Internationalizing Precision Fair draws record number of visitors

On November 13 and 14, the 19^the edition of the Precisiebeurs organized at the NH Conference Centre Koningshof in Veldhoven. Organizer Mikrocentrum looks back with satisfaction on a very successful edition with 300 exhibitors and a record 3704 visitors from 42 countries. New this edition were the addition of a partner country, this time Switzerland, and the Young Talent Pitch program. 

The manufacturing industry is running at full speed. Technological developments are proceeding at lightning speed and putting pressure on the manufacture of systems and components. New requirements and resulting challenges follow each other in rapid succession. This edition of the Precision Fair also brought together the complete supply chain needed to continue operating at the highest level and to the highest quality requirements. All thanks to close cooperation of Mikrocentrum with national and international partners such as euspen, VMDA, DSPE, ILO-net (Big Science), the technical colleges and universities and leading high-tech companies.

International science projects in the conference program

In the Big Science sessions, experts from CERN and F4E/ITER shared recent developments and opportunities in upcoming procurements. Frank Linde of Nikhef gave an overview of gravitational wave research. He concluded his lecture with a brief introduction about the ET pathfinder project that Nikhef is realizing in Maastricht to develop the new technology for the Einstein Telescope project. If Maastricht is chosen as the location for this it will give a huge boost to this region and the Netherlands. Rende Steerenberg, Head of Operations at CERN, gave a comprehensive overview of the accelerator complex of the particle accelerator and how it works.

Precision fair connects science and manufacturing

Bart Kooijmans, Manager of Precision Fair: "As organizers, we are proud to be able to connect the manufacturing industry with science with the Precision Fair. The exchange with sister industries and companies from the delegation of the partner country Switzerland has also been very well received as well as the pitches of 20 young talents and their innovative projects. It is great to see these international parties coming together at the Precision Fair. This is also reflected in the strong growth in appointments during the Meet & Match by EEN and KVK. A record number of 3704 visitors and 1200 exhibitors from as many as 42 countries made it a high class knowledge and networking event ."

Partner country Switzerland

Also new this edition was the Young Talent Cross Selling Pitch program. A total of 20 graduate students, PhD students and start-ups presented their projects with 3-minute pitches in the lecture program and poster. The jury, consisting of Erik Puik (Professor of Microsystems Technology), Andrei Anisimov (Structural Integrity & Composites Aerospace NDT) and Pieter Kappelhof (Technology Manager at Hittech) chose Matthijs van Gastel as the winner of the 2019 Young Talent Pitch Award. His compelling pitch and poster was about the project "Sub-micron Accurate Optical Fiber Alignment for Photonics Applications."

DSPE awards presentation

At the end of both days of the fair, the DSPE presented two awards, as it does every year. This year, the Rien Koster Award, the oeuvre prize presented by the DSPE to an expert who has been active in precision engineering for many years, went to Hans van de Rijdt. Sven klein Alvink won the Wim van der Hoek Award for the best graduation project of the past year with his graduation project "Flexure mechanism with increased dynamic performance by overconstraining using viscoelastic material."

Jubilee year

On November 18 and 19, 2020, the 20^ste and also anniversary edition of the Precision Fair will take place with England as partner country. Keep checking the website www.precisiebeurs.nl watch for more information.