Vision Show Attendance Doubles and certification launch was a success.
Press Release Summary:
Held in Boston, MA from May 25-27, The Vision Show doubled previous 2009 attendee levels. Positive response to the show and conference parallels recovery of market and growth in industries seeking vision and imaging solutions. Also, AIA launched its Certified Vision Professional (CVP) program that will, according to AIA Vice-Chairman Greg Hollows, "be an asset to individuals who want to establish their knowledge base within their company and industry."
Original Press Release:
The Vision Show Attendance Doubled from 2009
A new Certified Vision Professional program was launched at the vision conference.
(Ann Arbor, Michigan) The Vision Show, held in Boston, Massachusetts May 25-27, had double the attendees of 2009's show and conference. The positive response to the show and conference parallel the recovery of the market and growth in the industries that are seeking vision and imaging solutions. The show is North America's largest stand alone machine vision and imaging technology show, sponsored by the Automated Imaging Association (AIA), the global industry trade group.
The four day Vision Conference provided training for a variety of experience levels. The AIA launched its Certified Vision Professional program in Boston. To earn "CVP" status, individuals must pass an exam based on the basic tutorial programs AIA offers in the fundamentals of machine vision, beginning lighting and optics, basic vision software and algorithms, and camera and image sensor technology basics. About 30% of the conference attendees took the Certified Vision Professional - Basic Level exam with 82% of those passing.
"The CVP program has value for end users, system integrators, OEMs and suppliers in the industry," said Greg Hollows, AIA Vice-Chairman and Director, Machine Vision Solutions at Edmund Optics. "Achieving certification will be an asset to individuals who want to establish their knowledge base within their company and industry. AIA is a leading global authority and AIA certification will be a very impressive achievement for career advancement," he added.
The show featured vision and imaging technologies from 82 leading companies and featured cameras, optics, lighting, software, components and complete vision systems. Nearly 1900 people registered from 19 countries to see new technology innovations launched at the show. "We were thrilled with the show and conference," said Jeff Burnstein, President of the Automated Imaging Association. "Several past exhibitors who chose not to exhibit at this year's show paid us a high compliment by telling us that they wished they had exhibited this year," Burnstein added.
"We were pleasantly surprised with the quantity and quality of the attendees at this years' Vision Show. We were naturally a bit concerned going into the show due to the remaining uncertainties in the economy and restricted travel budgets but attendance seemed to reflect the pick-up we are seeing in the US with our camera customers. We found many new potential customers and new applications that give us optimism towards an even brighter future for Basler and the machine vision industry," commented John Jennings, Chief Commercial Officer at Basler Vision Technologies.
"It was great to be back in Boston for another successful Vision Show. Attendance and activity at the show seemed to be better than in the recent past, which seems to indicate that our market is healthy emerging from the Great Recession. The gathering of industry leaders and abundance of new products and technologies should prove a great benefit to the entire marketplace," said Jim Sullivan, Director of Sales - Industrial Optics at Schneider Optics, Inc.
"Point Grey has been exhibiting at The Vision Show since 1999, and over that time we've seen it become one of the most important machine vision trade shows in the world. We were particularly pleased with this year's event. There was good overall traffic in our booth and the quality of the visitors was very high. Many customers approached us with specific projects and well-defined camera requirements, so we are anticipating an increase in business as a result of our attendance," said Vladimir Tucakov, Director of Sales & Marketing at Point Grey Research, Inc.
The AIA stated that one of the goals for this year's show was to reach a broad spectrum of industries, providing a hands-on opportunity to see how vision can help companies find innovative ways to increase quality, streamline processes, and find better ways to increase production efficiencies, all while keeping in line with their goal to reduce costs. "Registrants came from traditional sectors that use vision, such as aerospace, pharmaceuticals, automotive, food and beverage, military/defense, semiconductor, medical device, consumer goods and electronics," said Rusty Ponce de Leon, Chairman of the AIA and President of Phase 1 Technology Corp. "But we also saw people from high end security/surveillance, scientific imaging, entertainment, biometrics, mapping, metrology, energy, and intelligent signage, to name a few non-traditional industries."
New this year was a networking party held at the Hard Rock Café in Boston. Thanks to support from sponsor Advanced illumination (a Vermont based lighting supplier), this party featured one of Boston's leading contemporary blues/rock bands, Ernie and the Automatics. The band features two original members of the band 'Boston' and a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame saxophonist. The party welcomed 275 guests with the band playing two full sets and ending with some of the great 'Boston' hits. "Advanced illumination was proud to help support an important networking event at The Vision Show," said John Merva, AIA Director and Executive Vice President of Ai. "So much business takes place at events like this, where you can get to know people better in a relaxed environment. Plus I'm a fan of Ernie and the Automatics, so it was a fantastic night."
About AIA
Founded in 1984, AIA was organized specifically to promote the understanding and use of image capture and analysis technology and is now the world's largest machine vision trade group representing nearly 300 member companies from 30 nations. Members include leading suppliers of complete vision systems, vision components, system integrators, end users, OEMs, consulting firms, and research groups.
AIA is best known for The Vision Show and Conference; Automate Show and Conference (formerly the International Robots, Vision & Motion Control Show), next held March 21-24, 2011 in Chicago, Illinois USA; the annual Machine Vision Markets Study; the annual AIA Business Conference; and Machine Vision Online (www.MachineVisionOnline.org), the world's leading resource for machine vision information on the internet.
For more information on AIA, visit www.MachineVisionOnline.org or contact AIA Headquarters at +1 (734) 994-6088.
