Cologne, 11 October 2010. With over 17,500 visitors – 25 percent from outside Germany – and 1,500 conference participants, Intergeo, which drew to a close on Thursday, 7 October in Cologne after three days, continues its growth unabated, with an increase in both exhibition space and participant numbers. This once again confirms its importance as a leading international conference and trade fair for geodesy, geoinformation and land management.
In an initial survey, 90 percent of the more than 500 exhibitors from 32 countries said they had achieved the goals they set themselves for the trade fair. The high standard of discussions with the very well informed visitors received universal praise.
Dr. Karl-Friedrich Thöne, President of DVW e.V. – the German Society for Geodesy, Geoinformation and Land Management – is in no doubt that the growth in the industry will continue in the long term. His call to proceed with the association activities, with a particular focus on recruiting young professionals, and to pursue networking further found fertile ground at the 16th Intergeo
For example, an interdisciplinary link was forged thanks to the first collaboration with the European conference EnviroInfo 2010. The overall feeling after the joint conference day on environmental information and geoinformation was that it had greatly benefited both sectors. Initial talks on intensifying and continuing collaboration have already been agreed. The event’s increasing international development and networking are reflected not only in the rise in the proportion of exhibitors and visitors from outside Germany (up 10 and 20 percent respectively on 2009), but also in the first joint presentation by Chinese companies.
The conference in Cologne saw the successful launch of two new features – the daily keynote speeches, featuring high-profile individuals in the form of Constitutional Court judge Udo Di Fabio, ESRI president Jack Dangermond and FIG president Stig Enemark, and the Intergeo Academy, which got off to a flying start with a total of 170 participants – and these will be further integrated into the overall Intergeo concept at the event in 2011.
While the mantra in 2009 was "Geo is in", in the industry it’s now all about "Geo is interconnecting", said Dr. Hartmut Rosengarten, Chairman of the Intergeo Exhibitor Advisory Board. "As a facilitator of the industry, Intergeo will continue to drive forward international dialogue and the networking of disciplines, looking ahead to Nuremberg in 2011," explained Olaf Freier, Managing Director of HINTE GmbH and Intergeo organizer.
The 17th Intergeo will take place in Nuremberg from 27 – 29 September 2011.
The latest image material and three editions of the Daily News are available for download at www.intergeo.de/en/englisch/index.php