VISION 2011 result

One in three visitors came from abroad. Visitors from a total of 50 countries travelled to VISION 2011. In particular, there was a pronounced rise in the number of visitors from Asia. This indicates that Asian markets are becoming increasingly more important for the machine vision industry and still harbour great potential. “VISION is extremely significant as regards the internationalisation of the machine vision industry”, said Dr. Olav Munkelt, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Machine Vision Group in the German Engineering Federation (VDMA), Frankfurt. In attracting 351 exhibitors, VISION 2011 topped the previous year’s figure by 8.6 per cent. The exhibitors were also even more international – 46 per cent compared with 44 per cent in 2010. Through this result, the world’s leading trade fair for machine vision re-emphasised its importance for the industry. The range of exhibits extended from complete machine vision systems, cameras, lenses, illumination systems, vision sensors, frame grabbers, software tools and accessories through to application solutions and services.

The visitors came primarily from the machine vision industry itself, followed by the electrical engineering/electronics, mechanical engineering, precision mechanics/optical and medical technology industries. Since the proportion of visitors from the medical technology industry had increased substantially in 2010, the Medical Discovery Tour was created for VISION 2011 and attracted 43 exhibitors straight away with special exhibits on this topic. This proved to be a right step because the proportion of visitors from the medical technology industry rose from eight to eleven per cent. The world’s smallest optical 3D scanner (according to the manufacturer) caused a sensation in this area. This hitherto most precise form of digital dental measurement and optical 3D modelling will be mainly used in future in dental orthopaedics and orthodontics. Whereas dental impressions could only be made in the past using unpleasant plastic impression compounds, this task will be performed in future by a scanner, thus making the procedure much more pleasant for patients. The Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Vienna won the VISION Award 2011 for this innovation.

Visitors to VISION traditionally have a high propensity to invest. They are also extremely knowledgeable. 85 per cent of the visitors at VISION 2011 said they were involved in purchasing and procurement decisions while almost the same proportion, i.e. 83 per cent, came to the trade fair with specific investment and purchase intentions. 68 per cent of these visitors were intending to make investments in the next six months.

Visitors at VISION 2011 were primarily interested in machine vision components and application. Turnkey machine vision systems are very popular since almost 1 in 4 visitors expressed an interest in them. “The concept of VISION to provide system integrators with a platform paid off. The number of exhibitors in the Integration Area rose from 14 to 22. This development correlates to the increasing demand by visitors for the integration of machine vision systems in production solutions. We will also take account of this topic at VISION 2012“, said Thomas Walter, Director of the Industry & Technology Division of Messe Stuttgart. Visitors were very satisfied with the range of exhibits at VISION 2011. 93 per cent of visitors were planning to come back again to VISION 2012. Practically every visitor, i.e. 99 per cent, said they would recommend VISION to other people. 96 per cent of visitors overall were also convinced that the importance of VISION for the industry would increase or at least remain at the same high level.

VISION 2012 will be held again at Messe Stuttgart from 6 to 8 November 2012, but then in Hall 1, the L-Bank Forum.