Messe Stuttgart has set a date of 5 to 7 October 2021 for the Vision show, which was cancelled earlier in the summer because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The show will be held in parallel with Motek, a trade fair for automation in production and assembly.
Messe Stuttgart plans to enhance Vision 2021 with digital additions – live streaming the presentation stages was one option mentioned by Florian Niethammer, team director and the project manager responsible for Vision at Messe Stuttgart, when speaking to Imaging and Machine Vision Europe.
Most exhibitors (75 per cent) and visitors (81 per cent) who took part in Messe Stuttgart's survey, sent out when the 2020 show was cancelled, agreed that 2021 is when the show should be held.
Another outcome of the survey was that it's better to enlarge the physical show with digital extensions, rather than running a virtual replacement of the cancelled trade fair.
'There is a need for a physical Vision show,' Niethammer said. 'Both exhibitors and visitors agreed that they wanted a new date for the show as soon as possible.'
Digital extensions, however, are a good way to attract more people to learn about vision technology, while retaining the physical show as a meeting point for the industry.
The team at Messe Stuttgart will also continue with strategic measures initiated in 2020, including the launch of the Vision Start-up World and a communication campaign on the Chinese market. Niethammer noted that trade fairs like Vision are important for small companies and startups to give them visibility in the market.
All the exhibitors Imaging and Machine Vision Europe spoke to when Vision was cancelled are eager for the return of trade fairs, something that Niethammer has also noted: 'Everyone is looking forward to meeting next year. There are many companies that have commented positively on the new cycle of the show.'
