The ORGATEC 2014 exhibition successfully concluded in Cologne, Germany with reports indicating a higher number of exhibitors and international visitors.

The leading international trade fair for Office & Object showed strong growth this year, particularly in the areas of international participation and quality as well as in the range and diversity of products and services. ORGATEC 2014 attracted more than 50,000 visitors from over 120 countries, indicating a slight increase in visitor figures over 2012. The number of international visitors was up 7 per cent including a significant, double-digit increase in visitors from the Middle East, North America, North and South Africa and China. Visitor figures from within Europe were also up, particularly from Turkey, Italy and Spain.

The 624 suppliers from 41 countries with 66 per cent of those based overseas underlined ORGATEC’s international importance. According to Katharina C. Hamma, Chief Operating Officer at Koelnmesse, the show drew almost 2,000 industry visitors from Italy, and also saw a large increase in the USA and Canadian presence as well as an upturn in visitors from the Middle East, confirming ORGATEC’s leading role in the global office and contract arena.

Hendrik Hund, Chairman of the bso (Association of Office, Seating and Contract Furniture) observed that the future of office work could actually be experienced at ORGATEC with a wide-ranging combination of conceptual and product innovations.

In its four segments, ORGATEC Office, ORGATEC Contract, ORGATEC Space and ORGATEC Mobile, the trade fair presented integrated solutions and comprehensive concepts for everything connected with the office as a working and living environment. In Halls 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.2 and 11.2, leading national and international manufacturers from the areas of furnishing, flooring, acoustics, lighting, media and conferencing technology presented their product and service innovations to industry members from all over the world. Trade visitors to the fair ranged from founders of start-up companies, dealers and decision-makers from SMEs to executives from the Procurement and Human Resources departments of large corporations.

Company stands attracted a lot of attention with exhibitors expressing their satisfaction with the response. Henning Figge, Vice President Europe and Managing Director for Germany at Haworth reported outstanding success at the fair with very high levels of visitor frequency and a large number of valuable contacts.

Holger Jahnke, Director of Marketing and Sales for Sedus Stoll said that alongside their industry visitors, they also had the opportunity to meet many end users considering prospective projects as well as architects.

Thomas Raadts, Head of Marketing of DURABLE said they successfully introduced the Luctra biological lighting system to the world for the first time at ORGATEC. Their fair stand had plenty of visitors on all of the fair days and the quality of those visitors was very high with the company holding numerous discussions with existing and potential clients and establishing some very important contacts through those discussions.

Jacob Holm, CEO at Fritz Hansen also gave ORGATEC a positive testimonial. Participating in ORGATEC 2014 after 12 years away, Fritz Hansen had many different discussions and received very positive reactions to their presentation on the topic of ‘Explore Relations’.

Interstuhl also had positive fair experiences on all days with high visitor participation from all their geographical markets.

Andreas Bellof, General Manager at KOMTECH agreed with the unanimously positive conclusions of his co-exhibitors, saying that they will certainly be returning to ORGATEC in 2016.

Visitors to ORGATEC also reported being completely satisfied with the event, according to the survey that indicated 84 per cent were happy with the degree to which they had met their trade fair objectives. What’s more, the fair's comprehensive spectrum of products ensured that 86 per cent of visitors rated the product range as either good or (very) good. Overall, 94 per cent of visitors would recommend a visit to ORGATEC to their business partners.

Key trends observed at ORGATEC 2014 reflected the noticeable changes in today's working environment with a central theme being the design of communication-friendly work place concepts that simultaneously offered places of retreat as locations for concentrated work with a cosy atmosphere. Alongside furnishing, exhibitors presented innovative acoustics solutions and lighting concepts. Another major focus at this year's ORGATEC was integrated technology and the possibilities of sharing, forwarding and jointly processing knowledge and information via cutting-edge technology.

On all five days of ORGATEC’s event programme, top-level experts discussed current trends and presented best practice scenarios, including topics such as Demographic Change in the Office, Change Management and Gamification. The public also appeared in large numbers for the presentation of the latest findings of the ‘New Work Order’ study on the future of work. The international best practice examples were also very well received.

The themed day ‘Future of Work’, which took place for the first time at ORGATEC was a great success. A joint project conceived and delivered by the educational sector of DGB NRW (Confederation of German Trade Unions, North Rhine Westphalia), the German Office Network, the National Association for Health and Safety in the Workplace, the North Rhine Westphalia technological advice centre and Koelnmesse, the event had 100 participants, including members of works and staff councils as well as representatives of the severely disabled, attending lectures and presentations.

A similarly successful concept presented for the first time at ORGATEC was the Workplace Congress for facility managers. Around 140 participants were afforded the opportunity to find out all about spatial concepts, efficient use of space, lighting, acoustics as well as interior temperatures and conditions, and also take part in panel discussions with industry experts.

The next ORGATEC will take place in 2016 from 25 October to 29 October.