The essence of INTERGEO can be summed up in the following statement: “We need to turn data into intelligent information and then transform this into knowledge and actions.” The world’s most important conference trade fair for geodesy, geoinformation and land management draws to a close today after three amazing days in Hanover. The annual industry gathering featured an exhibition area of 28,000 square metres and more than 140 presentations focused on the processing, application and economic value of geodata.
“It was CheeHai Teo, President of the FIG – the International Federation of Surveyors – who summed up what our industry is all about with this statement,” says Professor Karl-Friedrich Thöne, President of INTERGEO patron the DVW (Society for Geodesy, Geoinformation and Land Management). Geoinformation really does play an important, indeed a prominent, role in issues ranging from the energy revolution to demographic change.
In Hanover, 16,000 trade visitors once again obtained information about industry innovations and trends from 520 companies, institutions and associations located in 31 different countries. And close to 1,400 conference participants were involved in intensive interdisciplinary dialogue in 40 subject areas at the Hanover Convention Centre. The inclusion of the first National INSPIRE Conference, the CLGE (Council of European Geodetic Surveyors) conference and the Navigation Conference in the INTERGEO programme underlined the industry platform’s growing integrative significance. “The networks within the geo community and with political, business and local authority partners are becoming more closely knit all the time. Cooperation between key GIS associations and the newly formed INTERGEO Advisory Board with ESRI, Hexagon and Trimble as partners are clear signs of this development,” says Thöne.
At the European Students Meeting (ESM) alone, just under 300 students got the chance to discover innovations and trends during the second day of INTERGEO, at the DVW’s invitation. “Even with the excellent conditions the industry offers, more attention needs to be paid to attracting talented young individuals to the profession,” stresses Thöne.
The participating companies, institutions and associations encountered well-prepared trade visitors and enthusiastic potential new recruits. In an initial survey, exhibitors were united in their praise for the high quality of contacts they made. No fewer than 90 percent of exhibitors indicated that they had achieved their trade fair targets, and 92 percent said they intended to exhibit at INTERGEO 2013 in Essen.
In her keynote speech on the first day of INTERGEO, Cornelia Rogall-Grothe, State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry of the Interior and the government’s representative for information technology, highlighted the industry’s potential in figures – an annual market volume of 40 billion euros and 30,000 new jobs within the next five years.
“The market for geoinformation is one of the world’s most vibrant growth markets and INTERGEO will continue to extend its role as a meeting place for the industry,” says Olaf Freier, CEO of Hinte GmbH in Karlsruhe, which organises the event.
www.intergeo.de
