Messe Stuttgart Hails Vision 2021 a Successful Return

After a three-year hiatus, more than 5400 visitors met in Stuttgart for VISION 2021, the majority of them from Europe. Despite travel and quarantine restrictions, some visitors from the United States, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan were able to attend.

Messe Stuttgart issued a wrap-up summary of the event. According to the association, order books in the machine vision industry are well filled and the demand for components and systems stands at a consistently high level. In its capacity as the promotional supporter of VISION, the VDMA Machine Vision Association affirmed the positive mood in the industry during the opening of the trade fair.

Looking at 2020, turnover in the machine vision industry dropped by 4% compared with 2019. The VDMA Robotics + Automation Association expects turnover in the European machine vision industry to rise again by 7% in 2021.

According to Mark Williamson, chairman of the board of the VDMA Machine Vision Division, this was reflected in the mood during VISION 2021. However, one drawback in regard to turnover development is the continuing worldwide shortage of chips. “Camera manufacturers and system integrators — there is practically no company which is not suffering due to the lack of chips. Although this is not leading to a downturn on the market, it is dampening growth prospects,” Williamson said.

A survey conducted by the European Machine Vision Association confirmed the importance of trade fairs for companies. Of those surveyed, 60% stated that they were only partly able to attain their targets for new customers over the past 12 months without the opportunity for personal meetings.

Prophesee saw particular benefit for their attendance. As one of four companies on the nomination list, Prophesee was presented with the traditional VISION Award on the second day of the trade fair, in recognition of its event-based vision sensor technology inspired by the human retina. Combined with AI-based vision processing, the technology records a scene faster and more efficiently than conventional sensors.

The event additionally spotlighted successful startups in its VISION Start-up World; 15 startups participated in the daily startup pitch sessions. On the last day of the trade fair, a "jury" named GrAI Matters Labs as the Vision Start-up 2021 for the development of its energy-efficient Life-Ready AI Chip.

Talks from the Industrial VISION Days are available on demand on the VISION website, www.messe-stuttgart.de/vision/en/.