electronica 2006 had 78,000 visitors

The economic upturn made its presence felt in every hall. Both exhibitors and attendees alike gave the trade show top marks: According to a survey performed by TNS Infratest, 87% of the exhibitors and 94% of the attendees assessed electronica 2006 as "very good to good." The survey also revealed that 89% of the exhibitors and 86% of the attendees expect that the economic upswing will carry on or that the current market situation will continue to hold. Jürgen Weyer, managing director of Freescale Halbleiter Deutschland, comments: "At electronica 2006, we experienced the positive mood on the market. For us, this trade show is the definitive international platform for making high-value contacts. electronica 2006 enabled us to speak with our customers - all the way to the highest levels of management." The fine-tuned trade show concept and the positive tone on the market contributed to the fact that more electronics professionals attended electronica 2006 than attended the previous event. Approximately 78,000 industry experts (2004: 74,200) came to electronica 2006 and ensured that the trade show was bustling with activity for four days. This represents an increase of 5%. The trend towards an increasing percentage of the attendees coming from outside Germany continued. Ralf Kuhlmann, managing director, Rittal Electronic Systems, comments: "We had 20% more traffic at our booth than in 2004. We were able to welcome a very international public, and many visitors from Asian countries." Compared to the last time that electronica was held, the share of international trade attendees rose by another percentage point to 45%. High growth rates were recorded for the USA, the Central and Eastern European countries, Russia, Israel, China, Japan, India and Brazil. This was also noticeable at the AVX booth: "What was new this year was the high percentage of visitors from high-growth emerging markets like Eastern Europe," reported R. Craig Hunter, director of worldwide sales communications. Once again, the organizers were able to increase the share of electronics professionals among the attendees and draw a more highly qualified group of attendees: 99.3% (2004: 98.7%) of the attendees were from the field of electronics. The percentage of electronica attendees who hold a position of leadership in their company rose to 72% (2004: 69%). Decision makers accounted for 93% (2004: 88%) of the attendees, and 29% (2004: 24%) have the final say in decisions. The exhibitors were more than satisfied with the high caliber of their contacts: "electronica is the industry's meeting place and a genuine decision-maker trade show," said Lucio Bossi, managing director, STMicroelectronics. Recipe for Success: Focus on Applications - "electronica automotive" Will Be Expanded Further Another factor contributing to the rise in the number of attendees was electronica 2006's sharpened focus on applications. With "electronica automotive," "electronica embedded," "electronica wireless" and "electronica MicroNanoWorld," the electronics industry's growth sectors present themselves on individual platforms. Their congresses, forums and dedicated exhibition areas attract many attendees. Mark Britton, European marketing & communications manager, Future Electronics, appreciates the new concept: "We like the new application orientation of electronica, as the whole industry is going towards applications." The "electronica automotive Conference" enjoyed a successful debut. It drew 230 delegates right from the start. In hall A6, "electronica automotive" presented the latest developments, innovations and trends in automotive electronics with its own exhibition area and forum. Joachim Kornmayer, product marketing, semiconductors automotive electronics at Robert Bosch GmbH was pleased with this presentation environment: "The concept for the automotive hall works. Our target group is here, and I would be very pleased if electronica would continue to cover the automotive sector in this form." The organizers for electronica will be fulfilling this wish. Klaus Dittrich, managing director of Messe München International: "With the new concept, the 'electronica automotive' segment was extremely well received. We will continue to expand this area." The exhibition areas for semiconductors and for embedded systems also attracted many visitors. The trade show was also a great success for the ZigBee Alliance, which was represented at "electronica wireless" with several member companies. Brent Hodges, vice president, marketing & business development: "We used 'electronica wireless' to introduce ourselves and the first ZigBee-certified products. We enjoyed having a very targeted audience." Approximately 800 participants visited the congresses for the automotive, wireless and embedded fields.