Messe München used the start of the trade fair to draw attention to a fundamental change in the Automatica schedule: In future, the robotics trade fair will take place with the Laser World of Photonics and change its rhythm from even to odd years. The next date will be June 27 to 30, 2023. Dr. Reinhard Pfeiffer, Managing Director of Messe München: "As manufacturing generalists, both Laser and Automatica offer solutions for all industries. And there are overlaps that can be expanded. Exhibitors and visitors to both leading trade fairs can therefore create added value in the future and thus make their trade fair presence even more valuable."

Automatica 2022 - Satisfied exhibitors, satisfied organizer

The outcome for Automatica 2022 is positive. Pfeiffer: "We were able to experience the future of automation and robotics here. It is unbelievable how high the innovation density is in this industry and I am of course very pleased that automatica has once again been chosen by numerous exhibitors as the platform where innovations are presented for the first time. This is the best prerequisite for automatica to build on this success next year."

A total of 574 exhibitors from 35 countries and over 28,000 visitors from around 75 countries took part in this world's leading trade fair for intelligent automation and robotics. The top ten exhibiting countries after Germany were Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, Canada, France, Poland, the UK and the USA. The proportion of international visitors was around 38%, with a high level of participation from Eastern Europe in particular.

For Frank Konrad, Managing Director of Hahn Automation and Chairman of the VDMA Robotics + Automation Association, one thing is certain after four days of the trade fair: "As the leading trade fair, automatica has for years offered an exclusive platform for exhibiting and recognizing industry trends and innovations and for developing them further in the future. Many highly qualified interested parties and customers were on site and sought the opportunity for direct contact and open communication."

Digital is good, but personal interaction is irreplaceable

After the corona break and a digital automatica sprint, personal interaction also plays a major role for companies, as Dr. Olaf Munkelt, Managing Director at MVTec Software, confirms: "You can tell that people want to go to the trade fair again. This is not surprising, as face-to-face interaction has no equivalent in the virtual world." David Reger, CEO and founder of Neura Robotics, also emphasizes the advantages of a face-to-face event: "Our cognitive robots have senses such as sight, hearing, touch and thinking, making them unique in the industry. The best way to understand these capabilities is to see them live in action. Industry events such as automatica are an excellent platform for this. Seeing is believing. We are overwhelmed by the positive response and the quality of the trade fair visitors."