LASER World of PHOTONICS CHINA 2019: photonics, innovations and 1,177 exhibitors

For the first time in the show’s history, LASER World of PHOTONICS CHINA welcomed more than 1,000 exhibitors: a total of 1,177 companies from 26 countries and regions on an exhibition area of 60,750 square meters.

Not only the number of exhibitors was record-breaking, the number of visitors also reached a new peak. A total of 65,705 professional visitors attended the exhibition, an increase of 17.6 percent compared with last year.

Falk Senger, Managing Director of Messe München, on the success of the trade show: “LASER World of PHOTONICS impressively proved that photonics is a key technology in China. Three days of innovations, solutions and full halls once again made it Asia’s leading trade show for lasers and photonics.”

Platform for the entire industrial chain with the focus on smart manufacturing

The five major exhibition areas cover the whole value chain of smart manufacturing with lasers: Lasers and Optoelectronics; Optics and Manufacturing Technology for Optics; Lasers and Laser Systems for Production Engineering; Imaging and Machine Vision; and Optical Metrology and Quality Control including Infrared Technology and Applications. The transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry have made new requirements on production processes so that an increase in the application of photonics technology is foreseeable. Along with the flourishing development of China's manufacturing industry, the exhibition also featured eight national pavilions from Germany, Japan, Lithuania, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, China and the United States as well as high-tech enterprises from 26 countries.

Mark Gitin, Senior Vice President and General Manager of NEWPORT - MKS Instruments Shanghai, commented: “LASER World of PHOTONICS CHINA is a fantastic show. It is a great platform to meet our current partners and to expand our business. We are looking forward to the 15th anniversary next year, and in fact we are even looking forward to celebrate its 30th anniversary.”

In the newly opened Hall OW7, a special Scientific Research Service Area has been established with the aim of providing comprehensive services for scientific research and innovative application. This area encourages researchers to deepen their study, broaden their horizons and achieve innovative results.

Tianqi Zhao, lecturer at China University of Metrology/College of Optoelectronics, stated: “Our participation in LASER World of PHOTONICS CHINA has brought us fruitful results. In addition to seeing a lot of products, the more important benefit is that we established contact with technology leaders from China and abroad, which is helpful to our future cooperation and technological improvement.”

Bringing together new products, focusing on China's strength and presenting a strong photonics industry

In 2019, LASER World of PHOTONICS CHINA again put on a complete display of the important innovations and applications in the industry. Nearly 1,200 new products were released at the exhibition in areas such as new energy vehicles, LiDAR, biophotonics, 5G, foldable screens and smart processing. A number of leading technologies and products attracted the attention of the visitors, fully demonstrating the growing importance of the Chinese market for the photonics industry.

Hengyang Mo, Deputy General Manager of Intelligent Equipment Division from Wuhan HG Laser Engineering Co., Ltd., commented: “We believe that the exhibition is very important to the whole industry. It is a good platform for us to communicate about laser technology and application. Many of our development initiatives are based on the information obtained at the exhibition.”

Smart machine vision sees into the future

As an indispensable part of artificial intelligence, machine vision is developing rapidly and has since become a leading force. Vision China 2019 was held along with the exhibition. It brought together 240 exhibitors from over 20 countries and regions on over 15,000 sqm of exhibition space. On March 20, the 2018 Machine Vision Market Report was released by CMVU; this showed that in 2018, the sales volume of the machine vision industry in China increased by 21 percent year-on-year and the compound growth rate is expected to reach 23.5 percent from 2019 to 2021. The 2nd VISION China Innovation Award was also announced to honor outstanding machine vision innovations. The two-and-a-half-day conference presented 27 technical reports on new products and welcomed 1,347 professional representatives.

Jack Cheung, Vice President of TELEDYNE IMAGING, stated: “The exhibition is very popular and the visitors are of high quality. The overall feeling is that it is obviously even better than last year. I'm very satisfied with the results.” Buli Xia, Deputy Director of Vision and Image Devices Division from Lingyun Optics Technology Group, commented: “We can see many new products, applications and market demand at the exhibition every year. We feel that in the future, through Industry 4.0, there will be more new trends and frontier technology that promote the development of the industry.”

Ten themes, a hundred leading figures, multiple forums for in-depth scientific exchange and cooperation

PHOTONICS CONGRESS CHINA and other supporting programs were again held along with the exhibition. The conference addressed fruitful topics and focused on the most important subjects in the industry including laser processing, advanced lasers, optical technology, infrared imaging technology, laser radar, laser safety and beam analysis. These events brought together the scientific, research and industrial communities, giving scientific research a more practical emphasis. The conference featured many well-known scientists from all over the world, including Dr. Robert Arthur Lieberman, 2016 President of SPIE and Member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering; Prof. and Academician Jiang Huisen, Chinese Academy of Engineering; Prof. and Academician Pan Junxi, Chinese Academy of Engineering; Prof. and Academician Zhuang Songlin, Chairman of China Instrument and Control Society and director of The Chinese Optical Society; Prof. Sen Han, SPIE fellow; Dr. Lu Yongfeng from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; and Prof. Zhang Zhigang from the Institute of Quantum Electronics and School of Information at Peking University, who together presented a feast of intelligent ideas. The Congress attracted a total of 3,826 delegates, including Vision China conference attendees.

Youliang Wang, Director of Laser Processing Committee of China Optical Society, concluded: “We have witnessed the development of China's laser industry from its earliest days. This year, the products exhibited have made great improvement, and the show is also very popular among the professional visitors. I believe that LASER World of PHOTONICS CHINA will continue to grow.”

The next LASER World of PHOTONICS CHINA celebrates its 15th anniversary and will be held at Shanghai New International Expo Center on March 18–20, 2020.