Two events coincide this year with Vision 2012, the leading international trade fair for machine vision: The trade fair celebrates its silver anniversary and it moves into the most attractive and largest trade fair hall on the Stuttgart trade fair grounds, Hall 1. All exhibitors are united for the first time under one roof under the tenor "One Vision". And the wave of success continues. "Approximately 90 percent of Hall 1 is already booked, we are therefore now offering additional exhibition areas at the East entrance", states Thomas Walter, Industrial Solutions Area Manager of Messe Stuttgart. Over 21,000 square metres of exhibition space is therefore available. Around 360 exhibitors are expected at the world's largest and most important forum for the machine vision industry from 6 - 8 November 2012, half of whom are coming from abroad. According to the current registration data they hail from roughly 30 countries. The largest exhibitor contingent is as usual the USA, followed by Great Britain and Switzerland, Canada and Japan, as well as the Netherlands. Other exhibitors from all over the world, for example from China, Israel, the Russian Federation, South Korea and Taiwan, are also taking part.

Celebrate the anniversary with the machine vision community

A quarter of a century ago when the trade fair started out the machine vision industry itself was still in need of a lot of development. Both have grown together and have benefited from each other. "Some of today's key players have been there from the start - that's what we have in common. Any many new exhibitors have come on board in recent years", stated Walter. "This is why we will celebrate the 25th anniversary together with all exhibitors and also by way of a thank you", adds the Area Manager. Today Vision represents a unique presentation and information platform which is customised for the machine vision community. Four remarkable development trends shape the leading world trade fair: growing number of exhibitors and visitors, increasing interest from end users who are looking for solutions, an enhanced focus on non-industrial application fields, as well as a growing number of participants from outside Germany.

Intensified focus on end users

The market-oriented concept of Vision 2012 pursues not only the presentation of the latest high-tech machine vision components such as cameras, image sensors, vision sensors, frame grabbers, illumination, laser, optics, lenses and software. Visitors are increasingly showing interest in the "intelligent combination" of these components, i.e. in complete machine vision systems and application solutions. An absolute highlight here is the Integration Area in which only system providers and integrators showcase their applications. "It is the starting point for the end user. Here the end user can find a solution and develop contacts with system integrators", states Walter. The Integration Area is being organised for the fourth time and is growing constantly. It is positioned directly in the entrance area of Hall 1 and is supported by the Inspect journal as a sponsor.

Conquering international markets

The Vision anniversary promises to have even more international character because the interest from abroad is growing. This year over 7,000 visitors are expected at Vision, with an increasing number coming from outside Germany. An indicator for this: The exports of the German machine vision industry to Asia, primarily to China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, have been increasing for years according to the VDMA, Machine Vision Association. The German Engineering Federation is expecting long-term and strong growth potential. It is necessary to conquer these markets and here Vision, as a global platform, plays an important role in promoting globalisation. Global associations such as the Automated Imaging Association (AIA), European Machine Vision Association (EMVA), Japan Industrial Imaging Association (JIIA), UK Industrial Vision Association (UKIVA), the Imaging Association of India (IAI), the China Society of Image and Graphics (CSIG), as well as the Korea Machine Vision Industrial Association (KMVIA), have been enhancing the international character of VISION for years.

20th Vision award documents innovative power of the industry

The Vision award also celebrates an anniversary this year. For 20 years it has been a synonym for the innovative power of Vision exhibitors. For many exhibitors Vision is the most important trade fair of the year, accordingly they focus their product developments on this trade fair date. To honour this innovative dynamism of the industry, in 1993 the VISION award was presented for the first time - this means it will be awarded this year for the 20th time.