Munich Laser, Fiber Shows Spark Optimism

MUNICH, Germany, July 10 -- More than 20,000 visitors and 846 exhibitors gathered for the 2003 LASER.World of Photonics trade show and conference held last month in Munich, signaling an expected upswing in the international photonics market, according to the show's organizers.

About 63 percent of LASER visitors surveyed were confident that the industry is improving, organizers said. There was an 8 percent growth in exhibitors with their own booths compared with two years ago, and an 11 percent increase in exhibitors from abroad, including the US.

"LASER was an outstanding show for us and exceeded our expectations," said Neil Ball, general manager of Directed Light Inc., a first-time LASER exhibitor. "Our company's new focus is international expansion, and coming to LASER was key for us to achieve this goal. We met people from all corners of the world and got huge business leads that will pay off."

For the first time, the optical information and communications technology segments were held separately in the new FiberComm trade show, which was held concurrently with LASER at the New Munich Trade Fair Center. FiberComm, which debuted with 124 exhibitors and 2500 visitors, focuses on all aspects of the fiber optics industry from components, systems and network development to measuring and testing technology, production and installation.

In addition to the more than 355,000 square feet of exhibit floor space, LASER and FiberComm featured numerous supporting business and venture capital events and conferences, including the European Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics and European Quantum-Electronics Conference. The International Society for Optical Engineering and the German Scientific Laser Society held conferences addressing biomedical optics, optics and lasers in meteorology and lasers in manufacturing/laser precision microfabrication.

FiberComm featured a two-day business conference on the topics of market development and strategies, trends, applications and business models. Professor Yasuhiro Koike of Keio University in Japan unveiled a new project that networks numerous buildings by gigabit Ethernet links based on gradient-index polymer fibers.

The next LASER.World of Photonics will be held June 13-16, 2005. The next FiberComm is scheduled for May 4-6, 2004.

For more information, visit: www.munichtradefairs.com