Corinne Schindlbeck, the Markt&Technik who covers management & careers, has been awarded the Media Prize Technology by the VDE Südbayern, Germany. It’s great to see electronics industry bodies award prizes to journalists, and as an engineer I am particularly pleased that the prize went to someone who is encouraging young people to choose engineering as a career. Congratulations Corinne!

Tags: Awards, Editors, Germany, Markt und Technik, Weka

The German association of data protection authorities have ruled that tracking using IP addresses breaches German law. The ruling and the implications for marketers are covered on the Marketing Law website, which highlights that:

IP-addresses are considered personal data.
The storage of IP-addresses will be found non-compliant with German data protection.
The use of web analytics tools based on IP-addresses will be found illegal and can be sanctioned with a fine up to €50.000.

Tags: Germany, Misc Marketing, UK

The Marketing Law website does a great job of highlighting the issues of running international marketing campaigns based on parody. Although parody is protected in countries such as France, Germany, Australia and the USA, the UK Government has chosen not to exempt it from copyright law in the UK. The site warns that “marketeers need to take care when using parody, caricature or pastiche in advertising, packaging or branding in the UK”. We are not amused!

Tags: Advertising, France, Germany, Misc Marketing, UK, USA

Although there has been no official announcement, I understand that one result of the sales of EE Times Europe is that local sites will be dropped, meaning that EE Times will no longer provide news in French and German. Although the publication had a number of local sites, the dropping of the other sites (Israel, Eastern Europe, etc) is unlikely to disappoint as the differences between the local and European sites were minimal. Although the crowded German market is perhaps a good reason why EE Times might not gain a significant share, it’s disappointing to see yet another publisher pull out of France. It’s inconceivable that the French market can only sustain one publication, and I hope to be able to tell you of a new launch in France before the end of the year.

Tags: EE Times, Europe, France, Germany, Israel, Online

Huson International Media, who impressively claim to be “the World’s largest independent representative of technology medea” has opened an office in Munich, Germany. The company already has offices in the UK as well as on the East and West Coast of the USA.

The new German office will be headed by industry heavyweight Christian Hoelscher, who previously was CMP-WEKA Director of International Sales,

Tags: CMP, EPE, ESE, Germany, Misc Marketing, UK, USA, Weka

Don’t they know there is a worldwide recession? The organisers of SPS/IPC/Drives have announced that this year the event attracted 48,595 visitors. This represents a 1% increase on the previous year, and the largest visitor numbers on record for the show.

It is hugely impressive that SPS/IPC/Drives was able to deliver record visitor numbers in the current climate. It follows on from some disappointing attendance at shows such as ESC UK and productronica, and I’m delighted that SPS managed to buck the trend. Hopefully this is not only a result of a great show, but also a sign of the electronics industry beginning to show tangible signs of recovery.

Tags: Electronics, ESC, ESE, Germany, productronica, Shows and Events, UK

Huethig Verlag has announced that both elektronikJOURNAL and IEE will have a new layout and design from January 2010. The new look is promised to be “lively”, and the publishers promise that his will mean the titles “stand out of the grey mass of magazines”. We’re promised that the yellow and black colour scheme of elektronikJOURNAL will stay, so it’s a fair bet that the title will continue to stand out!

It’s good to see continued commitment from publishers in the crowded German market, especially as this announcement follows on from an increase in IEE’s circulation from 20,000 to 26,000.

Tags: Elektronik, Elektronik Journal, Germany, Huethig, IEE, Print Publications

Despite the recent gloomy news about trade show attendance, it is clear that companies in our sector still believe that events are a great promotional vehicle. The organisers of DATE 2010, which will be held from 8th to 12th March in the Dresden Congress Centre, Germany, have announced a record number of submissions for the event, with 980 papers submitted for consideration. Hopefully this is a sign of confidence, not only in conferences and trade shows, but also in the likelihood of recovery for both the industry and the economy in general.

Tags: DATE, Germany, Shows and Events

It’s clearly not a good time for trade shows. ESC UK was disappointing, and now the big manufacturing show, productronica has announced a 30% drop in visitors compared with the last show in 2007 (28,000 vs. 40,514 in 2007). The fact that attendance fell is not a surprise, given the current economic climate, but the size of the drop is concerning.

Not surprisingly restrictions on travel had a significant effect on attendance, with around 11,700 foreign visitors, whereas 2007 saw around 18,200 non-Germans attend: a drop of 35%.

There was a little good news, with the fall in exhibitor numbers around 20% – dropping from 1,477 in 2007 to 1,150 this year. Clearly the trade show is not dead in Europe, and suppliers understand the benefit of meeting potential customers face-to-face at events. I’m sure that visitor numbers will recover in 2011, assuming that the economy is in better shape, but it will be interesting to see if visitor numbers approach the level of 2007. People, particularly in Germany, still use trade shows as part of the way that they do business, and this isn’t going to stop in the next few years. I’m confident that the show will return to its former glory, but with the number of exhibitors tied closely to the number of visitors, it is important that attendance jumps up significantly in 2011, otherwise the show could begin a period of slow decline.

Tags: ESC, Europe, Germany, productronica, Shows and Events, UK

Future Horizons, organiser of the International Electronics Forum (IEF) has announced that the 2010 event will be held from 5th to 7th May 2010 in Dresden, Germany. With so much changing happening in the industry, and hopefully some solid signs of recovery, the 2010 event should be a great success.

Tags: DATE, Electronics, Future Horizons, Germany, Research, Shows and Events

Claiming the first issue was a “tremendous success”, Weka has announced that  Energie&Technik will continue publication in 2010. Issues are scheduled for March 10th, May 31st, July 16th and October 1st. At times like these, which present huge challenges for publishers, it’s great to see Weka launching new titles and being rewarded for their confidence.

Tags: EiN, Energy&Technik, ESE, Germany, Weka

The first Elektronik ecodesign prize has been awarded to Stephan Benecke of TU Berlin, for his thesis about "Energy Harvesting in micro systems technologies“. This award, which is presented during the Elektronik ecodesign congress, is given for an exceptional masters thesis about “green” electronics. Proving that the award is international, second prize was awarded to Andreas Köhler, Lund University Sweden, for "End-of-life implications of electronic textiles – Assessment of a converging technology".

It’s great to see that Elektronik, and co-sponsors Rittal, are encouraging young engineers, and I hope that this award goes from strength to strength in the coming years.

Tags: Awards, Electronics, Elektronik, ESE, Germany, Sweden