The advisory board of Rapid-Tech has decided to expand the event and to continue to make the conference program and accompanying exhibition more international, Messe Erfurt announced. Rapid-Tech has been one of Europe’s most important informative events in the field of additive manufacturing technologies for 11 years, attended by visitors from more than 20 countries.
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The initial focus of the internationalisation strategy will be Great Britain. Consequently, Messe Erfurt has opened its first office abroad to provide support for exhibitors and promote the event to visitors. To do this, it has partnered with renowned exhibition consultants Lincoln West, whose clients include Messe Stuttgart.
“I see great potential here for Messe Erfurt”, says Lincoln West’s managing director, Steve Lindsey. “Great Britain is one of the trailblazers when it comes to additive manufacturing. The consumer-oriented 3D printing market alone is currently estimated to be worth 3.5 billion Euros.”
Messe Erfurt’s CEO, Wieland Kniffka, also announced extensive plans for Switzerland. In September 2015, Messe Erfurt will use its trade fair platform “Rapid-Area” to bring the topic of additive technologies to the most important medical technology trade fair in Switzerland, the Swiss Medtech Expo at Messe Luzern. In return, the Swiss trade fair will organize a booth at Rapid-Tech in Erfurt.
“With this strategy, Rapid-Tech will continue to benefit from being an international hotspot for research and industrial applications”, says the chair of the advisory board, Michael Eichmann, Managing Director of RTC Rapid Technologies & Consulting GmbH.
Top companies added to the program
Rapid-Tech in Erfurt (10 and 11 June 2015) will have a new, optimised structure: New topics, visionary outlooks and insights and even more information will make the conference and trade fair more attractive to both visitors and exhibitors. Keynote presentations by market leaders such as Airbus, Microsoft, Hermle and Arburg have already been confirmed as part of the event program.
There will be a purely scientific section for the very first time. Presentations on topics such as materials and quality assurance will be at the heart of the two-day convention. The forward-thinking “Vision 3D” will also make its début. This will not only cover future concepts and wide-ranging debates, but will also present promising applications and visionary approaches for additive manufacturing by practical examples. Another new feature will be the “Tools” expert forum. This will focus on the application of additive manufacturing processes in manufacturing cutting dies and embossing tools, injection moulds and die-casting moulds. The possibilities and limitations of the various processes used to manufacture moulds and tool elements will also be discussed.
The established “Medical Technology” and “Aerospace” expert forums will provide an opportunity for intensive, expert discussion of these leading AM fields. The “New Technologies” user conference will once again feature on the agenda. For the past eleven years, it has been an important forum for people to discuss current development trends in additive manufacturing The “Design Engineers’ Day” will also return – the event that gives design engineers the opportunity to learn about the basics of layering technologies and the associate design freedom, and to gain detailed knowledge of process-specific features and limitations.
In addition, Rapid-Tech 2015 will host the Fraunhofer Additive Manufacturing Alliance forum. This will cover the practical, scientific aspect of the field and inform visitors of innovations that are still at the development stage.
In parallel to Rapid-Tech on 10 and 11 June, Messe Erfurt will also host the third Fab-Con 3D trade fair for semiprofessional users and prosumers in the field of 3D printing.