NEW South Africa 2010 exceeds all expectations

After months of anticipation, National Electronics Week's South Africa debut took place in Johannesburg this week. Beforehand, many argued that it was a long overdue business platform for a fast-emerging electronics industry.

Most argued that it comprised all the elements of a progressive trade show environment. And after this week? You would be hard pushed to find anybody claiming the exhibition did not exceed their every expectation.

The exhibitors turned up to be part of the region's first major electronics event; the Sandton Convention Centre played host to the likes of Actum Electronics, Altium SA, Avnet Kopp, Brabek, Communica, Dizzy Enterprises, EBV SA, Goepel Electronics Ltd., Juki, MYDATA Automation Ltd, Radel, RS Components SA, Testerion and Zetech to name but a few. Attracted by the show's commitment to supporting the entire industry, from Components, Design & Development, Embedded and EMS, through to Photonics & Laser, Production Assembly, Solar & Green Design, Test & Measurement and Wireless, many exhibitors sold equipment on stand.

In addition to the high number of South African exhibitors who flocked to the show, UK exhibitors were also extremely happy; the UK Pavilion was thriving throughout and many turned out to see UKTI Trade Commissioner, Brian Gallagher, talk about the relationship between the two regions. Speaking about the successful union building between the UK and South Africa, the Commissioner stressed that SA continues to be a key market for UK companies. Already evidenced by high profile businesses including Vodafone, Virgin and Rolls Royce, the positive trade relationship Gallagher's speech focused on was very much under the spotlight at the show.

Speaking at the close of the event, NEW SA Event Director, Claire Saunders, explains: "We're obviously delighted with the show - we always knew it would be successful but the scale of this success surprised even us! The atmosphere inside the exhibition hall was practically euphoric; I was inundated with UK and South African exhibitors telling me about large orders they'd taken on stand, valuable contacts made and new opportunities that had arisen."

She continues: "Exhibitors turned up to the show believing that South Africa was a small market that they knew inside out. But, as it turned out, they didn't. Over 1,700 visitors turned up, armed with Gerber data and real world production challenges to investigate with exhibitors. Because of this, we saw large volumes of equipment sold. Manufacturing equipment provider, Red Rhino, even sold an entire production line! The visitor response was phenomenal and we've now sold even more space for this year's UK event as a result."

NEW SA 2010 continued the show's established commitment to learning and discovery, featuring an extensive educational line-up including Microsoft's Windows Embedded workshop. The seminar was oversubscribed, with visitors queuing up to discuss specific projects and products with technology experts and members of the Windows Embedded team. The Altium Designer seminars were also extremely well attended as were the SMART Group SA; the EDA Technologies-coordinated event demonstrated the software to visitors and encouraged them to take a more holistic approach to design. Microchip's master-classes were also a hit with NEW SA visitors; a packed seminar theatre saw the company discuss eXtreme Low Power with keen attendees. Other educational highlights included IPC training certification and a series of other seminars from DEK, Kyzen and Ocean Optics.

The combination of extensive business and networking opportunities, along with educational highlights, proved to be extremely popular with visitors. The NEW SA team collected a vast amount of positive feedback on the day, with the show's supporting social media sites also registering some extremely positive comments. The NEW SA twitter page (@new_sa_expo), saw 'tweets' including "went to National Electronics Week SA Expo, definitely recommend it, glad to see such a large supplier base exists in this country..." and "Just got back from the NEWExpo. I should have organised the company credit card, would have maxed it."

With glowing reports flooding in, the success of National Electronics Week South Africa 2010 has given the team - and the rest of the world - food for thought. Now virtually sold out, next year's show already promises to be bigger and better. The Events Team are currently researching new locations in South Africa to accommodate unprecedented demand. Plus, with the UK show taking place at the Birmingham NEC in May, the success of NEW SA is driving interest in NEW UK - so the team certainly have their hands full!

Claire concludes: "If we all take only one thing away from our experience in South Africa this week it's that exhibitors and visitors have the potential to make the show whatever they want it to be. I'd like to thank everyone who attended for their support - you embraced this opportunity and I hope it continues to pay off for you through 2010 and beyond!"

www.nationalelectronicsweek.co.uk