Embedded World: Current developments on the coronavirus trade fair crisis

The week before last, the first companies had withdrawn from the Embedded World trade fair. The reason: A possible infection of their employees, customers and partners with the new coronavirus Covid-19. Official cancellations have piled up a few days before the event begins. This is the current status from February 24th at 17:55hrs CET.

During the last days, events were overturning: More and more companies have cancelled their participation in the Embedded World due to the rapid spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus. We now know of more than 100 companies that have confirmed their cancellations at Embedded World to us; the actual number may be higher than 200.

ELEKTRONIKPRAXIS has created lists, which we continuously expand as soon as new reliable information is available. Citizen reporters, who would like to provide information or photos can write toRvD_EP@elektronikpraxis.de.

Please note, this article is no longer being updated!

Update ticker: +++ NürnbergMesse expects around 900 exhibitors +++ new keynote speaker is Ulrich Löwen, Senior Principal Key Expert Engineer at Siemens Corporate Technology +++ cancellations till monday evening: AADKOM Elektronik, Advantech, Atlantik Elektronik, Bittium, Codico, Controllino, dSpace, Evocean Group, Fraunhofer IPMS, HY-LINE, Integral System, KUNBUS GmbH, Neumüller Elektronik, NJR Europe, Piketec, Riverdi, Think Silicon, TouchNetix, Vector, Veridify Security (ehemals SecureRF), VoxMicro, Wind River +++ confirmations: Absint, Adlink Technology, AVT, Compotec, Cincoze, E.E.P.D, Eltan BV, emlix, Enclustra, esd electronics, DH electronics, Ineltek, Keith & Koep, kessler engineering, m2m Germany, Microtronics Engineering, Nordic Semiconductor, Paessler AG, Pico Technology, Tecmodul, Tyan (a more exhaustive list can be found down below) +++ Revaluation for Sars-CoV-2 expected by ECDC

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On the current development: According to a statement by NürnbergMesse on Sunday afternoon, the organizers expect some 900 exhibitors. Only four weeks ago announcements had spoken of more than 1150. NürnbergMesse comments on the current developments in Italy as follows: "Media reports from the weekend, 22 and 23 February 2020, focus on corona infections in Italy. As a purely precautionary measure, we are monitoring the situation in northern Italy and are following the recommendations of the authorities, according to which nothing generally stands in the way of major events in Germany. We are in contact with the Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior as well as with the local authorities such as the health authorities and the police headquarters."

Sars-CoV-2 - the current situation

Due to the current developments in Italy, concerns about Covid-19 have increased for some exhibitors and readers. The current situation: On Sunday, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) announced that due to the rapid spread of the coronavirus Sars-CoV-2 in Italy, its risk assessment of the virus would be put to the test. Given the rapidly evolving situation, the impact of the clusters in Italy in terms of risk for the entire EU and the European Economic Area will be assessed, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said on Sunday evening in Solna near Stockholm.

ECDC director Andrea Ammon announced that an updated risk assessment would be releassed every 24 hours. The current assessment can be found in the corresponding pages of the ECDC-website. It is expected that there will be further cases in Italy and possibly in other parts of the EU in the coming days. Italy is the country with the most infections in Europe. The number of infected people in Italy had increased surprisingly strongly over the weekend. According to the authorities, there were already 152 cases by Sunday evening. In the evening, a third fatality was reported in the EU country.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Health said on Sunday that the situation is monitored together with the Federal Foreign Office. They are also in exchange with their European neighbors and the federal states. The spokesman said: “We are closely monitoring the situation in Italy. We are in constant contact with our European partners and continuously adapt our risk assessment to the dynamic situation. So far, we in Germany have managed to isolate and treat individual infected people and thus prevent the virus from spreading. That remains our goal. »

The situation also came to a head on the Korean peninsula: the government of South Korea announced the highest warning level for infectious diseases due to the rapid increase in the number of cases in the country. The number of detected infections in the country was over 600 on Sunday, at least five people died.

Is Covid-19 a risk in Germany?

The general risk assessment for Germany can be found on the homepage of the Robert Koch Institute and the Federal Ministry of Health. As of Feb. 23. 16 cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection have been confirmed to date. All are related to a single infection event (infection cluster) at a company in Bavaria (14 cases), or there are cases among German citizens who were flown out of Wuhan in early February 2020 (2 cases). The RKI does not expect a current circulation of SARS-CoV-2 viruses in Germany. However, people who suffer from acute respiratory diseases should generally stay at home - especially to protect themself, but also to protect others from infection. These measures make sense primarily in view of the current flu wave, according to the RKI. The Federal Center for Health Education also provides general hygiene recommendations and current information on the corona virus at www.infektionsschutz.de.

The WHO provides an up-to-date overview of worldwide corona infections on its website.

Updated original news from February 22nd: While several companies confirmed their participation to our editorial staff and on social media during the course of Friday, other exhibitors continued to jump out (see list below). As one of the last remaining large semiconductor manufacturers, Infineon has canceled this Friday after Texas Instruments. On our request on Friday night, Maxim Integrated confirmed its participation at the fair.

Regardless of the developments of the past few days and hours, the NürnbergMesse seems to hold on to the execution of the fair. In order to get a quick impression of the current situation on site, it may help to run your computer mouse over the current hall plans. According to NürnbergMesse, the list of exhibitors is updated overnight.

The first companies have already sent pictures of their booth setup via social media. At the same time, critical voices from those affected at home and abroad who have been poorly informed or feel abandoned due to current developments have increased in the past few hours (see our reader's forum).

Who has officially withdrawn and confirmed?

The following two lists of canceling and participating exhibitors are based on information available to our editorial team and, given the rapid development, are certainly not quite complete. In the case of smaller companies in particular, the exact number of definitive cancellations or commitments is certainly much higher. If you want to get on the list, write to RvD_EP@elektronikpraxis.de.

Officially withdrawn:

Acal BFi,
Actron,
Adesto,
ADKOM Elektronik,
Advantech,
Altium,
Analog Devices (ADI),
Amazon (AWS),
AMD,
Asus,
Avnet, inklusive der Töchter Abacus, EBV und Farnell element 14,
ARM,
Arrow Electronics,
Atlantik Elektronik,
AVSystem,
Bittium,
Bosch Automotive⁴,
b-plus,
Codico,
Controllino,
Cypress,
Data I/O,
Data Modul,
Digi International,
Digi-Key,
Digilent,
Diodes Zetex,
Dongguan Team Source Display,
dSpace,
e-Consystems,
EKL Electronics Cooling,
Elektor,
EM Microelectronics,
Embedded Brains,
Espressif Systems,
Evocean Group,
FRG Frischer Electronic,
FTDI/Bridgetek,
Future Electronics,
Hilscher,
Hy-Line,
Hoffmann + Krippner
iBASE
Insight.tech,
Infineon,
Intel,
Integral System,
IPC2U,
IQD,
Linx Technologies,
Kienzle-Gruppe,
Kioxia Europe
Kontron,
KUNBUS GmbH,
Linx Technologies,
LPKF,
Microchip,
Micron,
Microsoft¹,
Mitac Digital,
Mitsubishi Electric,
Monolithic Power Systems,
Mouser Electronics,
Myrra SAS,
Neumüller Elektronik,
New Japan Radio Co (NJR Europe),
Nvidia,
NXP,
On Semiconductor,
OpenHW Group,
Piketec,
POHL Electronic,
Polyrack,
Powerbrigde,
Qualcomm²
RAFI ELTEC,
Recom,
Renata Batteries,
Renesas,
Riverdi,
Rohm,
RS Components,
S.I.E Solutions,
Schukat,
SE Spezial Elektronik,
Shantou Goworld Display,
Silicon Labs,
Silicon Radar,
Simplify Technologies,
Socionext,
SolidRun,
STMicroelectronics,
Swatch Group,
Swissbit,
Telit,
Texas Instruments³,
TME,
TopwayLCD,
Toshiba Electronics Europe,
TouchNetix,
Unisystem Displays,
Vector,
Veridify Security (ehemals SecureRF),
VoxMicro,
TQ-Systems,
Western Digital,
Winbond,
Windriver
Würth Elektronik,
X2E Embedded System Design,
Xilinx.

¹As Microsoft confirmed on request, the company will not be represented with its own stand at the Embedded World. However, the IoT in Action Pre-Day event planned for Monday, February 24th should continue to take place.

²According to a reader in the forum, Qualcomm is said to have canceled internally by email to colleagues.

³Texas Instruments continues to support the MIOTY Alliance and will also be represented there with speakers.

⁴ So far, only Bosch Automotive has canceled participation. Other areas of Bosch are not currently affected.

Due to the numerous cancellations, according to various sources, hall 5 has now been closed and the remaining stands, originally located there, have been moved to other halls. In the case of Hall 4A, too, it looks as if there is a lot of space.

On the other hand, there are companies that have agreed to participate under the current circumstances and are sticking to it.

Participation confirmed

Accemic Technologies,

Absint,

Adacore,
Adlink Technology
ALDEC,
Agosense,
Apacer,
Atlantik Elektronik,
ATP Electronics,
AVT,
Axivion,
Becom,
Beta Layout,
Bosch,
Cadence,
Cincoze ,
compmall,
Compotec,
Congatec,
Deutschmann Automation
Dialog Semiconductor,
DigitalDevices GmbH,
Demmel,
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,
DH Electronics,
DMB Technics,
DSP Systeme (vormals A.R. Bayer DSP Systeme),
E.E.P.D,
Eltan,
emlix,
Enclustra,
EFCO Electronics,
Electronic Assembly,
Embedded Computing Design,
emotas,
Endrich,
Epson,
Equasys,
esd electronics,
eSOL,
FlowCAD,
Fraunhofer IPMS,
Ginzinger Electronic Systems,
Glyn,
GrammaTech,
Green Hills,
Heitec,
Hema Electronic,
Hemi,
Hitex,
IAR Systems,
IEI Integration Corp.,
Imperas,
Ineltek,
Innodisk,
Karamba Security,
KDAB,
Keith & Koep,
Kernkonzept,
kessler engineering,
KHRONOS Group,
Lattice,
Lauterbach,
Leber Sytemtechnik,
LDRA,
Linutronix,
Lynx Software Technologies,
m2m Germany,
Mathworks,
Maxim Integrated,
Melya Systems,
Mentor,
MEV Elektronik Service,
MicroControl,
Microtronics Engineering,
MVTec,
Neousys Technology,
New Vision Display,
Nordic Semiconductor,
Nicomatic,
Paessler AG,
Parasoft,
PEAK-System,
Pengutronix,
Percepio,
Perforce Software,
Phoenix Contact,
Phytec,
Pico Technology,
qbee AS,
RAK Wireless,
Red Pitaya,
Rohde & Schwarz,
Real Time Innovations (RTI),
RISC-V-Foundation,
RTI
Rutronik,
Silicon Motion,
SSV Software Systems,
Sys TEC electronic
Sysgo,
tacterion,
Tekmodul
Teledyne LeCroy,
Think Silicon,
Trenz Electronic,
Trinamic
Tyan,
Ubuntu,
Ultratronik Distribution,
VersaLogic,
WAGO,
Wibu-Systems.

New keynote speaker confirmed

It is also unclear to what extent the accompanying congress is affected by the wave of cancellations. As far as is known, after Cypress CEO Hassan El-Khoury canceled the main keynote, Infineon CEO Reinhard Ploss stepped in at short notice. However, the keynote was also affected by the cancellation by Infineon, as a company spokesman confirmed. According to the latest media reports from Sunday afternoon, Ulrich Löwen, Senior Principal Key Expert Engineer at Siemens Corporate Technology, has now taken over the keynote. Other speakers who do not arrive should be involved in a video conference or replaced by people present.

Why many companies from the United States canceled

It is striking that many US companies have pulled back. The reasons are more or less identical and are the same as those from Intel: “The safety and well-being of all our employees and partners is our top priority. As a result, we have withdrawn from this year's Embedded World due to ongoing concerns about the novel coronavirus outbreak. We are grateful to the organizers for their understanding and look forward to the participation and support of future events at the Embedded World. ”

Many companies fear that their employees will get infected by the Covid-19 coronavirus while traveling - at airports or during flights. The fair itself, however, they see less than the real problem. Returning travellers could also be quarantined for at least two weeks after the flight back to the USA. Ultimately, there is a risk that many important employees will suddenly fail over a longer period of time - many companies shy away from this risk.

Dilemma for smaller companies

In addition, there is simply a cost-benefit calculation: As companies confirmed on request, they expect a substantial drop in visitors. Accordingly, they wonder whether it is worth the effort to be on site with a large staff, to expose themselves to the risk of infection - and not to achieve the goals set. Personnel costs are likely to be the greatest cost savings. According to insider information, it can be assumed that the exhibitors will remain at an estimated 90 percent of the costs if they cancel. Many smaller companies that spend a large part of their marketing budget at trade fairs simply cannot afford to refuse.

Companies that continue to stick to the fair were also on the alert this week: “However, we will continue to monitor the situation regarding the corona virus very closely, because protecting our employees is our top priority. If there are any signs of a serious risk situation, we reserve the right to take appropriate measures, ”was Maxim's official statement on February 17, 2020.

According to the organizer, Embedded World 2020 and the accompanying congress will take place. It currently looks as if the trade fair management is rethinking the previous hall layout and trying to fill in gaps caused by cancellations. The large stand in Hall 4A, for example, which was originally assigned to ST Microelectronics, is now divided into 12 small stands according to the hall plan, which are assigned to different companies. There are now 17 companies on the former Avnet booth 3A-221.

On Monday, February 24th, some companies have withdrawn on such a short notice from the event that the booth was already set up. Dismantling the booth until the opening of the event wouldn't be feasible, so the decision was made to leave the booth empty - no demonstrations will be shown and no personell will be present. Among the companies who made this decision are Vector and dSpace, though the number is probably much higher.

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