Final report Light+Building 2004

17 de Mayo de 2004

Light+Building, the International Trade Fair for Architecture and Technology (18 – 22 April 2004), ended with a six-percent increase in the number of visitors for the lighting, electrical engineering and building automation sectors. Altogether, 116,000 trade visitors travelled to Frankfurt am Main for the fair, over 28 percent of them from outside Germany. At the last Light+Building, there were 110,000 visitors from these sectors, 24 percent of them from abroad. Germany topped the list of the ten leading visitor nations, followed by The Netherlands, Italy, Belgium / Luxembourg, Great Britain, Austria, France, Switzerland / Liechtenstein, Spain and Poland.

For Germany, the increase from 17 to 21 percent in the proportion of visitors from the installation trade is a clear indication of the importance of Light+Building.

Dr. Michael Peters, Member of the Board of Management of Messe Frankfurt, said, "With the third edition, Light+Building has further consolidated its position. Not only has the number of regular visitors increased, the length of time they stay is longer, too. Thanks to the broad spectrum covered by the fair, we attract more than 20,000 architects and planners from all over the world. Moreover, there has been a striking increase in the level of visitor interest shown in decorative lighting. Without doubt, Light+Building is on the right track for the future."

The degree of visitor satisfaction with the range of products and services to be seen at Light+Building was 96 percent (2002: 94 percent). 55 percent of visitors were primarily interested in technical lighting, lamps and components and 50 percent in electrical engineering. Around 40 percent of visitors came to the fair to see house and building-automation products and decorative lighting.

81 percent of exhibitors said they had achieved their goals for the fair (2002: 77 percent).

The industry rates the current economic situation in its sector as being better than two years ago: 15.8 percent of all exhibitors consider the current economic situation in their sector to be good (2002: 13.7 percent) while 22 percent say it is bad (2002: 29.1 percent). German exhibitors are particularly hopeful: 12.2 percent say the economic situation is good (2002: 10.5 percent). The percentage of exhibitors saying the situation is 'bad' has fallen by 10 percent from 37.7 to 27.7 percent. 17.7 percent of foreign manufacturers rate the economic climate in their sector as being good (2002: 16.4 percent) while only 19 percent say it is bad (2002: 22.2 percent).

Interestingly, German visitors have not changed their assessment over the last two years: 20.3 percent see developments in a positive light (2002: 20.1 percent) while 26 percent say things are bad (2002: 26.3 percent). Foreign decision maker are significantly more optimistic: 29.1 percent take a positive view of the economic situation (2002: 23.9 percent) and only 13.4 percent negative (2002: 18.5 percent).

Altogether, 1,926 exhibitors from 53 countries made presentations on an area of around 110,000 square metres (net).

Dr. Ulrich Merker, General Manager of the Electrical Lighting and Lamps Trade Associations in the Central Association of the German Electrical and Electronic Engineering Industry (Zentralverband Elektrotechnik- und Elektronikindustrie – ZVEI): "The lighting-technology exhibitors were impressed by the flood of visitors from all over the world. This compensates for the fact that the German trade has not yet found a way out of the crisis and, on average, devoted only one day to visiting Light+Building, the world's leading trade fair. Technical lighting, architectural lighting and lighting components presented a host of innovations, which showed how energy efficiency, dynamic lighting, health and well-being can be achieved through good lighting. LED technology is making great progress in the field of illumination of public buildings and places, as well as for the development of new illuminations for architectural productions. Particularly striking given that the German economy remains in the doldrums is the big increase in the number of foreign trade visitors. Besides the traditional West European export markets, almost all segments could boast visitors not only from the new EU markets but also from overseas.

Rainer Schilling, General Manager of the Installation Equipment and Systems Association in the Central Association of the German Electrical and Electronic Engineering Industry (ZVEI), said, "The third Light+Building shows that trade fairs can help create a positive mood even in times of economic difficulty. On occasions, the exhibitors of electrical-engineering products were literally overrun by the huge number of visitors. The fair proved extremely popular among electrical-engineering trainees, planners and representatives of the industry. Especially encouraging was the increase in the number of European visitors, above all from Eastern Europe. Many foreign visitors travelled on to Hanover after Light+Building. However, it is still a problem for many exhibitors to take part in both events and to ensure that they have sufficient personnel on their exhibition stands. Nevertheless, the overlap between Light+Building and the Hanover Fair is good for business."

Heinz-Werner Schult, General Manager of the General Association of the German Electrical and Information Technology Trade (Zentralverband der Deutschen Elektro- und Informationstechnischen Handwerke – ZVEH), said, "The response this year was even better than in the past. The trade was extremely interested in new products for opening up new markets, especially products for the target group of people aged 50-plus, e.g., security or door-opening systems, as well as everything to do with security, comfort and easy operation. Striking was the enormous interest shown by Central and East European associations in the German basic and advanced training system. Many countries want to adopt it one to one. The ZVEH Association will support them in this."

Winfried Brandt, General Manager of the Automation + Management Association for the House and Building in the Association of German Machine and Plant Manufacturers (Verband Deutscher Maschinen und Anlagenbau – VDMA): "Light+Building has confirmed its position as the fair for technology and trends. On the whole, the house and building automation industry is satisfied with the fair. Due to the gloomy economic climate, there were fewer visitors from planning companies, plant manufactures and public authorities. On the other hand, the exhibitors were extremely pleased with the increased decision-making authority of visitors and the larger number of visitors from outside Germany. It is unlikely that it will be possible to improve on this level of trade-visitor quality any more. The Sunday proved to be superfluous for the building automation exhibitors."

A new part of the concept of this year's Light+Building was the subject of 'architecture-relevant systems'. For the first time, visitors could see lifts, sun-protection systems, façade technology and daylight systems all together at the fair. Also part of this area were the 'Energy Efficiency of Public Buildings' lecture forum, the Daylight Forum, and the special show by the Association of Medium Sized Lift Manufacturers.

In this connection, Professor Rainer Hirschberg of Aachen Polytechnic commented that, "There was a continuous increase in the number of people attending the 'Efficiency of Public Buildings', the special show on the study of the same name. The excerpt from the study was in great demand. We see the lecture participants as being multipliers. In the future, the speed and effectiveness with which we can draw the attention of political decision makers to the results of the study will be decisive."

Günther Volz, 'FitLicht e.V. – Association for Innovative Daylight Usage': "The 'Daylight Forum' was part of 'architecture-relevant systems' for the first time and was open to all trade visitors. Visitor quality was once again very good: 50 percent of them were architects and 50 percent planners. This is our target group to 100 percent. Particularly high this year was the level of visitor internationality. For us, taking part together with the associations in the 'architecture-relevant systems' was a worthwhile step."

Friedhelm Meermann of the Association of Medium Sized Lift Manufacturers (Vereinigung mittelständischer Aufzugfirmen): "For the first time, we have brought together several medium-sized lift manufacturers on the same exhibition stand. For our sector, this is a chance to show new system ideas and to demonstrate our innovative strengths. The response to this was very good and visitor quality was high. We will endeavour to attract additional lift-system manufacturers for 2006. We were able to make numerous contacts with architects and investors, as well as investment and building managers of large companies. In our opinion, the concept of 'architecture-relevant systems' is a complete success. We see Light+Building as being the most important event for us in the future."

Trade visitors to Light+Building were enthusiastic about the competitions. In Hall 4.2, the Design Plus exhibition presented 33 products from the fields of technical lighting and building automation, which had been selected for the Design Plus Light+Building 2004 award. The 'Lights of the Future' design competition, which was initiated by the European Commission (EU) in 1999, was organised solely by Messe Frankfurt for the first time. However, the European Union remained on board as patron. The exhibition in Hall 6.1 was distinguished, above all, by the innovative and creative luminaire designs of young designers from 11 different countries of the world, such as Japan, the USA, Canada and Iceland.

The focus of 'Meeting Place: The Future' was on young people. Here, academies from the field of lighting design, such as the polytechnics of Coburg, Wismar, Hildesheim and Stockholm, showed a variety of different training options. The building sector was represented by the polytechnics (Fachhochschulen) of Albstadt-Sigmaringen, Biberach and Dortmund while the polytechnics of Karlsruhe and Wiesbaden presented training opportunities in the field of lighting and building. The Online Job Exchange in cooperation with 'creyfs Personnel Service' was also a success with a total of 16 job advertisements and around 164 online resumes to be found online.

The Building Performance Congress, the theoretical heart of the fair, also came well up to expectations in terms of attendance numbers with more than 660 participants coming to Frankfurt for this specialist congress parallel to Light+Building. Every second congress visitor came from outside Germany. At Light Focus, the best-attended lecture was that on 'The Lighting Designer and the Customer, the power of persuasive power of presentation methods'.

At Building Focus, the most popular lecture was on 'System integration: not just a question of communication'. Devoted to the subject of 'processes and programmes', Wednesday was the best attended day of the conference on 'Improving the Energy Efficiency of Commercial Buildings', which took place this year within the framework of the Building Performance Congress.

This year's Public Design, Trade Exhibition on Design and Equipment for Public Areas, was held for the first time in association with Light+Building at Frankfurt Fair and Exhibition Centre. Outdoors, with good weather and in the middle of the flow of visitors between Halls 3, 4 and 5, the presentation on the Agora had a fresh, innovative and authentic impact. Thomas Schütz, General Manager of Messe Frankfurt Ausstellungen: "All Public Design exhibitors were satisfied with the re-positioning of their event, especially in view of the numerous new contacts made with potential customers from Europe, especially Eastern Europe, and Asia. They were also very enthusiastic about the quality of their trade visitors. In general, they saw the new concept as a gain and an important step towards ensuring the future of their own forum. Against this background, an expansion of the Public Design section is highly likely for the next event."

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