electronica has been held in Munich, Germany since 1964 and is the industry’s leading tradeshow for the latest technology and products related to electronic components. The tradeshow has taken place every other year, always in the month of November, alternating with productronica since 1975, a spin-off show dedicated exclusively to electronics production and manufacturing equipment.
When the global pandemic forced the whole world to cancel all large public gatherings in 2020, many of the leading tradeshows were forced to postponed their planned schedules causing major disruption to many key industries. In the case of electronica Munich, which only takes place every two years, the impact was even stronger since the last pre-pandemic edition had taken place in 2018, and the pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2020 show. Four years later, electronica 2022 will finally return to the Messe München - in its established time of the year - November 15 to 18.
Of course, the main focus for many of the exhibitors and visitors - and the Munich show is truly massive - will be to try to find some reassurance regarding the ongoing supply chain uncertainties, which have caused a ripple effect in multiple industries and have been centered in the semiconductor and electronics components industries. In 2022, the international electronics industry will also get together at the Munich exhibition grounds under the motto “Driving sustainable progress,” reinforcing the role that electronics plays in paving the way for sustainable technologies.
electronica 2022 is a co-located event with SEMICON Europa, which will take up an additional hall. “The exhibitors, top decision makers and thought leaders want to discuss innovations and trends in person again at last and they’re already looking ahead to the fall with confidence,” says Dr. Reinhard Pfeiffer, Deputy CEO of Messe München. “For them, electronica is the world’s most important industry get-together and the only one this year that seamlessly covers the complete spectrum of electronics.” To ensure a secure visit to the trade fair, the organizers are relying on a detailed safety and hygiene concept which has already been proven during the previous productronica, in fall 2021.
All the industry’s major distributors and manufacturers will be represented at electronica 2022, including Arrow, Avnet, Bosch, Harting, Infineon, NXP Semiconductor, Phoenix Contact, Rohde & Schwarz, Samsung, Schweizer Electronic, STMicroelectronics, TDK Electronics and Würth.
"The electronics and digital industry is steadily becoming more and more relevant as the two megatrends of electrification and digitalization are directly connected to our industry," explains Michael Dehnert, Managing Director of the ZVEI association, and Head of Electronic Components and Systems. Accordingly, the business climate in the German electronics and digital industry is also improving further, despite a continuing shortage of material. In 2021, the industry registered revenue of €200 billion, an increase of 9.8 percent over the previous year. These figures are particularly remarkable because the past year was also influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic.
electronica has traditionally been also a platform for top-class conferences. This year things will be kicked off by the electronica Automotive Conference on November 14, which will deal with the transition of cars toward becoming intelligent connected devices. On November 16, the electronica Embedded Platforms Conference, which will also last one day, will discuss the challenges and solutions for the embedded systems of the future: In around 35 presentations on three parallel tracks, experts will report on key topics such as power electronics and supply, AI and sensors, and communication and software. Lastly, Wireless Congress 2022: Systems & Applications, organized by WEKA, will be the meeting point for the international wireless community from November 16 to 17. The event will concentrate on the latest developments and the practical application of wireless technology.
Focus on Sensors
Sensors are the key technology used by smart systems in a connected world. As the leading data supplier, they produce the raw material used in digitalization systems throughout the entire value chain in virtually all industrial segments. Leading actors in the highly innovative growth industry will explore current trends and technologies from November 15 to 18 as part of electronica 2022. These discussions will be held in part at the IIoT & Cyber Security Forum and the electronica Embedded Platforms Conference that is scheduled for November 16, 2022.
The expectations being placed on this growth sector remain high. Analysts at Market Watch expect the global sensor market to double in coming years, jumping from $80 billion in 2021 to $161 billion in 2030. The members of the Association for Sensors and Measurement reported that revenues grew by 20 percent in 2021 year on year. One distinctive aspect of this industry is its high level of innovation intensity. About 11 percent of revenues flow into research and development — the highest level in Germany.
The Automotive Industry
The megatrends of autonomous driving, connectivity, electrification and shared mobility demand a dramatic transformation of the automotive industry. At the same time, digitalization opens up significant potential for returns along the entire value chain. electronica 2022 will shed light on the most important trends and challenges in this rapidly changing environment, be it at the exhibition stands or in the supporting program in the forums and electronica Automotive Conference.
In many industrialized nations, the automotive industry is one of the most important sectors of the economy. At its highest point in 2017, 97.3 million vehicles rolled off the production lines around the world. Due to the pandemic, this number dropped to significantly below 60 million by 2020. The fact that many automobile manufacturers are nevertheless bringing in record profits at the moment belies the actual situation. That’s because the pandemic, delivery bottlenecks, inflation, the war in Ukraine and tightening climate goals are hitting the automotive industry in the most disruptive period in its history. The catalysts for this disruption are the electrification of the powertrain, the rise of autonomous driving functions, alternative mobility concepts, and the automation and networking of manufacturing.
The world’s leading producers of car chips, Bosch, Infineon, NXP, Renesas, Samsung, STMicroelectronics and Texas Instruments, will be represented at electronica 2022. NXP, for example, will present its S32Z and S32E processors, an expansion of its S32 automotive platform for real-time processing of domain and zone controlling, security processing and vehicle electrification. Infineon’s multi-core SoCs from its Tc4x family will also cover a broad spectrum of automotive scenarios, from electric mobility, ADAS and connected cars to the implementation of AI. The latter is being used increasingly often in network monitoring (intrusion detection and prevention system), sensor fusion, battery management and predictive control.
These multi-core SoCs already address future zonal E/E vehicle architectures, like those being developed by Bosch and NXP. At a cross-domain level, the increasing complexity of software functions and the growing volume of data should be tackled with few high-performance vehicle computers and zone control units. With the appropriate cloud connectivity, all kinds of functions, such as vehicle-specific app stores, personalization, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) or comprehensive infotainment offerings, can be implemented and later booked via over-the-air (OTA) updates.
www.electronica.de
