The 2013 Vision show, which was planned to take place in September in Stuttgart, Germany, has been cancelled, with the organisers, Messe Stuttgart, opting for a biennial cycle for the show.
The decision was taken after extensive analysis by Messe Stuttgart in conjunction with the VDMA Machine Vision Association and key players in the machine vision industry, Messe Stuttgart stated. The organisers also cited an objective to adapt the event cycle to visitors' information needs and the innovation speed of the machine vision industry. The next Vision will be held in November 2014.
Patrick Schwarzkopf, head of the VDMA Machine Vision Association, the professional and promotional supporter of Vision, commented: ‘Through this decision, Vision is taking account of the request by many exhibitors. They want to offer trade visitors a genuine raft of innovations. The biennial cycle provides the best conditions in this respect.’
In November 2012 Vision celebrated its 25th anniversary, which was the largest and most successful edition of the event.
With the change to a biennial cycle, Vision can be permanently staged on the usual November date in Hall 1, which wouldn’t have been possible every year with an annual show. Messe Stuttgart therefore felt it was an ideal opportunity to change the cycle of the trade fair. It also means the event calendar will be spaced out for those exhibitors that focus on specific industry trade fairs.
Florian Niethammer, Vision project manager, commented: ‘It will certainly lead to increased efficiency for both exhibitors and visitors.’
The show still retains a lot of support from leading companies in the industry, with Dr Dietmar Ley, chairman of the board of management at Basler, commenting: ‘Vision is and will remain the undisputed world's leading trade fair with our full support. This step will consolidate and extend its market position.’
Christof Zollitsch, managing director of Stemmer Imaging, added: ‘We are supporting Messe Stuttgart in its project. Visitors will therefore see a further increase in the expertise of exhibitors.’
Some companies, inevitably, are less happy about the change in dates, preferring the annual format: ‘The previous annual cycle was ideal for us and many other exhibitors,’ said Dr Klaus-Henning Noffz, managing partner of Silicon Software. However, he added: ‘Nevertheless, we support the decision to change to a biennial cycle. We see Vision in a process of strategic further development which will let it play an even more important international role in future than is currently the case.’
Vision 2014 is scheduled to take place from 4-6 November 2014.
