Formnext2019_Druck
Formnext 2020 to go virtual only.
The organisers of the annual Formnext additive manufacturing trade fair have announced plans to replace its in-person event with a digital only format this year as a result of challenges from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The new digital event, to be named "Formnext Connect", will run from 10th November 2020 and aims to provide a range of digital services including exhibitor presentations, intelligent matchmaking with all participants supported by AI, live streaming and on-demand content of supporting program and webinars, and scheduling of online meetings with exhibitors.
Petra Haarburger, President of Mesago Messe Frankfurt, said: "The current rise of the COVID-19 infection figures in Germany, Europe and around the world have led to increasing uncertainty among exhibitors and visitors. Together with the renewed tightening of official and in-house travel restrictions, this will no longer allow the otherwise highly international Formnext to be carried out in the accustomed quality.”
Sascha F. Wenzler, Vice President Formnext Mesago Messe Frankfurt, added: "We have been planning Formnext 2020 for months now. We have done this consistently and with the full support of our Exhibitor Advisory Board and with the highest level of protection and safety for the health of our exhibitors and visitors. In doing so, we examined the entire layout of the fair from scratch from the halls with all entrances, booths, to the aisles. We devised completely new stand construction packages, spacing and communication areas in accordance with the health and hygiene concept agreed with the authorities. Our disappointment at the end of the summer is all the greater now that we have to recognise that the course of the pandemic is destroying our efforts to make these personal encounters possible again.”
In a press release, Mesago praised the role of the additive manufacturing industry over the course of the crisis in demonstrating flexible and decentralised production, as we’ve seen through the many of examples of 3D printing being used in the manufacture of COVID-related equipment. The organiser said “there is no doubt that AM will be one of the leading technologies that will lead the way out of the recession.”
