Issue 3/2007
05/02/07
Trade visitors gather at the ASANSÖR Istanbul ’07
“The Day Before Tomorrow”
Istanbul stretches over onto both the European and the Asian side of the Bospherous, making it the only metropolis to span two continents. Because of its three thousand year history, it is considered the oldest existing city in the world. Istanbul is Turkey’s cultural and economic centre.
This was once again the setting for the International Lift Exhibition ASANSÖR, which welcomed visitors from around the globe.
Category: Issue 3/2007
Posted by: Editor
Alongside the interlift in Augsburg, the ASANSÖR Exhibition in Istanbul is one of the most important trade fairs catering to the lift and elevator sector.
This year saw the tenth opening of this prestigious show, organized in cooperation with AYSAD (Turkish Association of Elevator and Escalator Industrialists) and the IFO (Istanbul Fair Organization). The ETMK (Turkish Association of Industrial Designers) also assumed an advisory role.
The inaugural address was delivered by AYSAD President Sefa Targit.
The event hosted 280 exhibitors from 49 countries, representing an increase of 30 % over the last exhibition two years ago.
The event was attended by 21,431 trade visitors over the four days, a third of which returned on more than one day. This increased the number of visitors to almost 30,000.
Back at the ASANSÖR ’05, visitors to the show including construction engineers, architects, representatives of public associations, building managers and academics were treated to a vision of future technologies and an outline of the conference program in the form of a presentation entitled “The Day Before Tomorrow”. A joint platform was created at the ASANSÖR Istanbul ’07 with a view to bringing component manufacturers together with dealers, and dealers with end users.
Conference program featuring international speakers
On the first day of the conference, which was held alongside the exhibition, James Fortune of Fortune Consultants enlightened conference-goers on the subject of evacuation and rescue applications in mega-buildings. The second speaker was Asst. Prof. Serkan Anilir, whose involvement with the Space Lift Project attracted the attention of NASA, and who still remains the only non-Japanese research scientist and group leader to work with the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency JAXA, delivered a presentation on the innovation and technology transfer platform Space Lift Project ATA.
The second day saw a panel discussion entitled “Summit Istanbul 2007”, at which speakers including members of the ELA and AYSAD associations dealt with topics such as accident statistics involving elevators, standards, codes and applications.
The last day of the conference featured a discussion between delegates from the Turkish Government and the Turkish Standards Institute and representatives of the private sector on issues of product safety and product liability in the domestic market.
The lift design contest
Once again, the trade fair organizers once again provided a platform for the future of lift technology. The theme of the lift design contest, held this year for the second time within the framework of the exhibition, was “Smart Response”. The contest, which involved international participants for the first time this year, considered a total of 64 original and innovative design entries. These included designs intended to simplify recognition and the use of operating panels in elevator cabs with the aim of shedding new light on the future of the lift sector.
Designers Umit Karac and Mehmet Kindi who submitted the winning project received the first prize of 11,000 US$. Altogether, prizes totalling a value of 23,500 US$ were awarded.
The second prize winner, Tamer Nakisci, was awarded 7,000 US$ and the third prize of 4,000 US$ went to Gokhan Keman. Tugrul Yazar and Nadide Ebru Yazar received a special award from the AYSAD and a prize of 1,000 US$, while the design submitted by runner-up Ertunc Vatanperver was picked out for special praise and a cash prize of 500 US$.
The evening program
Fair organizers IFO laid on a varied and interesting program of events outside the fair itself. A cocktail reception was held on Thursday evening which offered plenty of opportunity for networking, while congress-goers, members of the press and key customers were invited on the Friday evening to attend a boat trip and dinner on the River Bospherous.
Once again, the ASANSÖR turned out to be a memorable event and a resounding success all round.
3/2007
