| Interview with Fanny Chauvin, Director, MICRONORA 2024, International microengineering and high precision trade fair, briefs us on this latest trade fair and tells us about some of the highlights. Micronora, the international microengineering and high precision trade fair, will take place in Besançon (France) from 24 to 27 September 20241- Can you give us an idea of how the marketing side of the Micronora trade fair is going this year?Fanny Chauvin: To be able to give our exhibitors a clear idea of the costs of taking part in Micronora, we had to start our marketing drive later this time. However, we are very confident about this year’s event and we are already almost 90% sold out. In line with the trends we’ve seen in previous events, about a third of the companies we will be hosting are international firms from twenty or so countries, which proves the global appeal of our fair.As in other years, just over 80% of the exhibitors are repeat attendees and we thank them for their loyalty. With countless possible fields of application and the potential for transferring technologies from one sector to another, microengineering has the undeniable advantage of allowing companies to diversify and enter new markets. That is no doubt why we regularly welcome new exhibitors, including this year some from the United States and Canada, countries which so far, at previous events, have not or have only rarely been represented. This demonstrates the vitality and growing attractiveness of our event. We are also seeing a striking increase in the number of exhibitors asking for larger stands. So, as you can see, everything seems to suggest that Micronora 2024 will be a great event!2- The theme for this year’s Zoom is smart microengineering. Can you tell us why this subject is particularly relevant in the current industrial context?
FC: Yes, absolutely. At a time when we are faced with dwindling resources and energy issues, it is crucial that companies in all sectors of industry should start integrating intelligent solutions to help them become more efficient. They can help to optimise production by analysing data in real time, identifying inefficiencies and improving machine performances. In addition, if used properly, they can lower costs through more proactive maintenance planning, for example, or by optimising the use of resources and reducing manufacturing defects. Finally, using smart technology in production can facilitate innovation by paving the way for new opportunities to improve processes and products, thereby helping companies to be more competitive in a constantly changing industrial environment, and that is even more true in microengineering, a sector that always has to be at the leading edge of innovation. The fair’s flagship event, the Zoom, will therefore be focusing this year on smart microengineering, because there is a need for digital twins, smart sensors, and solutions capable of correcting machines if the parameters monitored show drift. We will also be presenting augmented reality solutions that can be used for predictive maintenance or AR-based assembly assistance. And because not all the companies are in a position to change all their machines, we will show them that it is possible to make conventional machinery smarter with just a few modifications…. As you can see, the Zoom should be a hotbed of solutions to meet the needs of different precision engineering sectors, and companies of all sizes.
3- Micronora has always been an opportunity to form partnerships and organise business meetings. Will it be the same this year?
FC: It’s true, Micronora is the place to be for that. In addition, it provides professional visitors, whatever their area of activity, with the chance to easily find answers to their submillimetric precision needs, and we have also been working for years with the Enterprise Europe Network, which organises the Micro & Nano Event. That event enables companies offering innovative solutions or products to meet firms that need them, and vice versa. It also provides a breeding ground for partnerships between European organisations. Thanks to all of that and our commitment to technical excellence, Micronora remains a key venue fostering exchanges and collaborations between players in the microengineering and high precision industry.
4- What other highlights can we look forward to at Micronora 2024?
FC: For the 2024 trade fair, we have tried to work in cooperation with the local authorities and local players in different fields. This year, you will see a “regional village” which will showcase companies with fewer than 15 employees working in the microengineering and high precision field, with the aim of giving them maximum visibility with our visitors. In addition, we have launched a “startup village” offer, with particular support for startups based in the region. These initiatives, encouraged by the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté regional authority via grants available to exhibitors that meet certain criteria, are intended to boost the microengineering and high precision ecosystem and to support and promote innovation in our sector. They put a spotlight on small companies that might not have had the same visibility otherwise.
We are also continuing our partnership with Grand Besançon Métropole, which will once again be organising its recruitment event, Cap vers l’Emploi, during Micronora. This year it will be taking place on 26 September.
It is important that industry, and, as far as we are concerned, the microengineering and high precision industry, be familiar not only to jobseekers, but also to young people – and their parents, because very often they have a big influence on their children’s future. The recruitment issues our sector faces are no different to other sectors. So this year we will once again be inviting secondary schools to come and discover our world, with the hope of inspiring some vocations. What’s more, the UIMM Fabrique 4.0 and the Polyvia Lab’Mobile Puxi training trucks will be present over the full 4 days.
As usual, there will be a programme of technical talks for exhibitors and visitors and, this year, we will also have the pleasure of welcoming for the programme’s first event on 24 September at 2.30 pm, the writer and trainer specialised in systemic risk and resilience strategies, Arthur Keller. Those who attend this talk and share this short time with him will leave feeling transformed! I’ll say no more and leave you to find out for yourself what I mean.
The unmissable Microns d’Or event will also feature once again this year. All the exhibitors at the fair can put forward their innovations, which this time will be grouped into 3 categories: Machines and capital goods, Microengineering components and subassemblies and Intelligent systems and software. The two most innovative ideas in each category will be rewarded with a Micron d’Or and a Micron d’Argent.
Finally, we have a great exhibition lined up, entitled “From watchmaking skills to the technologies of the future”, which will be a unique chance to see how the Micronora association and our trade fair have changed and developed over the years whilst showcasing the industry’s companies and their innovations over almost 75 years. The exhibition will tell the story of Micronora from its modest beginnings through to its current status as the world’s leading trade fair in the microengineering and high precision field. We can’t wait to share this experience with our exhibitors and visitors and to celebrate our heritage whilst looking to the future with optimism and determination.
