LASER 2019: "Bigger and better"

01 Jul 2019

Organizer Messe München publishes an upbeat review of the expanded conference and expo.

As the booths in six halls that housed LASER World of Photonics are now packed away ready for the next show, host Messe München published a review of the conference and expo. This year, relatively new topics such as electromobility and sustainability were as much the focus of the trade fair as the regular staples, applications in medicine, industry, research, recently supplemented by quantum, and the various colors of AR, VR and mixed reality.

Dr. Reinhard Pfeiffer, Deputy CEO of Messe München summarized, “It was an impressive LASER expo. A total of 1,325 exhibitors (2017: 1,293), a new record, from 40 countries demonstrated the diversity and importance of photonics from the automotive industry to biophotonics and all the way to the possibilities that lasers provide for global sustainability and climate protection.”

Katja Stolle, Exhibition Director of LASER WoP, added, “We also achieved a new record among visitors. Approximately 34,000 visitors (2017: 32,700) came to the fair, 60 percent of them from outside of Germany. The number of visitors from the USA and Asia has especially increased.”

Dr. Wilhelm Kaenders, Chairman of the Advisory Board and CTO of Toptica, said, “This exhibition and congress is an indispensable part of our global industry. You can experience the latest trends and innovations in laser technology there that help us change our lives for the better every day.“

Young guns go for it

From the QR Code Rallye to the Makeathon as well as from the start-up joint pavilion to the European Photonics Venture Forum (EPVF), LASER provided numerous program items for young photonics enthusiasts and company founders.

For example, for newcomer K-Lens, which was both an exhibitor at the start-up joint pavilion and a participant at the EPVF, LASER WoP represents “the ideal place to present our current prototypes to a wide audience.”

Managing Director Matthias Schmitz explained. “The combination of trade fair and congress provides the chance for an intensive exchange between scientists and practitioners, which is exactly what we are currently doing in product development and of course benefits us as a start-up company. With the EPVF, the trade fair forms a bridge to the top topic of start-ups, namely financing. In brief: The event provides everything we need as a start-up.”

The approximately 100 participants in the Make Light Makeathon spent a full 30 hours working on their prototypes, which they then presented to the audience Here too, one of the focal topics dealt with photonics and its contribution to climate protection and global sustainability.

For example, a team presented a ship construction that collects garbage in the ocean and can distinguish it from fish thanks to sensors and artificial intelligence. A solar-powered vehicle specifically designed for the African market was also one of the prototypes presented. The available lasers, 3D printers and sensors formed the basis of the innovative ideas.

Innovation Award

The first Innovation Award was presented in five categories at this year’s show. Martin Hermatschweiler, Managing Director of the overall winner Nanoscribe, commented, “After an intensive technical development phase, this is a great distinction for our team and for the outstanding performance of our new maskless lithography system Quantum X.”

The winners in the individual categories – Civan Advanced Technologies, Cylce, SWIR and Trumpf – also demonstrated the innovative power of photonics with their products in their various areas. This year’s Start-Up Award. This went to the Munich-based founders of Apicbeam, with its display technology, which generates free-floating, hologram-like images and videos.

The next edition of LASER World of PHOTONICS will be held at the same venue from June 21 to 24, 2021, and the next World of Photonics Congress from June 20 to 24, 2021.