Another Succesful Intergeo
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Another Succesful Intergeo

Intergeo 2012 has come to an end. This year’s edition took place in Hanover, Germany and attracted 16,000 trade show visitors. 520 companies exhibited, bringing their latest innovations and trends to the audience. The almost 1,400 conference participants who registered became involved in intensive interdisciplinary dialogue in 40 subjects areas at the Hanover Convention Centre. The largest number of visitors came from Europe, followed by respectively south and central Asia and Latin America, with a mere fourth place for North America.

Olaf Freier.

Olaf Freier, managing director of HINTE Messe, organiser of the event, looks back on Intergeo 2012 with a positive feeling. “We are satisfied with the number of visitors, 30% of whom came from outside Germany. Every continent was represented. 60% of the people came from more than 300 kilometres away. We managed to motivate many (37%) new visitors, and we  activated new target groups. So all in all, a positive balance.”

When it comes to trends that played a significant role at Intergeo 2012, Freier says he was impressed by the number of UAVs. The number of companies showcasing their UAS was indeed striking. “The time between the start and actual development has been very short. The speed of the development of technologies is spectacular, and I expect many more innovations yet to come,” he adds. Regarding the scepticism among some of the geomatics professionals, Freier says “the market will tell the story”. He points out that the planes and the processing software are already available, and the possibilities are innumerable.

At the traditional press conference on Wednesday, two news announcements were more than noteworthy. Firstly, the new advisory board that has been founded with ESRI, Hexagon and Trimble as partners. Of course next year’s edition will take place in Essen, but the organisation is already focusing on the 20th edition of Intergeo to be held in Berlin in 2014. “The advisory board has been established to make our strategy stronger and authentic. It will help us to identify trends and innovations and will provide us with the commitment that a leading event like Intergeo needs,” according to Freier.

The second announcement made at the press conference was concerning Intergeo Eurasia, which is scheduled for spring 2014 with Istanbul as host city. When asked if organising Intergeo conference trade shows on other continents would not be a good idea, Freier acknowledges that this could be a good option, but on the other hand: “It’s not our ambition to roll out the Intergeo brand all over the world. It is vital that  the Intergeo brand is authentic. Besides, active co-operation between events is already taking place, for example, between MundoGeo#Connect and Intergeo.” HINTE Messe will team up with Münchener Messe for the organisation of Intergeo Eurasia. The latter will carry out the entire organisation, HINTE will help in recruiting exhibitors in the countries concerned.

With regard to the international character of Intergeo, Freier agrees that too many activities (such as lectures and bootcamps) are only held in German, with no translations. “The main goal for 2014 is to work on this. Of course Intergeo is a German event, but I admit we need to make the lectures and other activities accessible to an international audience. We will examine our programme and try to find a way to make more elements open for English speaking people.”

Looking forward to next year’s Intergeo in the city of Essen, in German’s most populated state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Olaf Freier thinks that due to the jump of technologies many new interesting things are set to happen. He does not expect shocking things, but he expects companies to come with more integrated processers. “Visitors will find more solutions for processes and work. The trend is towards complete solutions, the full package. There will be more links between exhibitors who are in the chain of processes. Some big players already have their partners in the vicinity of their booths, for example Leica.”

A positive retrospective view of Intergeo 2012, with a new advisory board and innovation as keyword. Is there anything else that Freier would like to mention? “Yes, the students meeting. The second Youth Meeting. This was very important as our industry needs growth. There is a lack of young geoprofessionals, so it is necessary to interest our youth by showing them how attractive the geomatics sector is.”

 

Wim van Wegen

editorial manager, GIM International

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