Bauma is set to open its doors next month in Munich, Germany and looks poised to live up to and even surpass expectations of this mega event.

Billed as the world’s largest showcase for building, construction and mining machinery, bauma is held every three years. The last event, held in 2013, broke all previous records, attracting a total of 3,421 exhibitors from 57 countries, and 535,065 visitors from over 200 countries.

Now in its 31st edition,  bauma 2016 will be held from April 11 to 17. It was already fully booked  by the end of October last year, taking all the available space of 605,000 sq m at the Messe Munchen exhibition centre.

To ensure that aspiring exhibitors are not disappointed, for the first time ever, companies that are on the waiting list and have not yet been assigned space can have themselves listed in the bauma directory. This will allow them to participate without stand space and be listed in their respective product categories in the online exhibitor directory.

Pleased with the feedback from interested companies, Klaus Dittrich, chairman and CEO of Messe Munchen, explains the idea behind the new participation alternative: “Just like in 2013, we have been unable to satisfy all the requests for space or for increases in space. We want to give companies that we have been unable to accommodate in the past an opportunity to call the bauma community’s attention to themselves and their products and to make contacts during the fair.”

Innovation Award

Among the highlights of this year’s event is bauma’s 2016 Innovation Awards, for which 15 companies have been nominated. A new service, the “bauma Open Innovation” online platform, will also be launched in time for this year’s event.

Now in its 11th edition, the innovation awards are held under the auspices of the German Engineering Federation (VDMA – Verband Deutscher Maschinen-und Anlagenbau), German Construction Industry Association (HDB – Hauptverband der Deutschen Bauindustrie), Central Association of the German Construction Industry (ZDB – Zentralverband des Deutschen Baugewerbes), German Building Materials Association (BBS – Bundesverband Baustoffe – Steine und Erden) and bauma.

Winners of the awards will be honoured on the eve of bauma’s inauguration.

The award are presented in five categories: Machinery; Components; Construction Process/Construction Work; Research; and Design. In total, 118 applications were received from Germany and abroad.

“The jury selected three new developments in each category to go forward to the final round. All of the nominated innovations offer significant practical benefit and economic potential, they are sustainable and they make a contribution towards energy- and resource-efficiency and/or towards the humanisation of the workplace,” says a spokesman for Messe Munchen, the show organiser.

The nominated companies in the machines category include the Kramer 5055e by Kramer-Werke; an autonomous vibratory plate by Ammann Schweiz; and a mobile battery mould by Weckenmann Anlagentechnik in the Machinery category.

In the components category, the nominees are Sono water-cement analyser by Imko; an intelligent crane fibre rope by Teufelberger Seil; and the Liebherr energy storage by Liebherr Components Biberach.

In the construction process/construction work category, Leonhard Weiss has been nominated for its reinforcement of a steel bridge; Harald Gollwitzer Spezialtiefbau for pipe-laying equipment RVG 1.0; and Johann Augel Bauunternehmung for building (yard) logistics 4.0 for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

In the research category, TU Dresden, Department of Construction Machinery Technology has been nominated for concrete 3-D printing technology; RWTH Aachen in cooperation with Volvo CE for a steam hybrid excavator; and Bauer Maschinen in cooperation with the University College of Dublin for Midos for offshore foundations.

Finally, the nominations in the design category are for the concept cab – The Future Genius by TU Dresden; Mecalac MWR by Mecalac France; and the triple-boom system by Tadano Faun.

Online platform

The “bauma Open Innovation” online platform can be used by event participants and other professionals interested in the sector to solve their innovation-related challenges, by calling upon the expertise of the organiser’s entire cross-disciplinary network of contacts.

“On this platform, companies can engage in applications or technology ‘scouting’. For example, companies can seek out new industries or fields of application for their existing products and services, and/or find appropriate technological solutions to meet specific challenges they are facing,” says the spokesman.

He says the benefits of such an interdisciplinary ‘open innovation’ method are obvious: via the platform, project organisers have virtual access to the combined expertise of over two million visitors and more than 30,000 exhibitor contacts.

“If a company harnesses its knowledge, wishes and requirements early on in its innovations development, then development times and costs can be lowered. In terms of application, scouting, in particular the inter-discipline of this cross-industry network can help to identify new fields of application for products and services,” he adds.

He cites the example of TEI Rock Drills, a US supplier of drills and attachments that has developed the ‘DrillAll’.

“This drill is unique in terms of its positioning capabilities and is particularly well suited to drilling in spaces where access is limited. TEI would now like to open up new applications for this drill, which was originally developed for the US military. It is therefore turning to the cross-industry bauma Open Innovation community to benefit from their expertise and ideas,” he explains.