Brno, International Engineering Fair

15 - 19 September 2008 Brno, International Engineering Fair The most important event of the Czech industry – now for the fiftieth time.

The legend of the International Engineering Fair was born in late 1950's, at a time when the Czechoslovak engineering was very high and had great export success. It was also the first time since the communist revolution when the door opened for economic co-operation with the western world. In those days, the fair was held for fourteen days and changed the face of the exhibition centre by the addition of the still dominating Z Hall, and launched a tradition that made Brno the most important trade fair city behind the iron curtain. Over those fifty years the International Engineering Fair has gone a long journey ahead, individual industries got separated to specific projects, which gave the fair more expert and specialised character, but it never, even for a short time, lost its position of the biggest and most international technological trade fair in Central Europe. For the Brno Exhibition Centre, International Engineering Fair is THE fair and a flagship of its business.

And what will be the 50th year? The International Engineering Fair 2008 will again welcome visitors with full exhibition halls. "The indoor exhibition area is sold out and tens of companies remain on the waiting lists. Many exhibitors will also present on the outdoor exhibition areas," said the project manager of MSV Jiří Rousek. The third week of September is supposed to attract over two thousand exhibition companies from thirty countries of the whole world, which shall represent 36 % of foreign participants. "In fact this share will be even higher, because many foreign companies exhibit through their Czech partners," said Rousek. Most foreign companies – approximately 300 – will again come from Germany, and this shall include also forty "newcomers". Second, in the number of exhibitors, is Slovakia, third Italy, and fourth Austria. The presentation of Asian countries will be very strong this year, most of them coming from China and Taiwan, and numerous companies will come also from Russia, Spain, or France. Among the industrial categories exhibited at the fair dominates shaping and cutting technology that will be presented at the specialised biennial trade fair IMT.

This year's sixth International Machine Tools Exhibition will be the biggest in history and shall await 560 exhibitors from twenty countries on an area of approximately twenty thousand square metres. This increase is due to foreign exhibitors, who will, for the first time, exceed 50 % of the overall exhibitor number to record-breaking 53 percent. Machining centre presentations will grow in size, as well as the exhibitions of flexible production systems, i.e. automation for cutting and machining. The visitors can look forward to news from centre lathes, automatic lathes, machining centres, automatic milling machines, presses, band and circular saws, as well as laser measuring machines, digital testers, CAD/CAM systems, and exact tools. New exhibitors will be coming mainly from Taiwan, Spain, Italy, and Slovakia. At the same time there will be more exhibitors coming also from Germany, Holland, and Switzerland. The participation of professional associations will be also high. Besides the domestic Association of Engineering Technology as the traditional co-organiser of the IMT fair there will be also the specialised industrial associations from Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Great Britain, and Taiwan. The complex of the International Engineering Fair consists of ten specialised units. The strongest of them shall be the Materials and Components for Engineering with forty new exhibitors – from the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Russia, and Austria.

The greatest representation here will be by the sub-sections of rolled steel and metallurgical semi-finished products. The second main unit is Electronics, Automation, and Measuring Technology. Thirty new exhibitors will present mainly in the fields of sensor technology, measuring appliances, and robotics for automation. Increased interest was this year apparent mainly from the Asian countries; therefore we can look forward to numerous premiere shows from China and Taiwan, as well as from Germany, Great Britain, and Italy. This year's MSV shall include also the biennial overview project of AUTOMATIZACE – measuring, control, automation, and regulation technology. The accompanying programme will symbolically commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the fair. The official night party shall award those exhibitors, who have been taking part in the fair for the long fifty years. The fourteen "faithful" exhibitors include Czech large enterprises such as ČKD, Vítkovice, Třinecké železárny, ŽĎAS, as well as foreign companies such as, for instance, the Swiss Swisstool Export. The night shall see the premiere of a documentary film mapping the fifty years of the fair's history, show of historic exhibits from the first year of the fair is prepared, as well as other various memorial events. The main topic of the 50th year is bilateral economic co-operation. The four-day accompanying programme called Germany Days 2008 will focus on seeking new opportunities for co-operation with Germany, which is the partner country of the 50th International Engineering Fair. Other meetings will be dedicated to economic co-operation with France, Slovakia, and Russia. The long list of accompanying activities also deserves attention - there is a conference on the support of research and development titled "Can a head sustain us?", the traditional CzechTrade Meeting Point, national meeting of electro technicians, seminar Visions in Automation or co-operative meeting b2fair Kontakt – Kontrakt 2008. Between September 17 and 18, 2008, the exhibition centre will host the third specialised trade fair of job opportunities Kariéra, which helps solve problems with the lack of qualified staff for many employers.