Light + Building 2014 sets not only exhibitor and exhibition space records but also a new attendance record with over 210.000 visitors

Light+Building, once again provided an impressive demonstration of its role as the world's leading trade fair for lighting and building-services technology. The world's biggest exhibition of lighting, electrical engineering, house and building automation and software for the building industry ended on 4 April with a new record on the visitor side: during the six days of the fair, 211,500 trade visitors (2012: 195,582) from 161 countries came to Frankfurt to find out about the latest innovations and solutions of the manufacturers taking part, an increase of eight percentage points.

At the same time, the level of visitor internationality rose by three percentage points to 47 percent meaning that almost one in two visitors came from abroad. The best represented visitor nations after Germany were Italy, the Netherlands, France, China and Austria. There were also significant increases from numerous expanding markets, such as Russia, South Africa, Mexico, Turkey and Indonesia. Particularly striking was the return of visitors from South Europe with high double-digit rates of growth characterising visitor numbers not only from Spain and Portugal but also Greece.

The visitor structure underscored the significance of Light + Building as the world's leading trade fair for lighting and building-services technology. For the industry, the large proportion of foreign visitors is an important factor for a positive assessment of the fair. “Hardly any other fair in the world is distinguished by as many innovations as Light + Building. Complex and highly efficient systems are developed in next to no time in the fields of lighting and building-services technology. In this respect, Light + Building 2014 exceeded all expectations by far and left no doubt about its position as the world's leading trade fair for the sector”, said Dr Klaus Mittelbach, Chairman of the Board of the German Association of the Electrical and Electronics Industry (Zentralverband Elektrotechnik- und Elektronik-industrie e.V. - ZVEI).

With 2,458 exhibitors (2012: 2,302), an increase of 7% over the previous event, as well as an increase of 4% in the area occupied by the fair to 245,000 square metres (2012: 235,000), Light + Building 2014 set new records in all relevant areas. Hence, the conclusions drawn by Wolfgang Marzin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Messe Frankfurt, are correspondingly positive: “Light+Building is in a class of its own when it comes to lighting, light design and the future-oriented field of building and energy management. Over the last six days, manufacturers have demonstrated the great energy-saving potential offered by the use of innovative, market-ready technologies.”

Intelligent building management and LED technology with great energy-saving potential

The spotlight of this year's Light+Building was on energy efficiency, a vital aspect of the shift away from nuclear energy, which is frequently neglected in the public debate. In this connection, the industry offers innovations and solutions that not only reduce a building's energy consumption through intelligent building-services technology but also increase the level of comfort. These innovative solutions are not only ecologically worthwhile. They also offer economic incentives.

Within the framework of intelligent sustainability management, the world's leading trade fair for the sector focuses on the important subject of future-oriented building and energy management - a vital component for the reorientation of the power-supply system. The special show entitled ‘Smart Powered Building - Your Building in the Smart Grid’ presented technologies for intelligently controlling energy usage. Real installations in live operation showed how networked buildings generate, store, distribute and use energy on a decentralised basis.

Resource conservation and energy efficiency are also driving forces in the lighting market whereby the focus is on converting traditional sources of light to energy-efficient solutions. Lighting accounts for around 20 percent of worldwide electricity consumption. Modern LED technology with intelligent lighting-management systems permit savings of up to 70 percent to be made on electricity bills. In addition to new design and furnishing options, the digitalisation of light provides new levels of comfort and safety.

In line with this, one of the main themes in the lighting sector at Light + Building 2014 was the subject of people and light, i.e., the impact of light on human beings and their health, performance and well-being.

Comprehensive complementary programme of events revolving around the motto ‘Explore Technology for Life’

The main themes of Light + Building 2014 were also reflected by the comprehensive complementary programme of events. In addition to the ‘Smart Powered Building’ special show, visitors were extremely interested in a variety of exhibitions and events, such as the E House, the Technology Forum, the Trend Forum with the home trends for the coming season, the Design Plus competition and ‘Treffpunkt Zukunft’, the meeting place for young people.

Design Plus Awards

Particularly interesting debates were to be heard at the ‘Futurecourse’ discussions, which brought together representatives of politics and business at the world's biggest trade fair for lighting and building-services technology from 31 March to 2 April. In the heart of the fair, they discussed subjects of topical interest, such as decentralised energy supply, recourse friendly energy usage, data protection in smart buildings and the future of a lighting market under the growing influence of LED and OLED technologies. The participants of the discussions included Garrelt Duin, Minister for Economics, Energy, Industry, Small to Medium Sized Enterprises and Skilled Trades of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Lars Klingbeil, Network Spokesman of the Parliamentary SPD Party, Dr Johannes Milde, CEO Siemens Building Technologies, and Dr Peter Laier, CTO Osram. The discussions were chaired by journalists experienced in the various subjects.

Exhibitor and visitor poll shows high levels of satisfaction

The exceptionally good ratings given by all participants were also reflected by the exhibitor and visitor polls conducted by Messe Frankfurt. The responses of German exhibitors to questions about the current economic situation in the sector were strikingly good.

85 percent of respondents said the economic climate was satisfactory to good. Both exhibitors and visitors gave the fair top overall ratings. On the exhibitor side, it reached around 90 percent; on the visitor side, it remained at the extraordinarily high level of 98 percent. On the visitor side, the same percentage - 98 percent - said they had achieved their goals for the fair. The exhibitors were almost as positive with over 85 percent saying they had reached their targets for the fair. Additionally, they were extremely pleased with the standard of the visitors to their exhibition stands.

The next Light + Building will be held from 13 to 18 March 2016

Source: Light+Building

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