Last week, I was invited to a press day at the new Beeswift offices in Birmingham where I met up with Lars Wismer and Monika Kühnhenich-Jacoby from A+A to learn all about the upcoming A+A International Trade Fare and Congress that takes place in Düesseldorf from the 24th to the 27th of October 2023.
As someone who has only attended trade shows in the UK I was surprised to find out exactly how big the show is and the sheer number of exhibitors and visitors that attend from all across the Globe!
With 13 halls covering everything from corporate wear to Exoskeletons to the NEW the international Start-up Zone that provides a special area for young and innovative enterprises from all over the world. This extraordinary networking and exhibition platform gives the “young guns” the possibility to meet with the top decision-makers for occupational safety and occupational medicine as well as personalities from business, research and politics during A+A.
Also new this time in Hall 15 is the Fashion Show that adds to the versatile trade fair programme. On the A+A Catwalk the Who’s Who of the PPE industry and Corporate Fashion is staged featuring the latest fashion trends for the New Work generation, who not only seek functionality and sustainability but also want to express their own personal style and aesthetics.
Whilst chatting to Lars over lunch it was great to hear his vision for the show going forward and that the number of exhibitors for the show are now at the level of pre-covid – something until very recently I would have thought unprecedented!
This year will see A+A host not one but two congresses of international appeal: The 38th International Congress for Occupational Safety and Occupational Health organised by Basi (Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft für Sicherheit und Gesundheit bei der Arbeit/German Federal Association for Occupational Safety and Health) picks up on tomorrow’s themes such as digitalisation and sustainability; as the leading international expert event it flags up both national and global political approaches and prevention strategies such as the “Vision Zero” as well as ergonomic insights from applications-oriented research.
At WearRAcon Europe organised by Fraunhofer IPA, experts from research and development as well as business will give lectures on and discuss innovations and trends in wearable robotics with a special focus on exoskeletons.
“The A+A trade fair has seen increasing internationalisation over the past few years. This development reflects the growing global demand for occupational safety measures and the exchange of best practice in this field,” explains Petra Cullmann, Executive Director of A+A.
The outstanding conference duo will be complemented by two other exciting areas at the ExoPark: like at the previous A+A a Self-Experience Space will feature once again, allowing the exoskeleton systems of various manufacturers to be tested in near-reality work scenarios. Both visitor interest and the response from exoskeleton manufacturers were already very good in 2021.
Also held in parallel once again with the Self-Experience Space will be the broad-based live study “Exoworkathlon”. Skilled trainees from various mechatronic curricula will be put through their paces with a course of holding, lifting and assembly tasks that were developed specifically with the industry.
A great day was had by all finding out about all the A+A has to offer and I would like to thank both the A+A team and Beeswift for a great day!
