INTERGEO 2007 Final report

The three days of INTERGEO, which was held at the Leipzig Exhibition Centre this year, have confirmed that the world\'s largest congress trade fair for geodesy, geoinformation and land management has a special place in the industry.\'INTERGEO is the gateway to the surveying industry and for us, as one of the leading providers of surveying and GIS software in Germany an absolute \'must visit\' event\', says Maren Fricke, Head of Marketing at HHK Datentechnik GmbH. Dr. Thomas Englert, Member of the Board of Management of AED-SICAD AG, continues: \'INTERGEO is the year\'s most important trade fair\'.Peter Rummel, Marketing Solutions Manager of Autodesk GmbH, gave another reason why the congress trade fair has become an established part of companies\' schedules: \'INTERGEO provides visitors with a very good overview of the industry\'. That is why many of the 16,500 visitors were prepared to travel a long way to attend the fair. At the 13th INTERGEO, some 50 percent of visitors travelled more than 300 kilometres to be a part of the event in Leipzig. Just under 35 percent of those questioned said that they had travelled between 100 and 300 kilometres. The international importance of INTERGEO was underlined by the fact that it attracted guests from more than 50 countries.It seems that visitors are prepared to travel long distances to attend INTERGEO, due not least to the special offers provided by Deutsche Bahn AG (the German railway company) for INTERGEO visitors. These offers will be available again next year. The prospects are thus bright for 2008, when the congress trade fair will be held from 30 September to 2 October in Bremen. The mobile concept has proved a success again. The share of first-time visitors came to almost 35 percent. As a result, exhibiting companies were not only able to cultivate their image and promote customer services they were also able to win new customers.The unique selling point of INTERGEO was reinforced again this year by the fact that, when visitors were asked how they had heard about the trade fair, over 40 percent of them said that the event was well known throughout the industry. Two-thirds of those polled said that they do not visit any other trade fairs covering similar topics.The exhibitors were delighted with the high profile of the visitors, many of whom come to INTERGEO as decision makers. In fact, many companies wait until they have attended the trade fair each year before making decisions on investments. More than 85 percent of exhibitors said that they had achieved their aims in showcasing themselves at INTERGEO 2007.This was also the case for Jürgen Kliem, General Manager of Trimble\'s Survey Division, who was very happy with how things went at the fair: \'Trade visitors at INTERGEO 2007 confirmed that we are on the right track with our Connected Site concept. Users are interested in an integrated system solution encompassing hardware and software as it enables them to work more cost-effectively\'.Some 90 percent of exhibitors said that they intend to visit the fair in 2008 too. 13 percent of those questioned plan to increase the size of their stands in Bremen. 70.7 percent of companies rated their present situation as \'favourable to very favourable\'.This opinion is confirmed by Hagen Graeff, President of the organizer DVW e.V. the German Society for Geodesy, Geoinformation and Land Management, who forecast average growth of between five and ten percent for the industry. Graeff assessed the industry\'s total annual volume at around EUR 900 million, made up of satellites and remote sensing (EUR 200 million), geoinformation systems (EUR 400 million), geodesy/instruments (EUR 200 million) and services (EUR 100 million), and said that this was actually a conservative estimate.He continued by saying, \'The congress presents the latest results from science and practice. It thus also reflects the changing role of surveying in the wake of social development. Current areas of focus, such as geoinformation for everyone, mobile phone navigation, three-dimensional data capture and development of natural spaces and the countryside, highlight the variety of our work\'.The congress maintained its high attendance rate, attracting 1,500 participants. It also managed to cover all key topics, with 89.5 percent of participants saying that they could not think of a specific topic that had been missing from the congress. The congress is used primarily for keeping up-to-date with developments (68.5 percent). 50 percent said that they used the event to exchange information with other specialists, and two-thirds said that the show provided them with general information.\'The congress and trade fair dovetail with each other and show common future trends. The Earth as a scientific object and limited habitat for the human race is the focus of the congress held under the theme of \'Knowledge and action for planet Earth\'. We are thus making our contribution to overcoming the challenges faced by our society\', said Hagen Graeff.The INTERGEO Forum, which is part of the congress programme, is organized by the exhibiting companies and thus creates the central bridge between the trade fair and the congress. Almost forty presentations were held, giving participants the opportunity to get practical information first-hand on topics that are driving the industry.The Focus Forum where exhibiting companies at the trade fair make use of a platform by focusing on current requirements and solutions in related industrial sectors, thus creating an environment for knowledge transfer was very well received. The premiere of the international subject areas, which were held in English, also drew substantial interest. More than 90 percent of those who attended the Focus Forum had good things to say about the event.INTERGEO underlines that it also has something to offer related areas of interest, and that it is looking to establish links with them, by holding special events such as the Day for Architects and Building Planners and Property Day. Olaf Freier, Project Manager of INTERGEO and CEO of HINTE GmbH (the company responsible for organizing the trade fair) confirmed the event\'s new direction: \'The modified forum concept, which focuses more on specialist target groups and is used as an international dialog platform, was an unqualified success and helps unlock new potential\'. He emphasized that the organisers will continue to drive the internationalisation of the trade fair year by year.After the successful premiere of the Open Source Park in Munich in 2006, the event was also a resounding success in Leipzig, a fact that was underpinned by visitors and exhibitors alike. One such exhibitor was Peter Rummel from Autodesk GmbH, who said, \'A considerable number of Open Source projects endorse this trend, and the Open Source Park at INTERGEO is an excellent addition to the trade fair. Autodesk is, therefore, ideally placed both in and next to the Open Source Park\'.Additionally, the profile and acceptance of the online community, which went online at the start of September at www.ask-intergeo.com, has grown significantly. Approximately one-third of visitors are now familiar with the community, which currently lists 525 exhibitors from 31 countries with a total of 990 products. More than 50 percent of visitors who are familiar with the community make considerable use of it to systematically prepare for their visit to INTERGEO.Looking forward to INTERGEO 2008 in Bremen, the Focus meeting in spring next year will also be held there. The agenda of the meeting will include topics such as the environment, geocoaching, flood protection and satellite systems. INTERGEO 2008 will be held from 30 September to 2 October in Bremen. For more information, go to www.intergeo.de.Press contact: Katharina SchürerTel.: +49 (0)6232/289679Fax: +49 (0)6232/[email protected]

Author: Katharina Schürer

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