numbers from Asia saw the largest increase, indicating that Asian markets are becoming increasingly more important for the machine vision industry.
VISION 2011 featured 351 exhibitors, topping 2010’s figure by 8.6 percent. And 46 percent of 2011's exhibitors were international, compared with 44 percent in 2010. Exhibits ran the gamut from complete machine vision systems, cameras, lenses, illumination systems, vision sensors, frame grabbers, software tools, and accessories to application solutions and services.
Attendees came primarily from the machine vision industry, followed by the electrical engineering/electronics, mechanical engineering, precision mechanics/optical, and medical technology industries. Recognizing that the proportion of attendees from the medical technology industry had increased substantially in 2010, VISION 2011 featured a 'Medical Discovery Tour' with 43 special exhibits on the topic. Because of this, medical technology industry attendees rose to 11 percent from last year's eight percent. The Medical Discovery Tour debuted the world’s smallest optical 3D scanner for digital dental measurement and optical 3D modeling in dental orthopedics and orthodontics, according to the manufacturer—an innovation that garnered the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT; Vienna, Austria) the VISION Award 2011.
VISION attendees traditionally have a high propensity to invest, as 85 percent of this year's attendees said they are involved in purchasing and procurement decisions while 83 percent came with specific investment and purchase intentions. And 68 percent of these attendees intend to make investments in the next six months.
Components and ready-to-use machine vision systems drew major interest, with almost every fourth attendee (22 percent) wanting to know more about them. "The concept of VISION to provide system integrators with a platform has really taken off. The 'Integration Area' has expanded from 14 to 22 exhibitors. There has also been an increasing demand from visitors for the incorporation of machine vision systems into production solutions. This is something that will also be included in the next VISION event," explains Thomas Walter, head of the Industrial Solutions division at Messe Stuttgart. In total, 32 percent of all VISION exhibitors presented ready-to-use machine vision systems, primarily for quality control and inspection, but also for identification and robot guidance.
Attendees appeared to be very happy with what VISION 2011 had to offer, with 93 percent looking to return to the event in 2012 and 98 percent willing to recommend the show to others. Exhibitors were able to meet with their target customers and presented products and services for almost every industry. Fifty-three percent focused on machine vision solutions, another four percent showcased non-industrial solutions, and 43 percent of exhibitors presented products and systems from both areas.
Also, the program of accompanying events was also very well received by attendees. The expert talks held during the Industrial VISION Days attracted 3,056 listeners—the largest number to date. Also popular was the VISION Integration Area, as well as the "Application Park" and "International MV Standards" special shows.
VISION 2012 will be held at Messe Stuttgart from November 6–8, 2012, in the L-Bank Forum (Hall 1) to meet growing attendee and exhibitor numbers alike.
-----
Follow us on Twitter
Follow OptoIQ on your iPhone; download the free app here.
Subscribe now to Laser Focus World magazine; it's free!