Press Releases

 

The Brno Exhibition Centre was alive with industry and the most advanced technologies for five days. Exhibition stands of 1651 companies from 32 countries occupied an area of more than 45,000 square meters. All indoor areas of the exhibition centre have been sold out several months in advance and the interest of visitors was extremely high: more than 80 000 of them visited the trade fair.

MSV is the flagship of the set of several industrial fairs – five more international fairs, which are held in Brno even in even years, have taken place together with it. IMT was a showcase of metalworking and forming machines, FOND-EX focused on foundry, WELDING on welding technology, PROFINTECH introduced surface treatment technologies, and PLASTEX was a trade fair for plastics, rubber and composites.

MSV 2018 was marked by significant anniversaries. Not only it was the 60^th edition of the most important industrial fair in Central and Eastern Europe, but also 90 years since the foundation of the Brno Exhibition Centre and 100 years since the establishment of Czechoslovakia. Slovakia was thus the partner country of the fair and the opening ceremony of the trade fair and the Congress of the Confederation of Industry and Transport of the Czech Republic took place in a Czech-Slovak format for the first time in the history of the Czech and Slovak Republics. A hundred years of our common industrial history reminded visitors by a unique “100RIES” [Stories] exhibition, which showcased one hundred Czechoslovak industrial legends of the past century. The 45 exhibits of the exhibition included 11 globally unique products and a replica of the statue of the first Czechoslovak president T.G. Masaryk, milled by a robot directly in front of the visitors.

The vast majority of this year's exhibits have not looked into the past but have rather presented the future. The Industry 4.0 theme has been tangibly present in many expositions where robots and machines have worked with fully automated, autonomous production process management. The best exhibits competed for the prestigious MSV Gold Medal. The expert evaluation committee awarded six major prizes to exhibits presented by Bosch Rexroth, the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, Brno Technical University, MCAE Systems, Sugino Machine Limited and KUKA.

The fair was held at a time of economic boom and reflected the positive mood among companies and high investment demand. The representatives of the Association of Engineering Technology, which associates the manufacturers of machine tools and forming machines, announced at the trade fair that they had more than 15% increase in production in the first half of the year and are expecting record results now.

The high attractiveness of the Czech market was confirmed by the extraordinary participation of foreign companies and experts. More than 800 companies and approximately half of all exhibitors came from abroad, with Germany, Slovakia, China, Italy and Austria having the highest representation. Foreign visitors have arrived from more than 50 countries and their share in total visitor traffic exceeded 10 percent. The trade fair was attended by a number of foreign delegations and business missions, for example from Angola, China, Japan, Russia or Belarus.

The trade fair is a traditional meeting place for politics and business. This year, Prime Ministers Andrej Babiš and Peter Pellegrini, ministers of the Czech and Slovak Governments, governors, ambassadors, senators and deputies, university rectors as well as representatives of professional associations from the Czech Republic and abroad were in attendance.

The jubilee year also brought a record in the number of supporting events, there were an incredible 79 of them during the five days of the fair. This was only possible thanks to the fact that the organizers of the fair expanded the number of congress halls. MSV has confirmed its role as a key discussion platform for business contacts between Czech and foreign entrepreneurs. The events were focused on industrial cooperation with China, Japan, Russia, Belarus, Switzerland, Slovakia and other countries. There was great interest in the two-day B2B Contact-Contract project with the participation of 233 companies from 15 countries. Specialised events included the largest fifth edition of the 3D printing conference with 340 participants, other conferences focused for example on the future of nuclear power industry, Industry 4.0, support for technical education or the circulation economy. The one-day MSV JobFair was held for the eighth time, attended by 25 exhibitors from the Czech Republic and abroad and included a lecture programme. In Hall Z, the 10^th edition of the CNC Machine Programmer Competition prepared by the Engineering Technology Association for secondary school and school students was held throughout the Trade Fair. The accompanying "invisible" interactive exhibition CZECH INNOVATION EXPO looked back at the one hundred years of history of Czech science, research and innovation through state-of-the-art technologies. After its premiere at MSV, the exhibition will move to Prague and the Czech Centres in various countries.

For the second time, a project of organized and commented tours of the fair has taken place. More than 200 visitors took advantage of this year's MSV TOUR – in two hours they have seen the most exciting technological innovations in the chosen field. An improved and expanded mobile application facilitated a visit to the trade fair and arrangement of business meetings. In cooperation with the City of Brno, the BRNO FAIR CITY project continued, opening the city to the participants in the fair and allowing them to enjoy special discounts in gastronomy or transport.

The press centre accredited 280 media representatives from eight countries during the first four days of the MSV. Besides Czech journalists, their colleagues from China, Hungary, Germany, Poland, Austria, Russia and Slovakia also reported about the trade fair.

The 61^st International Engineering Fair will be held together with the Transport and Logistics and ENVITECH trade fairs on 7-11 October 2019.

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Quotes about the fair

"Our countries have been together for a long time. We share common problems but also achievements, we have great results in the industry, and the “100ries” exhibition is a proof of this."
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš

"The Brno Exhibition Centre has always played an important role in our history. I am proud that the Slovak Republic has continued to be one of the most important exhibitors after the [country’s] division. This year we are also the official partner of the jubilee 60^th International Fair. Today we have officially opened an exhibition of common Czechoslovak history. The exhibition shows what the Czech and Slovaks managed together over the past 100 years and how science, research and development moved forward."
Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic Peter Pellegrini

"The Engineering Fair is a racetrack where the best of the best show the best industrial technology. MSV is a window into the future of the industry. I am glad we can create this window to the future with you."
Veletrhy Brno a.s. CEO Jiří Kuliš

"I walked through the pavilions with the Prime Minister and the Minister [of Industry and Trade]. It's global competition, we should know we can do this. Industry has nurtured this country and always will."
President of the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic Jaroslav Hanák.

"I welcome you to the city of Brno, the trade fair city. This tradition has lasted for ninety years and I must say that I am proud of it as a Brno patriot. I am very glad that this tradition continues."
Mayor of Brno Petr Vokřál

"I want to thank the organizers – the Brno Trade Fairs, that the trade fair has turned out so well."
Minister of Industry and Trade Marta Nováková.

"We consider the Brno Engineering Fair one of the most important events in the field of mechanical engineering and electrical engineering in Central and Eastern Europe. I keep my fingers crossed for both countries. I also keep my fingers crossed for the Brno fairs to keep them going as well as they did until now."
Minister of Economy of the Slovak Republic Peter Žiga.

Exhibitors' testimonies

Dominika Zalubelová, project manager, SARIO agency
This year, Slovakia was the MSV partner country, the official exhibition was organized by the Slovak SARIO Agency for Investment and Trade Development in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic. The exhibiting companies are very satisfied so far, I think many of them have gained new business contacts, and perhaps thanks to the proximity of Slovakia and the Czech Republic, many permanent partners met and discussed their business affairs here. So the first feedback is positive, we will of course see after the trade fair how concrete business negotiations will turn out.

Oldřich Paclík, Director of the Engineering Technology Association:
We are quite optimistic about this year's fair. It is the IMT year and also the year when the economic activity probably culminates, which is also reflected in our field. Here is a high participation of our foreign competitors, which is a signal that the situation on the Czech market is quite favourable. For our machine tool and forming machine industry, this year should be even better than the record-breaking year 2015.

Barbora Mocová, communication department, Siemens:
This year we celebrate the 60^th anniversary of our participation in the International Engineering Fair in Brno. In addition, we are also participating in the nice “100ries” [Stories] exhibition in Pavilion A. We were satisfied with the participation, we had high attendance at our exhibition stand. We are glad that we could introduce our latest portfolio at the fair, especially the digital twin we’ve been presenting to our customers every day. We had almost 500 business meetings with our partners. Representatives of new companies have also visited us, and we will evaluate the contacts after the end of the fair. The trade fair was successful for the company.

Jan Hruška, Head of Marketing, KOVOSVIT MAS a.s.:
This year's MSV was very good for us. However, I would like to see more interest among engineers from the Slovak Republic, since there is constant talk of deepening cooperation between our countries, which I think is a good step. On the whole, I value MSV positively, from a European standpoint it was a standard. People coming to our stand were particularly interested in the new lathe, which was also brought to the attention of potential customers.

Libor Horniak, Business Manager, FANUC Czech s.r.o.:
Our stand was always full, since we presented a collaborative robot, an automatic machine  with a direct human participation. This year's MSV was good because it has shown that companies still have a desire to invest in new machinery. It was successful for our company.

Wang Jianfei, Deputy Secretary-General of the Council for Promotion and International Trade CCPIT, China
This year, 90 Chinese companies from Zhejiang, Guizhou, Guangdong, Liaoning, Jiangsu, Fujiang and Shandong provinces have come to Brno and they exhibited on around 1000 square meters. We learned about the trade fair from Mr. Kuliš, CEO of Brno Trade Fairs, during his journey to China, as well as from other businessmen who visited MSV in the past. We have been looking for fairs in Europe that were of interest to us in terms of quality, skills and attendance. We consider MSV a good platform for Chinese companies to enter the local market and to find new customers, whether in the Czech Republic or in neighbouring countries.

Tania Vainio, CEO of ABB Czech Republic and Slovakia
Our company is a leader in robotics. That is why we are not only exhibiting at MSV, but also organizing discussions on automation and robotization. I see that many people are interested in this subject and I am happy for this dialogue.

Josef Sláma, director, Renishaw s.r.o.:
We have been exhibiting at MSV every year since our entry on the Czech market in 1994. We view this trade fair as the East European EMO, simply a flagship. Our branch, which is responsible for the Czech and Slovak markets, exhibits only here and in Nitra. And it makes sense, because you can find everything on the Internet and you can communicate with people electronically, but the trade fair is the only way we can meet with our customers.

Leoš Sehnal, Managing Director, SA Trade s.r.o.:
The attendance of this year's fair was good, and a lot of students from the engineering fields also came. We are comfortable with students because we supply machine tools to schools and equip their workshops. Visitors were more interested in conventional machine tools this year. Our stand was always full, we spent a lot of time on business meetings, we had about three dozen each day. We had visitors from Slovakia, Russia, an interesting visit came from Siberia and Romania. Our Romanian partner intends to exhibit together with us at the next MSV in Brno. The fair was a success for our company.

Vojtěch Smolák, Sales Representative, Tungaloy Czech
We are a business representative of a Japanese company manufacturing and supplying chip machining tools in the turning, milling and drilling sectors. This year we are attending the trade fair for the fifth time, we are always involved in even years. We evaluated this year's attendance positively because many of our current customers have visited us and we have concluded several new contracts here.

Miroslav Mašek, Managing Director, Pilous-pásové pily, spol. s r.o.:
MSV is on a good niveau, it simply belongs to one of the most important trade fairs in Europe and corresponds to global trends, there has simply been a boom. If there is a crisis, it will be reflected at all the world's fairs. We will always come to Brno because we draw from the orders at the fair all year. Our company introduced some novelties in Brno as always. We had more visitors than last year, and we have concluded a fair number of orders directly at the fair. It was a nice surprise that companies were interested in more sophisticated saws, they simply have more orders and need to purchase modern machines. We belong to traditional exhibitors and the fair is a benefit for us, as always. Companies do get orders, but the work is hampered by a shortage of qualified workers, which is however no fault of the trade fairs. We have been participating in the Engineering Fair since 1992 every year and we cannot imagine not coming the next time.

Petr Svoboda, Account manager, Eplan Engineering CZ, s.r.o.:
We participate in the fair regularly, although we belong to the software solutions section. Nevertheless, we have had a good visitor rate and we have gained a number of new contacts. Of course, we also invited our permanent partners who are always satisfied in Brno. We like the fair; the company is content.

Jiří Novotný, technical support, První hanácká BOW, spol. s r.o.:
We come to the fair regularly, we must be in Brno so that we do not lose our image. This year there were enough visitors and we made new contacts with representatives of new companies. Our company celebrates its 25^th anniversary this year. We have always presented new products, which is always the essence of our exhibition, as MSV is one of the leading prestigious trade fairs in Europe. We were also visited by representatives of companies from China, Ukraine and, of course, from the Slovak Republic.

Jan Svoboda, Managing Director, JAN SVOBODA
We have had a traditional stand, we have introduced new models of plastic mould cooling this year, as companies reveal the secret that a well-cooled form means better earnings and higher margins. In this regard, we have seen a great deal of interest and established plenty of new contacts. Statistically, we had higher attendance at our stand than last year. The attitude of the trade fair company was proper, we are satisfied with it every year.

Tomáš Blabla, commercial and technical representative, MAG Centrum s.r.o.:
We belong to traditional exhibitors at MSV, this year we have been visited by representatives of new companies that have been established recently, which is good for our company, since they want to establish closer contacts with us. We also organized a series of business meetings with regular clients as usual. The fair was good for us, we had a lot of people at the stand. Next time we will come again of course, the fair serves us in maintaining the image of the company.

Pavel Matoška, director, PENTA TRADING, spol. s r.o.:
The fair in Brno is primarily a social occasion for our company. We all meet in one place with everyone from the sector, which is a benefit for all businesses. We also introduced some novelties that could be seen by the professional public. This also increases the company image. In addition, we informed the prospective clients that we are opening a new branch in Brno.

Ondřej Svoboda, Managing Director, Misan s r.o.:
This year's International Engineering Fair has met the expectations of our company. Not only did we intensify our current contacts, but we also got a set of new ones. This is very valuable for the company. In my opinion, the entire engineering fair is keeping its standard and importance among the trade fairs in Europe. It meets the European engineering standard. That is why we'll come again next year. This year we had two stands, in Hall P and in Hall A for 3D printing.

Jiří Pánek, Technical Director, WEMAC s.r.o.:
We have gained a number of new contacts at the fair for the sale of grinding machines and filtering equipment. There was interest mainly in the system for suction under pressure casting. Many meetings took place at our exhibition stand, with Swedish, German, English and Slovak colleagues. We have also gained a number of new contacts that we will evaluate after the end of the fair.

Kateřina Košacká, business assistant, TEXIMP:
Our company has always been exhibiting at the International Engineering Fair, we welcomed many customers who were interested in our exhibition to our stand. We will only evaluate newly acquired contacts after the end of the fair. We have been presenting in Brno for many years because we cannot lose our image among our competitors. The fair has turned out well.

Martin Fanta, sales representative, GALIKA:
The fair was successful for our business, with 10 percent more visitors than last year. The same applies to the amount of inquiries that the company gained – 15 percent more than in the previous year. In addition, we expect a lot of orders from these contacts. I liked the fact that visitors who came were on a high professional level and were specifically interested in individual devices.

Hana Tlamichová, sales assistant, Profika s.r.o.:
This year we first introduced robots at the trade fair, which was a good step. This exhibition was of great interest to the customers, but also to the students of vocational schools. In addition, we have acquired new potential customers. We also had a number of meetings with our business colleagues. The fair was good.

Kamila Macháčková, Managing Director, STROJE JMK s.r.o:
This year was very good for the company. We presented a new little tool blade sharpening device that was of great interest. We have gained a lot of contacts from small entrepeneurs who can place this device on a table as well. We also presented large sharpening machines of course. The trade fair also served us to strenthen old contacts.

Dušan Kuchař, Business Director, EPPINGER:
We liked this year's International Engineering Fair, it was successful for the company. Many customers who came to our stand were from abroad, especially from Hungary, Italy, Germany and South Korea. We have also established new contacts with Czech colleagues and we will evaluate them after the fair. We also introduced a number of new items which captured visitors’ interest.

Jiří Malůš, Representative for the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic, DATRON
This year's fair has been the best one from all the recent years for us. I am very pleased with the interest in our CNC machines. Both existing clients and new visitors arrived, especially on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, and we also saw serious interest in buying. So we are happy and next year we will definitely not miss the opportunity to attend MSV.

Vítězslav Ambrož, Business Director, TESCAN ORSAY HOLDING
We are a company based in Brno that develops and produces electron microscopes. This year we have been at MSV after a very long time. We present our product portfolio with different types of devices that our customers can use to get the results they need from a variety of applications. I am pleasantly surprised by the interest in our products, whether from companies that really can become our customers, or from students who really care about electron microscopy and ask a lot. This is positive for me.

Čeněk Absolon, Director of the Regional Chamber of Commerce, Brno
During our traditional Contact-Contract event at this year's International Engineering Fair, 233 companies from 15 countries took the opportunity to meet new business partners and establish new opportunities for cooperation. In two days, more than 400 bilateral meetings took place, both at our exhibition stand in Hall A2 and at exhibitors' stands. The record-breaker in the number of meetings, a representative of the Polish company OBREiUP, managed 13 of them in total.

Tomáš Mlynka, Business Manager, MERCHANT, s. r. o., Slovakia
From my point of view, Contact-Contract is a very well-organized event. As an exhibitor, I welcomed the visits of companies directly at our stand. I also know B2B events from the other side and I appreciate the opportunity to meet with a company in person because a short description cannot capture the full range of its activities.

Radim Adam, editor of Automa magazine and organizer of Automation - Vision and Reality forum
The AUTOMA Forum is here at the engineering fair for the first time, based on experience from the Amper Fair, where its presence is a tradition. Here we had some worries at the beginning, but they fortunately were not fulfilled. Great attention was paid to themes such as the specific use of robots in production lines, image recognition, or a fully automated factory. The greatest interest was focused on topics that are currently being dealt with by technicians in practice. Most of the delegates were satisfied, expressing their interest in participating in the event again next year.

Jan Červenka, business and marketing representative, Wiegel CZ hot dip galvanizing
Our company provides iron protection against corrosion by hot dip galvanizing. We attend the fair regularly and we are happy, as in previous years, because we always make new contacts here. We are also pleased to introduce our sector to the lay public and to provide them with information on hot dip galvanizing.

Irena Spoustová, secretariat of the Foundry Association of the Czech Republic
The foundry association offered space at the fair to its members who used it for encounters and business meetings with partners. We have three foundries here, three trading companies that offer supplies, machinery and equipment to foundries, and one company involved in computer applications for the foundry sector. Visitors who came to the stand were interested in the list of foundries, they wanted to know who did what, and then asked company representatives various technical questions. We also talked with our colleagues about the concept of the foundries' presentation at the next trade fair.