Robotics Events Reflect
Hot Market Segments
by Dan Kara
Tracks and focus areas at robotics events provide
insights into hot sectors and submarkets.
As a conference developer serving
the personal, service, and mobile
robotics industry, I am constantly
challenged with finding the ‘sweet
spot’ in the market where sweetness
is defined both by creating and
running a profitable event, as well as
serving the needs of the attendees
and sponsors. Growing the overall
robotics industry is also a bonus.
From a strictly business standpoint,
conference developers try to avoid
overlapping coverage with existing
events, particularly their own events
lest they cannibalize their own
products. This is especially true in the
mobile robotics and intelligent systems
industry, which is characterized by a
large number of smaller companies,
many of which have been spun out
of academia, or are in their initial
stages of funding. Such companies
simply cannot afford to do every
event in their target market, so they
must choose between a variety of
event offerings.
Conference development and
production is a business like any other.
Conference developers, therefore,
must deliver a product that their
customers (again conference
attendees and sponsors) find of
value, otherwise they will take their
business elsewhere. This requires that
conference tracks are aligned with
industry segments that have broad
rather than narrow appeal, as well
as focusing the content on market
segments that are expanding.
There are any number of ways
that a market can be evaluated as
to its size and expected growth.
Examining quantitative studies from
reputable market research firms is one
option, but for event developers
research typically arrives after markets
have been established and therefore
too late to provide a first-to-market
advantage.
A better, but more subjective
approach is to look to soft evidence.
For example, the number of column
inches dedicated to a particular
segment within the industry press (or
even in the general press), funding
by venture capitalists, or even the
amount of ads for engineers or sales
personnel, can indicate a
company/market that is expanding.
Personal contacts, as well as an
understanding of research and soft
money funding trends, provides
additional clues as to what is hot
and what is not.
In much the same way that
conference developers look to a
variety of sources in an effort to
anticipate a given market, job seekers,
investors, technology providers, OEMs,
retailers, and other members of the
‘channel’ can examine conference
focus areas and tracks to gauge the
strength of specific industry sectors.
For the robotics community, academic
and hobbyists events can provide
some insights into the business side
of the robotics business. However,
for the purpose of serious market
evaluation, more business focused
events would better serve.
Robotics Trends’ RoboBusiness
Conference and Exposition, now in
its fifth year, focuses on the business
development and technical issues
involved with the commercial
application of robotics and intelligent
systems technology to develop entirely
new markets and product categories,
open additional lines of business,
and enhance existing product lines.
90 SERVO 04.2008
