Great win on forced path – the first virtual AGROmashEXPO has closed its gates

At an unusual time, in an unusual form, this year’s AGROmashEXPO was still successful. Due to the epidemic situation, Hungexpo organized the largest professional event in the agricultural machinery industry in Hungary, in a virtual form. During the opening hours of the exhibition, the virtual stands of the exhibitors were visited 12,500 times all together. The Minister of State of the Ministry of Agriculture called this year’s event innovative and pioneering, and participants sought to take advantage of the opportunities offered by online space.

Hungexpo did its best to prepare as fully as possible for the 39th AGROMmashEXPO, which was organized in a virtual form due to the restrictive measures imposed due to the epidemic caused by the COVID-19 virus. Gábor Ganczer, CEO of Hungexpo Zrt., reminded the audience at the opening ceremony of the exhibition, streamed live from the virtual studio of the company, that this is the company’s first fully virtual exhibition, which is a milestone not only for Hungexpo, but for the entire Hungarian exhibition organizing profession.

During the opening days of the exhibition, 4,500 visitors visited the exhibitors’ stands 12,500 times.

The virtual exhibition is an innovative, easy-to-use site that can provide an online meeting point for exhibitors and visitors. Visitors can roam the online fields of the event and can ask for immediate information about the product or service via chat. With the help of this new technology, the exhibitors can give information, downloadable materials about their products or services to numerous visitors at the same time. They can monitor the numbers of visitors who visit their stand at that time and send them personalized offers. Virtual exhibition has extended „opening hours” for wider reach of visitors unlike exhibition days organized „live”. After the advertised virtual exhibition days, the online platform can be visited for one more week and can be used in full except for the chat function.

“Hungexpo Zrt. remains confident that visitors and exhibitors will soon be able to meet in person in the new and renovated pavilions of Hungexpo! At the same time, we are aware that economic actors need to connect even in such extreme circumstances. The aim of the virtual exhibition is to help this need to be met, therefore, the development of this platform will not stop even when life – hopefully as soon as possible – returns to normal. The company believes that thanks to the innovative solutions, n, the sectoral exhibitions of Hungexpo Ltd. can continue to be the engines of the economy”, said Gábor Ganczer, CEO, in a statement prior to the exhibition.

Zsolt Feldman, Minister of State for Farming and Rural Developmentat the Ministry of Agriculture, in addition to thanking the organizers for bringing the exhibition to life in this innovative and pioneering form, also congratulated the exhibitors, who, in his words, did not run away from the challenges but they realized the potentials in the event. Thanks to them, visitors, even in virtual form, can still get a lot of useful information during the event.

At the opening ceremony of the exhibition, István Nagy, Minister for Agriculture, reported on current events in the sector in a video message. “The value of agricultural investments reached HUF 351 billion in the first three quarters of 2020, which is an increase of 6.5 percent compared to the same period of the previous year,” said the head of the ministry, adding that the sector’s output exceeded HUF 2,950 billion last year, which represents an increase of 4.1% and is the 4th best in the European Union.”

The Minister reassured the public at the virtual AGROmashEXPO: in the current situation, even at the beginning of the third wave of the coronavirus epidemic food production in the country is uninterrupted, “and developments continued in the sector despite the pandemic,” said István Nagy.

Innovation Award – in the virtual space as well

Due to the uncertainty caused by the current situation, fewer applications were received for the traditionally held Innovation Award than before. The judges, therefore, together with Hungexpo, decided to hand over only two prizes in the VIRTUAL AGROmashEXPO product competition this time.

The Innovation Award Grand Prix was won by Axiál Kft., with a software service called mAXI-MAP, available via the internet in the form of an annual subscription, which supports the practical implementation of precision-site-specific farming.

The Innovation Award Special Prize was awarded to DryerDoctor Kft., for the Complex DryerDoctor service covering the entire technological process of grain drying.

Hunters, anglers, sailors: see you later!

Hungexpo Ltd. in agreement with its exhibitors and professional partners decided not to organise virtual FeHoVa, the gathering of hunters and anglers in Carpatian Basin, had been planned to open (in the virtual space) in March 2021, nor its simultaneous event, the virtual Budapest Boat Show.

At the same time, we would like to draw your attention to FeHoVa+ where exhibitors and visitors can meet between September 30 and October 3, 2021., in a separate pavilion at the One with Nature World of Hunting and Nature Exhibition. The Budapest Boat Show will be organized between 3-6 March 2022.

For more information on our event, please visit our website.

According to the information currently available, the CONSTRUMA/ HUNGAROTHERM/ HOMEDesign Home creation exhibition bouquet will be held from 2 to 6 June 2021, and MACH-TECH and Industry Days trade fairs can be visited from 15 to 18 June 2021.