Mr Buerkle, what has the Ninth German Technology Symposium (GTS08) in store?
GTS08 will be bigger than the last event. That’s hardly surprising in view of the huge increase in German exports to Thailand. We’re in a brand-new convention centre with fantastic facilities, an affiliated top hotel, a gigantic shopping centre and perfect public transport connections. This year’s GTS08 is also linked with a gala celebrating 150 years of German-Thai economic relations.
How many participants are you expecting? And which sectors have a major emphasis?
The number of companies directly participating will most likely be over 200. They include both the largest German companies and numerous medium-sized and small firms. Many company stands combine a whole series of representatives. This means that German industry’s presence is far larger than initially meets the eye. The exhibition and symposium is dedicated to technologies under the general heading “Made in Germany”. Consequently, no particular sectors are excluded. Nevertheless, some sectors are especially important as a result of Thai demand for the strengths of German products: for instance energy, transport, packaging technology.
Can you give us an example of a successful participant from the past?
There were medium-sized companies who concluded large-sum contracts with new customers directly at the last GTS. That sort of thing hardly happens at traditional trade fairs. Success stories of this kind are a result of our clear focus on decision-makers when advertising for participants.
How many visitors are you expecting?
Among the experts we’re hoping to have around 15,000 visitors. By that we don’t mean the total number of visitors, but the core consisting of company owners, senior managers and technical staff in decision-making positions, all under the motto “By engineers for engineers”. This group is complemented by leading representatives from politics, the bureaucracy and universities as well as students from the technical sphere.
