Jury convinced by intelligent, digital communication and strong visual presence
The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI) has presented its UFI Operations & Services Award to Koelnmesse for its digital signage.
“This worldwide-level award confers special recognition of the shared, long-standing development work by Koelnmesse and Samsung SDS to improve the customer experience. I am very pleased for both partners’ teams of experts, as this sets a demanding benchmark for live communication in the international trade fair sector. Digital signage has stood the test and has long since played a key role in providing visitor information and as a part of our exhibitor services”, according to Gerald Böse, President and Chief Executive Officer of Koelnmesse GmbH. He also announced that further digital products along the customer journey would be developed in cooperation with Samsung SDS to further optimise the experience and results of trade fairs. “The award provides added momentum to our strategic partnership with Koelnmesse and is an outstanding acknowledgement of what we have achieved together so far”, added Dr. WP Hong, President and CEO of Samsung SDS, “Rather than just implementing off-the-shelf solutions, we will continue to focus on developing highly innovative solutions that best answers to the specific requirements of Koelnmesse underpinning our commitment to transform the Convention and Exhibition industry together with Koelnmesse.”
Digital signage was used for the first time at gamescom 2018. Ever since then, exhibitors and visitors have been guided through the grounds at Koelnmesse site in an accurate and flexible way and can get to their destination quickly. The signage also includes event notes, information on weather, traffic and trains, animations, large format advertising spaces, hall plans and much more. The flexible information system thus combines routing, infotainment and advertising.
The digital signage project marked the first joint development by Koelnmesse and Samsung SDS as part of their strategic partnership concluded in 2018 to implement digital processes and pioneering technologies in the trade fair sector. Since then, Koelnmesse project teams from a variety of divisions have joined forces with Samsung SDS teams to develop new products in both Cologne and Korea. The aim of the partnership is to enlist forward-looking technologies in the effort to improve the quality of stay for visitors and exhibitors alike.
About the UFI Award
Members of the UFI and non-members working in the trade fair sector are both eligible to apply for the annual UFI Operations & Services Award.
Koelnmesse 3.0 investment programme
The new digital signage is part of the Koelnmesse 3.0 investment programme. It represents the plans to modernise Koelnmesse between now and 2030 and includes the renovation of the existing Southern Halls, improvements in traffic routing and the parking situation and extensive digitalisation. In addition to the new Hall 1, the plan also entails the construction of the Confex® – a hall for trade fairs, congresses and events that will also offer a space for new formats consisting of conferences and exhibitions. All in all, Koelnmesse will invest more than 700 million euro in these buildings and infrastructure.
