CONTENTS & LEADER Vision Yearbook 2020/2021


Uncertain times


T Vision Stuttgart 4


Greg Blackman asks the vision community how it plans to connect with customers now that there’s no Vision Stuttgart this year


Mergers and acquisitions Research and development Academia Start-ups 10


Vision Ventures’ Chris Yates on the future of M&A activity in machine vision


12


Keely Portway looks at the challenges of bringing new technology to market


18


Greg Blackman finds out how universities teaching image processing have adapted under Covid-19 restrictions


20


Sujatha Ramanujan, from the Luminate business accelerator, recounts how its recent cohort of young companies coped this year


Venture capital 24


Blumorpho’s Géraldine Andrieux discusses how start-ups should approach pitching for venture capital funding


Editorial and administrative team Editor Greg Blackman Tel: +44 (0)1223 221042 greg.blackman@europascience.com Technical writerMatthew Dale Tel: +44 (0)1223 221047 matthew.dale@europascience.com Senior designerZöe Andrews Tel: +44 (0)1223 221035 zoe.andrews@europascience.com Partnership & Events Executive Charlie Mitchell Tel: +44 (0)1223 221033 charlie.mitchell@europascience.com


Advertising team Advertising sales manager Eleanor Waters Tel: +44 (0)1223 221031 eleanor.waters@europascience.com Art/production manager David Houghton Tel: +44 (0)1223 221034 david.houghton@europascience.com


Corporate team Managing director Warren Clark warren.clark@europascience.com


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Imaging and Machine Vision Europe is published by Europa Science Ltd, 4 Signet Court, Cambridge, CB5 8LA, UK Tel: +44 (0)1223 221030 Fax: +44 (0)1223 213385 Web: www.europascience.com ISSN: 1745-5758


Cover: Viktoria Kurpas/Shutterstock.com Integration Cost Standards 26


Siga Vision’s Simon Beveridge talks about installing vision systems during the pandemic


28


Greg Blackman tries to put a price on vision technology


30


Suprateek Banerjee, of VDMA Robotics and Automation, on OPC Machine Vision, while Prof Dr Bernd Jähne previews release 4.0 of EMVA 1288


Market perspective Product roadmap


Vision suppliers reveal what will be on offer over the coming year


Suppliers’ directory Find the suppliers you need


38 32


The current state of the machine vision sector is analysed by Anne Wendel, of VDMA Machine Vision


34


his year has been difficult for many in the machine vision industry. Tere are positives:


the pandemic has highlighted the fantastic potential of automation to keep factories running, and automation technology, in general, has good long-term growth prospects, but forced lockdowns have put the brakes on projects and made it harder to do business. Companies are adapting to the situation and finding new ways of operating, and manufacturing is starting to get back on track, but it’s still unclear what the lasting effects of this pandemic will be on the vision sector. One change is that trade fairs have


been put on hold, so vision suppliers are finding new ways to connect with customers, as discussed in the article on page 4. Vision Ventures’ Chris Yates writes about mergers and acquisitions during the pandemic on page 10, while Luminate’s Sujatha Ramanujan (page 20) and Blumorpho’s Géraldine Andrieux (page 24) both give their expertise on how start-ups can get funding during these uncertain economic times. Keely Portway, on page 12, looks at


bringing new technology to market, and there’s also a report on page 18 about how universities and industry are continuing to collaborate on projects during the pandemic. Te article on page 28 addresses


the costs associated with machine vision, while Siga Vision’s Simon Beveridge tells us his experience as a vision integrator working during the pandemic on page 26. Te vision sector will bounce back,


but there’s still a lot of uncertainty at the moment.


@imveurope


Leader Greg Blackman


www.imveurope.com | @imveurope


IMAGING AND MACHINE VISION EUROPE VISION YEARBOOK 2020/21 3


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