Just last week, Mesago Messe Frankfurt announced the cancellation of SPS as a real event, and now the leading trade fair for additive manufacturing Formnext is following suit. This was actually supposed to take place in November as a hybrid trade fair virtually and in the halls of Messe Frankfurt, but the current situation has caused too much uncertainty. "The current rise in Covid-19 infection figures in Germany, Europe and around the world is leading to increasing uncertainty among exhibitors and visitors. Together with the renewed tightening of official and company-internal travel restrictions, it is no longer possible to hold the otherwise highly international Formnext in the usual quality," says Petra Haarburger, President of Mesago Messe Frankfurt.

Big disappointment

The decision was made in consultation with the exhibitor advisory board. Sascha F. Wenzler, Vice President Formnext, Mesago Messe Frankfurt: "We have been planning Formnext 2020 consistently for months and with the full support of our Exhibitor Advisory Board with the highest level of protection and safety for the health of our exhibitors and visitors. We have completely redesigned the entire layout of the trade fair in the halls with all entrances, stands, pathways and completely new stand packages, spacing and communication areas in accordance with the health and hygiene concept agreed with the authorities. This makes it all the more disappointing to realize at the end of the summer that the course of the pandemic is destroying our efforts to make personal encounters possible again."

The potential of flexible, diversified and decentralized production was clearly demonstrated by the AF industry during the crisis. There is no doubt that additive manufacturing will be one of the leading technologies that lead the way out of the recession. It will play a major role in the development of new products, the design of resilient supply chains and the development of sustainable business models, Mesago is certain in its press release.

"An exchange between technology providers and users is absolutely essential for this and we are now putting all our energy into creating a virtual Formnext, Formnext Connect," Wenzler continues. "It will be the central virtual platform for business and knowledge exchange for the global AM community by the end of the year."

The Exhibitor Advisory Board unanimously welcomes and supports this decision.

Formnext Connect will start as a virtual event on November 10, 2020 and offer a wide range of digital services. These include exhibitor presentations in showrooms (products, information, videos, chat function, lead generation / lead tracking), intelligent matchmaking with all participants supported by AI, live streaming and on-demand broadcasts of the supporting program and webinars as well as scheduling / appointment allocation for online meetings with exhibitors. Further information will follow shortly.