The Laser World of Photonics exhibition, due to take place in June 2021, has been postponed until Spring 2022 due to the uncertainty surrounding Covid-19 travel restrictions.
The coinciding conference, World of Photonics Congress, will be held in a digital format on the original dates of 20–24 June.
'One of the main grounds for this decision is the large share of international exhibitors and visitors, accounting for more than half of the total number of participants, a high proportion of whom come from other continents,' organisers said in a statement. 'Under the current conditions, holding Laser World of Photonics in June would make it impossible for the trade fair to live up to its standard.'
Messe München has worked out the details of postponing the planned trade fair in close consultation with the exhibitors' advisory board. A clear majority of the exhibitors surveyed support the date change. 'We support the postponement to April 2022 and are already now looking forward to the time the photonics industry will definitely be able to meet again in person,' said Dr Wilhelm Kaenders, chairman of the exhibitor advisory board of Laser World of Photonics and member of the board of Toptica Photonics.
Dr Reinhard Pfeiffer, deputy chairman of the board, Messe München, added: 'With this postponement of the trade fair event, we are creating the basis for a successful in-person international trade fair and following the wishes of our exhibitors and visitors.'
World of Photonics congress in a digital format
While the trade fair gets new dates, the scientific congress will be held as an online event on the originally scheduled dates. At the virtual World of Photonic Congress there will be five conferences with more than 40 sub-topics. The range of topics will extend from basic research to applied science, from laser science, photonics and quantum optics, optical metrology, digital optical technologies and biomedical optics to the use of lasers in production engineering.
