By the end of April ,351 companies from all over the world had already confirmed their participation in Formnext 2021. The trade fair for additive manufacturing (AM) and the next generation of industrial production isthus taking an important step towards building on the successful development of previous years ."Aftermore than twelve very challenging months for the entire trade fair industry, the current development of Form next is avery confident sign," says Sascha Wenzler, Vice President Formnext, Mesago Messe Frankfurt . "Although we arenot yet expecting atrade fair event like 2019, we are looking forward to a successful Formnext, where the focus will once again be on genuine personal encounters and a person-to-personexchange."

The current development is also beingdriven bythe increasing pace of vaccination campaigns in many countries. At the same time, the highly innovative AMindustry inparticular is eagerly awaiting the annual industry gathering at Formnext in Frankfurt. "We are seeing numerous new developments along the entire process chain, for which young andestablished companies arelooking forpartners, customers and, in some cases,investors -Formnext is extremely important for this,"says Rainer Lotz, President EMEA, Renishaw and Chairman of theFormnext Exhibitor Advisory Board. "At the same time ,the pandemichas also led to a partial rethink ofexisting supply chains. You canfind suitable partners for a reorientation at Formnextand meet them here in person."

Formnext is ofoutstanding importancefor business and innovation inindividual sectors such as mechanical andplant engineering ."The manufacturers of AMsystemsdo important business here," says Dr. Markus Heering, Managing Director of the Additive Manufacturing Working Group (AG AM) in the VDMA. "But numerous companies from the traditional mechanicaland plant engineeringsector also find crucial solutions here to efficiently further develop their existing products and thus gain an advantage in international competition ."

Withaninternational participation rateof 56 percent, Formnext can build onthe high international exhibitorpresencefrom previous years .The international trade fair has alsodeveloped into an indispensableplatform for the USA,as John Fay, Commercial Counselor, U.S. Commercial Service, U.S. Embassy Berlin, confirms: "The USA has a healthy, growing and globally active AMindustrywith a balanced mix of start-ups, very active medium-sized companies and important global players .[...] We are lookingforward to a Formnext with personal contacts and to the fact thatmany American AM companies havealready registeredasexhibitors ."

Flexibility, health and safety At the same time, the Formnextteam is keeping aclose eye onthe safety and health of all participants. In order to organizea safe and successful Formnext, the furtherdevelopment of the pandemic will beclosely monitored in order to adapt the concept if necessary .After all, "personal encounters are a central component of our core business, and trade fairs are an indispensable driver for the international economy,especially after times of crisis," says Uwe Behm, Member of the Executive Board of Messe Frankfurt. "As hosts at the Frankfurt exhibition grounds, we arecreating asafe environment for face-to-face meetings between you and yourpartners through a comprehensive hygieneandprotection concept ."