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 Material Vision
Nov 22-23, 2007, Frankfurt, Germany |
Final report Material Vision: 2005
Material Vision with ten percent increase in visitor attendance (Nov 11, 2005)
• Material Vision 2005 with ten percent increase in visitor attendance
• Share of international visitors now at almost eight percent
• Materials technology: nanomaterials and composite materials are pointing the way to the future
 Material Vision, the interdisciplinary conference and specialist trade fair for new materials, was held for the third time this year, recording a rise in visitor attendance in the region of ten percent. All in all, some 1,950 visitors from a total of 22 countries (2003: 1,800 visitors) made their way to Frankfurt to view new materials and to meet with researchers and developers. The conference talks were attended by an average of 130 visitors, including many designers, architects and material scouts. Among this year’s highlights were speeches by Dr. Peter Eibeck of BASF AG and London-based designer Tom Dixon.
Parallel to this, the exhibition focused on all aspects of innovative materials – whereas some visitors were interested in customised materials, others were on the look-out for innovations for product design. The spectrum of trade visitors ranged from industrial designers, architects and up-and-coming designers to material scouts and product developers from the automotive, consumer goods and furniture sectors. Visitors were clearly fascinated by the technology and materials on display and were very satisfied with what the trade fair had to offer. Most respondents felt that they had fulfilled their objectives – i.e. to learn about new developments and material variants or to interact with other industry players – and saw the trade fair as being of great benefit to their professional activities.
In terms of visitor figures, the top five countries represented at Material Vision were Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Finland and the Netherlands. Further Western European visitors came from Belgium, Denmark, France, UK, Greece, Sweden and Spain. Eastern European visitors came predominantly from Hungary and the Czech Republic. Material experts also came from as far away as Israel, Iran, China, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, New Zealand and the USA. Accordingly, the degree of international participation rose from almost two percent in 2003 to just under eight percent in 2005.
Needless to say, these figures met with a very enthusiastic reaction from the vast majority of the 80 exhibiting companies, stemming from a total of eight countries, that presented their products and services on an exhibition area measuring 2,500 square metres (35 percent more than in 2003). Exhibitors also confirmed a further increase in the quality of the visitors.
"We were successful in our aim to gear Material Vision more towards the fields of industrial design and architecture, giving the event a more interdisciplinary outlook and deliberately focusing on the application of new technology. The Material Vision trade fair and conference has the potential to grow even further in the future", says Iris Jeglitza-Moshage, Vice President of Technical Fairs at Messe Frankfurt.
Andrej Kupetz, Managing Director of the German Design Council: "At this year’s Material Vision I was very impressed by both the quality of the exhibiting companies and the diversity of the visitors. We were able to serve the needs of designers and companies very effectively – not least due to the Design Plus prize, which was awarded for the very first time at Material Vision. We will also be devoting considerable attention to the forthcoming expansion of the concept with an even greater focus on the application of new materials and technologies. As before, the conference will make an important contribution in this regard. In view of the extremely positive overall feedback, I can also envisage Material Vision taking place every year."
"The interplay of innovative materials and excellent design is what makes German products successful all over the world. The German state of Hesse has a superb infrastructure for nano and materials research in science and business. At Material Vision, it was represented by a wide variety of companies and universities as well as on a joint stand promoting the "Hesse nanotech" campaign initiated by the Ministry of Economics", said Dr. Alois Rhiel, Minister for Economic Affairs in Hesse.
"The use of a certain material or the attributes of a surface structure are becoming more and more important as a differentiation factor", says industrial designer, materials expert and author Nicola Stattmann. "The strengths of Material Vision lie in the area of applications and project development", adds the advisor to the Material Vision team.
A total of 210 different products from manufacturers in 17 countries were submitted to the Design Plus prize, which, for the very first time, was organised by the German Design Council to coincide with the Material Vision trade fair. The panel of judges finally selected 31 products for the Design Plus prize. The prize-winning products were showcased in a specially designed display area.
In addition, Rotterdam-based materials agency Materia presented part of its own exhibition, entitled "Material Skills, Evolution of Materials", which met with great interest from visitors.
Material Vision also offered a forum for students and graduates. On display were a total of eleven poster presentations which took a highly intelligent approach to exploring materials and design issues.
Material Vision is organised by Messe Frankfurt. In preparing for this event, we worked closely with our partners at the German Design Council, who were largely responsible for designing the conference programme. In addition, our team of advisors includes industrial designer, materials expert and author Nicola Stattmann. For the very first time, the PTJ project management organisation in Jülich was also on board with its New Materials and Chemical Technologies division. Thanks to the PTJ, it was possible to link up Material Vision with the WING conference on innovative materials for industry and society which took place in Aachen.
The next Material Vision is scheduled to take place in Frankfurt in November 2007.
Material Vision
material-vision.messefrankfurt.com |
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