MUNICH – Some 44,000 visitors from 85 countries walked the halls of Productronica this month, up almost 20% compared to the previous show two years ago.

The event, which was collocated for the first time with Semicon Europa, included 1,200 exhibitors from 42 countries. The focus was on the Internet of Things, as well as big data and miniaturization.

Smart Data—Future Manufacturing and Hardware Data Mining, staged by the VDMA and Fraunhofer IZM, showcased the impact of sensors on production machinery to the use of large quantities of data for new business models.

“Productronica impressively demonstrated its position as the world’s leading trade fair and global innovation platform this year,” said Falk Senger, managing director of Messe München. “With an enormous surge in the number of visitors, as well as a sharp increase in international ones, Productronica 2017 showed Munich is the world’s hotspot for electronics manufacturing.”

“Productronica confirmed the positive growth forecast for the industry,” said Rainer Kurtz, chairman of Productronica’s technical advisory board and CEO of Kurtz Ersa. “The great interest in smart technologies shows digitalization has finally arrived in the electronics manufacturing industry. Now we need to keep this momentum going.”

According to a survey by market research firm Gelszus, visitor satisfaction increased. Ninety-seven percent of visitors gave Productronica a rating of good to excellent. In addition, 96% of those surveyed said Productronica met their expectations regarding innovations.

The sharpest increase in attendance was in the number of visitors from Taiwan and the US, as well as France and the Netherlands. After Germany, the countries with the largest number of visitors were as follows (in this order): Italy, Austria, Switzerland, France, the Russian Federation, the Czech Republic and Great Britain.

For the first time, Semicon Europa collocated with Productronica, and will now be held every year as part of Productronica and Electronica in Munich.

The next Electronica takes place Nov. 13 to 16, 2018, and the next Productronica takes place Nov. 12 to 15, 2019.

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