A+A 2019, International Trade Fair with Congress for Safety, Security and Health, will be held from November 5 – 8, 2019 at the fairgrounds in Düsseldorf, Germany. Since October 1, 2018, Wolfram Diener has been the new Managing Director of Messe Düsseldorf and responsible for A+A. Diener is enthusiastic about his new job: “After many exciting and successful years with various trade fair companies, and quite some time in Asia, I am now facing the next challenge – and this challenge will be more than the bandwidth of my trade fair portfolio in Düsseldorf. Messe Düsseldorf is seen as one of the world’s most successful, robust and international trade fair companies, and it’ll be great to contribute to its further success.”
Question: You are planning the hall layout for A+A 2019 right now. What has been the response from the industry?
Diener: It’s been great. Market players are showing considerable interest in the trade fair. Many companies that have been coming to A+A for many years want to be there again, and some of them even want to increase their exhibition space. Also, there is a sizeable number of companies who never took part before and who want to book stands for the first time for next November. So it’s very much to our advantage that we’ve expanded the space since the previous event, so that we now have additional capacities for three areas – Health at Work, Operational Safety and Corporate Fashion. In other words, we can already be sure that A+A 2019 will again represent the entire world of corporate health and safety in Düsseldorf and that the trade fair will provide a complete overview of the latest products and trends, both nationally and internationally.”
Question: A+A 2019 will be the first trade show to occupy the newly completed multifunctional Hall 1, accessed via the new South Entrance. What will be the impact of this new constellation, and which segments will be represented?
Diener: “In total, the new constellation of halls will mean that there’ll be additional space for the segments I mentioned, so that we can finally meet a large number of requests from regular exhibitors wanting more space. Hall 1 will primarily be occupied by the PPE segment. There will of course be new exhibitors among them and we’ll also be seeing regular ones using more space than in the past. Operational Safety will be expanded to include Hall 7.0, so that this section, too, will now have a wider scope. We are confident that in 2019 there will be more than 2,000 exhibitors at A+A for the first time. The full range of exhibitors will be occupying ten halls, not just the nine we've had up to now.”
Question: Exhibitors at A+A in Düsseldorf will present innovative, forward-looking ideas alongside proven and updated developments. Will there be anything else in the program to provide trade visitors with news from the industry?
Diener: “I can only address a few of them, because in addition to the exhibitors' offerings, there will indeed again be many excitingly staged, informative live topics, e.g. the Highlight Route to the Future of Work. It will be about innovative solutions for the impending changes in our working environment as a result of digitization – developments which are set to affect all areas of work. Everywhere in the halls there will be presentations by well-known exhibitors, including smart solutions for personal protection, new workplace models, new ideas for workplace structures, and also digital applications, ranging from prototypes to series production.
2019 will be the first A+A to feature an International Start-Up Zone. It will be aimed at companies that have been trading for less than five years and which have an annual turnover or balance total below EUR 5 Million and a workforce of less than 20. In addition, German exhibitors can again access a program created by the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy to support innovative young enterprises wanting to exhibit at the trade fair. Further details are available on the website of A+A 2019, https://www.aplusa-online.com/. Both the Start-Up Zone and the German ministry program give companies a simple, cost-effective means of exhibiting at A+A and a great opportunity to promote new ideas for safeguarding manpower and to find appropriate investors. Whether it’s a health app, VR goggles or high-tech textiles, the range is unlimited. For us as trade fair operators, it’s important to widen the scope of A+A by adding new ideas, and so we support this exchange of ideas between international newcomers to the industry, on the one hand, and experts from industry, research and government, on the other.”
Question: What else can we expect to see in the ancillary program at A+A 2019?
Diener: “Primarily, of course, we should mention the A+A Congress, the leading cooperative event on occupational health and safety in Germany. The program is currently being prepared, and some of the focal issues will be:
- The future of work
- Health and safety policies: national and international
- Technology and labor protection laws
- Health at work – skills, behaviors and resources
- New tools and working methods
There will also be a large number of special shows and staged events in the various halls – features that A+A visitors have enjoyed for many years and make intensive use of. Two new events, however, are especially worth mentioning, as they are major additions to our program for emergency responders, aid organizations and fire brigades:
On November 6, 2019, a special conference will be held, entitled “Self-Protection for Emergency Responders”. Another new one-day conference will be aimed at professional users of respiratory protection equipment. With the title “Respiratory Protection and Hygiene at the Place of Deployment”, it will address the issue of toxic and carcinogenic substances to which firefighters are often exposed in their work. Solutions will be presented in cooperation with the fire brigades in Düsseldorf and Berlin as well as the organization Hamburg Feuerkrebs (Hamburg Fire Cancer) for the promotion and sustainable improvement of health and working conditions for firefighters.
With such a wide range, A+A 2019 will once again be the most important international platform for all topics, products and ideas that will help people to work safer, healthier and more efficiently in the future - in a working environment that is changing faster than ever before.”
For further information on visiting or exhibiting at A+A 2019, contact Messe Düsseldorf North America, Telephone: (312) 781-5180; E-mail: info@mdna.com; Visit https://www.aplusa-online.com/ and http://www.mdna.com.
For hotel and travel information, contact TTI Travel, Inc. at (866) 674-3476; Fax: (212) 674-3477; E-mail: info@ttitravel.net; www.traveltradeint.com
