The global automotive supplier industry will be gathering at the International Suppliers Fair (IZB) in the German city of Wolfsburg in just two days’ time. From 10th to 12th October, over 760 exhibitors from over 28 different countries will be showcasing their products and innovations in an exhibition area covering a total of 36,000 square metres in the city's Allerpark. Around 80 exhibitors from the German Land of Lower Saxony will be using the IZB as an opportunity to present themselves to an international audience and establish business contacts. The extensive programme of specialist events accompanying the IZB will be kicked off tomorrow by the International Automotive Congress, which will be welcoming a number of top-class speakers and guests. The main focus of the Congress and this year's IZB is on the trade fair's partner countries, Argentina and Brazil, which are being represented in Wolfsburg by over 60 exhibitors. The IZB will be officially opened tomorrow evening in the Autostadt, where over 1500 guests have been invited to attend the celebratory Opening Event.
Construction work on the seven IZB exhibition halls, each of which boasts an area of up to 6500 square metres, in the Allerpark in Wolfsburg has now been in progress for around four weeks. The exhibition areas available at the trade fair, which has established itself as a major gathering for the automotive supplier industry in recent years, were fully booked faster than ever before for this year’s event, which reached full capacity in as early as January. “The IZB is a platform for the professional exchange of experience, knowledge and ideas that are specifically inspired by its high-quality programme of accompanying events. On top of this, surveys carried out at the IZB two years ago prove that both exhibitors and visitors are also increasingly recognising the value of the trade fair as a platform for business transactions”, explains Julius von Ingelheim, the Spokesman of the Board of Wolfsburg AG, the company that has been hosting the IZB since 2001. Ingelheim additionally declares that: “We also expect the event to provide ideas and innovations for the business location of Wolfsburg and the surrounding region.” In line with this expectation, over 30 of the around 80 IZB exhibitors from Lower Saxony are from Wolfsburg and another ten are representing the German town of Braunschweig.
Accompanying Events Provide a Platform for Discussion
This year's IZB will again be accompanied by a programme of top-class specialist events and discussion forums. The International Automotive Congress on 9th October will kick off this programme and will feature talks by speakers such as Thomas Schmall, the President and CEO of Volkswagen do Brasil, and Emilio Saenz, the CEO of Volkswagen Argentina S.A., on the development of the South American automotive market. Other speakers from the field of business and from a variety of associations and organisations will also be identifying the potential and strategic challenges involved in this booming market in their presentations.
An extensive programme of events is also awaiting visitors on the first day of the IZB, for example business meetings and "Business Matching" events that will give participants the opportunity to exchange ideas and experience with companies and business partners and to establish new business contacts. These events above all focus on providing a networking experience, which is also a key objective behind the specialist presentations that will be taking place on all three days of the IZB and providing an insight into a wide range of different topics, for example supplier risk management and best-practice examples of optimised energy procurement. The MobilityTalk of the Metropolitan Region, which will begin at 5pm on the first day of the IZB, will be focusing on: “The Automotive Cluster – Networks for the Automotive Industry”.
10th October will also see the start of the two-day-long VDI/VW Joint Congress on “Driver Assistance Systems and Integrated Safety”, which aims to promote the transfer of expertise between theory and practice by presenting the latest concepts for automated vehicles.
The Job Fair – Supporting Potential Employees in the Automotive Supplier Industry
On 11th October, the IZB Job Fair will provide school pupils, students and jobseekers with the opportunity to establish contact with the human resources departments of the companies exhibiting at the trade fair. The exhibitors will additionally be presenting the career opportunities available at their companies in the B2B Lounge in the exhibition grounds from 10am onwards, while human resources experts from Wolfsburg AG will be providing visitors with assistance with regard to topics such as application documents and job interviews. Participants can register for the Job Fair online at: www.jobboersentag.de.
The programme on the third day of the IZB, the so-called “South America Day”, will emphasise the event’s focus on the IZB partner countries by welcoming the Ambassadors of Argentina and Brazil to Germany, who will be visiting the stands of exhibitors from their respective countries. Alongside this visit, the “Mobility Forum” venue will be playing host to an informative English event focusing on "Business Opportunities in Chile – Lithium and Copper" from 11am onwards. The aim of this event, which will also be attended by the Ambassador of the Republic of Chile to Germany, is to present the current status of the use and extraction of lithium and copper and to illustrate the cooperation opportunities available to German companies in this field.