After visiting Lighting Japan 2011 exhibition, LEDinside gained vital insight into the definition of an excellent international exhibition: a comprehensive platform. How was Lighting Japan 2011 able to provide such a wide diversity of themes and contents? What does the future look like for exhibitions in the LED industry? LEDinside conducted an interview with Hajime Suzuki, Director of International Sales & Marketing at Reed Exhibition, the organizer of Lighting Japan, regarding the new trend in global lighting exhibitions.

Mr. Hajime Suzuki, Director of International Sales & Marketing at Reed Exhibition, and Ms. Yuki Omichi, Asia Pacific Regional Manager.

Asia, Europe and America: Favorable Locations For LED Exhibitions

Hajime Suzuki believed that there are currently four regions that are considered favorable locations for LED exhibitions: China, for its importance in LED manufacturing, Japan, for its excellence in LED manufacturing as well as purchasing power, America and Europe, for their maturity of LED market. As for the diversity of LED exhibitions, it can be categorized into two kinds: exhibitions exclusively dedicated to LED manufactures, and LED manufactures’ booths included as a part of traditional lighting exhibitions and architecture exhibitions.

He stated that presently, Lighting Japan is an exhibition focusing on LED manufactures and LED-related applications, equipment and materials. However, at the same time, Lighting Japan is held with other exhibitions, such as NEPCON exhibition, with 40 years of history in the making, and newsworthy AUTOMOTIVE JAPAN exhibition, in line with the effort of obtaining topicality. Among those visitors interested in electronic materials and components, there are bound to be potential buyers interested in purchasing LED-related components, equipment, or materials. For those companies providing integrated equipment service, they are able to take advantage of this joint effort by these exhibitions as their one-stop purchase: buying all the products they need and gather relevant information on the latest price trends, specifications and market dynamics.

The Key To Lighting Japan’s Success

Hajime Suzuki pointed out that this year’s exhibition includes more than 400 companies, from 15 countries, with close to 70,000 square meters of exhibition space. The total number of visitors exceeded 100,000, with 24,000 among them registered, making it one of the most important exhibitions in Asia.

The signs, slogans and publicity materials in the exhibition are primarily in English and Japanese, while some are also in Chinese and Korean, for participants from China, Taiwan and South Korea, making it more internationalized than other exhibitions in Japan. Furthermore, many visitors are registered to attend the various international seminars held in the exhibition, which provide simultaneous interpretation in English and Japanese – that is, if the speaker presented in English, simultaneous interpretation in Japanese is available through headphones, and vice versa, benefiting visitors from all around the world.

He indicated that they formed an event planning committee, constituted of specialists from both industrial circles and academic circles, to be in charge of determining the agenda, invitations and the direction of these international seminars, covering themes from technology to market trends. There are more than 10 LED-related seminars held in the exhibition.

In addition, the appeal of themes for seminars, the diversity of companies, the appropriate distribution of different products according to their attributes, and satisfying service with various platforms are all keys to a successful exhibition.

Market demand And Popularity Will Be The Major Focus Of Oncoming Exhibitions

Reed Exhibition organizes numerous exhibitions in Japan as well as China every year. Currently, the themes of oncoming exhibitions will be based on market trends, demands of companies and the perspectives from industry, official and academic circles – specialized exhibitions of solar energy and batteries for example. Due to the emerging development of the green energy industry, there will possibly be more exhibitions about green energy held in the future.

Exhibitions to Stimulate the Economy

According to Tadao Ishizumi, President of Reed Exhibition Japan, a successful exhibition should encourage visitors to purchases products, and allow reputable companies and emerging companies to exhibit their latest technologies and products, motivating each other to explore new possibilities. Marketing the products and exchanging with other international companies are equally crucial. An international exhibition influences and benefits not only the organizer, participating companies, buyers and visitors, but also nearby shops, hotels, restaurants and other service industries (security, furnishing, electrical and plumbing, communication, labor outsourcing…etc.), providing them an opportunity for a significant business growth. That is why exhibitions play an important role in stimulating the economy.

The 2012 LED/OLED Lighting Japan will commence on January 18th and end on 20th 

Compared to the previous exhibition composed of LED upstream industries exhibiting their latest technologies and products, 2011 Lighting Japan has become a more comprehensive LED exhibition, including not only upstream industries but also midstream and downstream industries. In 2011, a booth for end-market products is added to the exhibition, offering a new path of developing new applications of LED/OLED. Because of the innovative and trendy design that these products demonstrate, including various impressive features, they attracted not only buyers and suppliers of LED industries, but also professional designers and the mass media, and generated a tremendous publicity.

Hajime Suzuki mentioned that 2012 Light Japan is to be held from January 18th, to January 20th, 2012 at Tokyo Big Sight International Exhibition Center in Tokyo, Japan. He expects an increase in the number of participating companies, exhibiting more advanced materials, equipment, LED components and LED lighting products.

By Lowy Chang