Off down South
10 February 2009
The UK calendar for events in the electronics industry is not a busy one. Nor is it a particularly exciting one. Even looking towards the continent and beyond, the shows that set the pulse racing are industry, or technology specific.
The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the Embedded Show in Nuremberg and the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona are three early-year shows that spring to mind.
It is really only Electronica that aims to be and, by and large, succeeds in being all things to all men – and we have to wait for 20 months for another one of those.
The last time the UK had a national show for electronics designers was ECIF at Excel (in London’s Docklands), which died in the midst of a petrol strike, and before that was the British Electronics Week – a similar ‘bazaar’ type event. Subsequent efforts to fill the ‘design gap’ by the Reed team with Nepcon never quite managed to attract the design side of the industry in the same way that it did the manufacturing community and its place (in history in the UK) will be as a production electronics event. Nepcon’s successor in the UK, National Electronics Week will have its second outing in June at London’s Earl’s Court, but despite its best intentions may similarly struggle to become more than a manufacturers event. I know that the organisers are making moves to change this, and I hope that they succeed – if they do then I will bring you news nearer the time.
I suspect the trouble is that the design community has moved on from the ‘market’ mentality. A veteran PR man a couple of weeks ago sidled up to me and with a rueful shake of the head confided: ‘It was so much simpler when it was all capacitors and resistors!’ This comment followed a presentation about embedded software, which highlighted the extent to which industry has changed. People these days buy blocks of knowledge or capability, not just components. This is why I feel that the sort of exhibition that suits manufacturing equipment (put it on a stand for everyone to admire) is less applicable for the design community.
However, there is an anomaly for electronics engineers that is taking place over the next two days in Hampshire. It is the Southern Manufacturing and Electronics Exhibition (11 – 12 February 2009, www.industry.co.uk/southern) and it is an event that I have grown increasingly fond of over the past few years. The reason for its success I think is its broad scope of interest with over 500 exhibitors covering everything from PCB design tools and services to metalworking, test, coatings, fastenings and much more. The product designer who is involved not just in circuit design but also in the equipment and services that are needed to complete an end product will therefore be able to see a range of companies that would not be found under one roof at a normal electronics event.
It might be a bit late in the day to drop everything and get down to Farnborough, but if not then it might well be worth the visit.
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