Wood & Panel
Home » Featured News » Digitalisation Piazza: special attraction at interzum 2019

Digitalisation Piazza: special attraction at interzum 2019

 Thursday, February 28, 2019

The fourth industrial revolution is here, and interzum 2019 is gearing up with Piazza, ‘Focus on Consumer Trends’, to stimulate creative ideas through digitisation. This year, the event will be highlighting ways in which digitalisation can improve the furniture industry in a customised way. Digital technology has recently influenced the entire designing market, and at interzum 2019, it will be a megatrend in impacting on the living environment through creativity expressed in the digital medium. Topic specific displays and digitalisation are the key highlights for the piazzas in interzum 2019. The event planners of interzum have further enhanced the piazza concept and it will be specially showcased at the exhibition centre in Cologne between May 21 and 24, 2019. Here, at the piazza centre, experts and industry specialists will be present to respond to various questions related to the use and application of digitalisation in the furniture manufacturing and wood industry.

 

Maik Fischer, Director of interzum, views digitalisation as an opportunity to make improvements, and mentioned that, “…At this piazza, we are seeking to provide a combination of promising ideas and examples of best practice”. He further opined that the present market is seeing changes in consumer expectation and demands are increasing rapidly. Hence, this year the event will be more consumer focussed. Digital solutions offered by furniture companies are expected to support through creating, sustainable, customised and comfortable solution for everyday living. “We are not presenting digitalisation as an end in itself. It is a tool that makes it possible to cater for customer requirements more effectively,” Maik Fischer explains.

 

This year the concept Digitalisation Piazza is conceived to ensure customers benefit from digitalisation. The event will be executed in partnership with DC digitalconnection, the agency which specialises in digital transformation. According to Tanja Kruse Brandão from DC Digitalconnection, “Digitalisation is multifaceted”, and it should focus on meeting customer need and expectation.

 

“The exhibitors at the piazza present their digital solutions, which are responses to international consumer trends. As well as physical products, there are also new business models and solutions that use digital tools to improve the design, production or sales process.”

 

The key concept here is ‘service design’, which provides the outline for this special exhibition. The fourth industrial revolution has not only radically changed the opportunities of the industry and trade, but also the expectations of the customers. In the digital age, customers are better informed than ever before. They can access product information, prices and suppliers at any time and in any place. This consumer behaviour is associated with a growing need for real social connection, for sustainability and for experiencing the way things feel to the touch. The special exhibition entitled ‘Digitalization: Focus on Consumer Trends!’ uses three areas, each representing a global consumer trend, to show interior designers, furniture manufacturers and retailers how they can fulfil customer requirements. Each of the sections highlights certain aspects of these trends. The first area focuses on conscious, sustainable living. The topics here include consumer expectations of solutions for smaller living spaces, furniture hire and sharing models for living areas and workspaces, as well as sustainable production, utilisation and recycling.

 

A trend that has been challenging the furniture industry for some time is consumer demand for the individualisation of living spaces and the personalisation of furniture. In this respect, digitalisation is opening up a new level of freedom in terms of design options. The key aspects of this sub-trend are modular furniture concepts, sensors for individualised products and new experiences for the processes of choosing and producing furnishings.

 

The third sub-trend addresses digitalisation in the context of furniture and accessories. For some time now, robots have been performing routine domestic tasks such as vacuum cleaning and mowing the lawn. Sensors and smart home technology can control a range of functions within the home in order to save energy, improve security and make life easier. Sensors and data that is processed using artificial intelligence can be used in order to offer custom solutions for the home environment.

 

“Our aim is to work together with the exhibiting companies to show how the digital revolution can be harnessed in order to meet customer expectations – not just in terms of product development but also in the areas of production, sales and recycling,” says Tanja Kruse Brandão.

 

 

Tags: , , , ,

Comments:

Read Magazine Online

Subscribe to our Newsletters

I want to receive wood industry news and event update from Wood & Panel. I have read Wood & Panel Privacy Notice.

Our Partners

medwood

LINKEDIN