Issue 2/2009
03/02/09
TechForum in Chennai/India, February 13th and 14th, 2009
The first time event, organised by VIRGO Communication, was called in as a forum for questions of the lift industry – of national and international concern – in between the bi-yearly lift exhibition IEE Expo in Mumbai.
Category: Issue 2/2009
Posted by: Editor
Mr. Tak Matthews, a well known consultant in India, had taken over the moderation of the forum. He found at the beginning quite some friendly words for Anitha and Ragu of VIRGO, by calling them the “crazy couple”, simply because he himself did not believe the event to become true, while on the same day he was moderating it.
The auditorium has been well visited for all lectures which were given. The need of information is very high in India and the literal “hunger” for details was expressed by the many questions asked at the end of the lectures by the public, dealing in essence with the technical backgrounds and the basics of the products presented in the lectures.
As much as on the side of the locals question marks arose as far as the application of new technologies – mainly out of the European scene – is concerned, Europeans present were puzzled by the Indian codes and standards. No doubt, there is a great need to catch up as far as new codes and new technologies are concerned in India.
For those who do their first steps on the Indian market, transparency shall be of vital importance on a market with 1.2 billion consumers and a yearly growth rate of 8–9 %.
The first event may not yet have reached the whole of the Indian lift industry, it may be needed to reconsider the content of the lectures, organization and performance – including “mini-exhibition” beside the forum – can certainly still be improved. The result however is, that jumping into unknown waters has turned immediately into success and by consequence the next Forum event was announced for 2011.
Out of the sight of someone being connected to the Indian market as from 1994 my suggestion to those being interested is to search for a competent local partner. The best occasion for doing so is given in February 2010 at the next edition of the exhibition in Mumbai.
Stephan Kretzschmar
2/2009
