INDUSTRY NEWS High attendance at Elmia Wood A


ccording to Dieter Reinisch, Information Manager at John Deere, “Elmia Wood


2013 was the most important international forestry fair for many years and it wasn’t just because of the huge attendance figures and best possible weather. “This was the vitamin injection the whole industry needed,” he said. Praising Elmia for a well- organised fair with more foreign visitors than before, he continued, “Our impression is that half of the people who came to our stand were from countries other than Sweden. This year’s Elmia Wood was also proof that forest professionals have a pent-up need to update their machinery. So far, the economic situation is preventing that, but when that improves the sales will come”. His view was shared by Roland Lundqvist, Information Manager at Komatsu Forest. He has exhibited at Elmia’s forestry fairs since the mid-1970s. He sees a trend that the fairs are increasing in importance and also that customers have different expectations than before.


“Ten or 15 years ago, foreign visitors came and were amazed at the advanced technology. Now, the cut-to-length method is so widespread that it’s more important for them to meet the company behind the fancy website,” he said, adding that Elmia Wood has once again shown itself to be the world’s most important forestry fair. Another company with long experience of Elmia Wood is Haglöfs. “It’s been really great


Left to right: Jörgen Andersson, Veronika Albert, Johan Löfgren, Ann-Sofie Gustafsson and Torbjörn Johnsen of Elmia Wood.


every day. Elmia is our most important exhibiting event and this year the interest has been even greater than all the previous times we’ve been here,” said Stefan Haglöf, the company’s CEO. One of the exhibitors was Hans- Åke Elofsson, a true veteran of the Show. His first Elmia was in 1971, when he was invited to lunch with Sweden’s then Crown Prince, now King Carl XVI Gustaf. This year, Hans-Åke returned as an exhibitor via his involvement with Malwa, a


manufacturer of small machinery. He was at the fair for two days and walked around the whole site and gave his assessment of the event: “This one might well be the best forestry fair at Elmia ever. I’ve never before been to a fair with so many innovations. Elmia really succeeded with its innovation theme”.


Elmia Wood’s Business Area Manager, Torbjörn Johnsen, was satisfied with the result. The Show had some of the highest attendance figures ever, with something of a record on the third day with 18,400 visitors. The total attendance figure for all four days was 54,215. “We regard it as a challenge to become even better at future fairs,” he added. The next forestry fair for the Nordic region will be SkogsElmia on 4-6 June, 2015. The international Elmia Wood will return on 7-10 June, 2017.


Diary of events Forstmesse,


Lucerne, Switzerland 15-18 August, 2013 www.forstmesse.com


Bioenergia/Bioenergy Jyväskylä, Finland 4-6 September, 2013 www.bioenergyevents.fi


The Renewables Event Birmingham, England 10-11 September, 2013 www.therenewablesevent.com


Biofuels Int’l 2013 Antwerp, Belgium 11-12 September, 2013 www.biofuels-news.com/ conference


Biomass Power Generation London, England 23-24 September, 2013 www.platts.com/ biomassconference


Forlener Vercelli, Italy


27-29 September, 2013 www.forlener.it


Nextgen


Stoneleigh Park, England 9-10 October, 2013 www.nextgenexpo.co.uk


Expobioenergia Valladolid, Spain 22-24 October, 2013 www.expobioenergia.com


F. O. Licht’s World Ethanol & Biofuels Munich, Germany 4-7 November, 2013 www.agraevents.com


European Pellet Conference Wels, Austria


26-27 February, 2014 www.wsed.at


After four years of intensive R&D, inspiration, design and build, Micromagic Systems unveiled Mantis -- the biggest, all-terrain, operational hexapod robot in the world – at Elmia Wood. This 2.2 litre turbo diesel-powered, walking machine from the UK can be piloted or remote WiFi-controlled, stands 2.8 metres high with a five metre working envelope and weighs just under two tonnes.


World Sustainable Energy Days, Wels, Austria


26-28 February, 2014 www.wsed.at


NT Director to speak at The Renewables Event


It has been confirmed that Patrick Begg, Rural Enterprises Director at the UK’s National Trust, will speak at The Renewables Event, which takes place at the NEC, Birmingham, from 10-11 September. He will explain why renewables are at


the heart of the National Trust’s conservation policy and how the organisation was even able to breathe new life into disused buildings by employing them to store biomass fuel such as wood. The National Trust has invested nearly £3.5 million in five pilot


projects across the UK, including biomass, hydro and heat pumps, with the aim of generating 50% of the Trust’s energy from renewable sources by 2020. This goes well beyond the EU target of 20%.


The Renewables Event


organised by i2i Events Group is the UK’s only dedicated exhibition and conference for the generation of onsite renewable energy. More information from www.therenewablesevent. com


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EVENTS


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