Full aisles and positive energy at World of Electronics

The WoTS 2022, the largest trade fair for technology and science in the Netherlands, was buzzing like never before this year. “That it was all possible again, that everyone could almost look each other in the eye as usual: I really noticed that positive feeling everywhere,” says Linda Bos enthusiastically. As deputy director within FHI, Bos is responsible for the organization of the four-day fair. Together with 435 exhibitors and 15,703 visitors, she looks back on a successful edition.

“Certainly, it was exciting beforehand, and specifically in terms of the number of pre-registrations,” Bos explains. “Registrations lagged behind the target for a long time, but they have to catch up considerably, especially in the last few weeks. As a result, the number of pre-registrations still amounted to just under 20,000. Ultimately, we received 15,703 visitors on the exhibition floor. Compared to the number in 2018, there were slightly fewer. But given the development of the number of pre-registrations, we are more than satisfied with this result.” 

A prince and a parrot
This year's fair was organized around five 'worlds' with a common theme: Automation, Electronics, Industrial Processing, Laboratory and Motion & Drives. At the World of Electronics, the seminar on the challenges in the semiconductor industry was one of the highlights. There were even high-ranking visitors, because the meeting was closed by Prince Constantijn of Orange who was present startups raised a number of tough questions.

The trade fair gadget, an electronic parrot that records and plays back distorted sounds, also more than lived up to expectations. “On the first day, the gadgets were almost impossible to get hold of,” says Melvin Brink. “Even little children walked around with it. Visitors also liked that they could put the gadget together themselves; This led to interesting conversations with the exhibitors who participated in the project.”  

Comate and Weiss Technik winners (Green)TechAward 
Traditionally, visitors to the exhibition floor could vote per world for the WoTS TechAward 2022, which was presented on Thursday evening. For the World of Electronics, the Belgian company Comate received the first prize for their Solhyd hydrogen panels, a co-creation with KU Leuven. These green panels capture moisture from the air and use the sun's energy to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen is seen by many as the energy source of the future and the Solhyd panels make ingenious use of this. 

This year, for the first time, the GreenTech Award was presented to the company that could demonstrate that their innovation makes a positive contribution to sustainability. Here too, a World Electronics company won prizes. Weiss Technik Nederland impressed the jury with the new and 'green' ClimeEvent with absolute humidity control and WT69 (R469A), the successor to the successful ClimeEvent. 

Presentations
The seminar presentations can be found on the WoTS website via the links in the program. 

We would like to thank all exhibitors, partner associations and visitors for their efforts, involvement and positive energy. We look forward to WoTS 2024 with confidence!