The 2012 Korea Elevator Safety Expo is just 90 days away, and the schedule of various academic conferences, including the International Conference on Standardization of Elevators (ISO/TC 178), which has attracted the attention of the industry, has been confirmed. Attracting companies is also going well. About 50 companies have applied to participate in the expo so far, and the organizers are on track to reach their goal of attracting 70 companies once the remaining companies are confirmed.

In particular, the expo will include 15 countries from Europe and the United States, as well as Germany Interlift, the China Elevator Association, and the Russian Elevator Association. On April 25 at the Seoul Marriott Hotel, Ian Todkill, chairman of the Asia-Pacific Elevator Council, was also appointed as an honorary chairman of the expo, further demonstrating its international character.   

The organizing committee of the Korea Elevator Safety Expo, which held its launch ceremony on April 18, is also busy. "We are confident that this exhibition will be the best elevator expo in the world that will give hope to participating companies and inspire and entertain visitors," said Gong Chang-seok, chairman of the organizing committee.

The biggest goal of the exhibition is to draw the attention of many people to elevators in line with the nature of the elevator safety expo. "The biggest driving force behind the growth of the mobile phone industry and the gaming industry is the interest of people," said Gong Chang-seok, chairman of the organizing committee. "In order to secure the competitiveness of the elevator industry, it is important to gain the interest of the people first, and this expo will be the official first step."

 

As preparations for the expo are in full swing, we met with Gong Chang-seok, chairman of the Korea Elevator Safety Expo Organizing Committee, to learn about the progress so far. Here's what he had to say to our reporter.

 

Thanks to the hard work of the organizing committee subcommittee members, corporate advisors, and secretariat staff, it is going smoothly. There is a lot of interest in the Expo not only in Korea, but also in neighboring China and Europe. Germany's InterLift, the world's largest elevator expo, as well as the China Elevator Association and the Russian Elevator Federation have applied to participate.

Both China and Russia will be sending delegations of their own companies and entrepreneurs to visit the exhibition. Currently, the Chinese government is sending a large government-level inspection team to benchmark Korea's elevator safety management system, and Russia is also planning to visit the exhibition with government and business representatives for the first time since the expo was held. In particular, the Russian Elevator Committee is highly interested in Korea's comprehensive elevator information system, and will discuss specific cooperation plans through the expo.

This is probably a result of the fact that the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, which is in charge of organizing the expo, and the Korea Elevator Safety Agency have been regularly participating in international elevator fairs and promoting the Korea Elevator Safety Expo.

 

This year, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety has been upgraded from a sponsor to an organizer, which shows that the government attaches great importance to the event. Another difference is that this year's expo is a convergence exhibition under the theme of cities. While the previous expo was a single-item exhibition of elevators, this time, under the theme of 'Green City Week,' five related exhibitions, including elevators, architecture, buildings, public facilities, and security equipment, which are essential for the formation of large cities, will be held together during the same period. This is expected to maximize synergies and strengthen market functions.

Compared to the first exhibition, the scale has increased.

The organizing committee presented a vision of becoming one of the world's top three elevator exhibitions by 2020 at the last launching ceremony. We believe that we need our own differentiation strategy to compete with international exhibitions such as the 'Interlift Exhibition in Germany' and 'Guangzhou World Elevator Expo' in China, which are at least 5 to 10 times larger than us. Therefore, this year's expo is more than 5 times larger than the first one in 2010. Of course, the content should not be poor.

The Corporate Business Center (CBC) will debut at this year's expo to help companies with their marketing. This is in response to the request for a dedicated center for marketing, which was pointed out as a problem in a survey of companies at the first expo.

In response, the organizing committee plans to support corporate marketing by establishing the Corporate Business Center as a measure to activate market development and technology exchange. In the first edition, the center generated 1.2 billion won worth of direct and indirect product sales, but this year, we plan to triple that amount.

The business center will be open during the exhibition with topics such as introducing new elevator technologies, consulting with companies on their pain points, and presenting best practices for sales development. We will soon open the call for participating companies, and priority will be given to companies that apply for a booth, but you can apply even if you do not participate in person. The Business Center is open to anyone working in the elevator industry.

 

Korea is the only country in the world that organizes an expo with a safety theme. This is a niche strategy that differentiates us from other exhibitions. Korea is said to be the world's third-largest elevator installation powerhouse, but there is a lot of room for improvement, with more than 12,000 safety accidents such as elevator traps last year alone. That's why we are holding an expo on the theme of safety. In particular, safety is not only limited to government regulations and safety awareness, but also requires upgrading industrial technology through technological advancement. Therefore, if you look at it in reverse, safety is industrial competition.

Some business people say, "Shouldn't the expo be more about industry than safety?" but I disagree. Industry and safety are like a wheel, and if one of them goes wrong, the whole industry will collapse. As a short example, Korea's automobile industry has grown globally because the three beats of industry, safety regulations, and increased awareness have been growing evenly. The steady rise in elevator safety accidents in recent years is also due to the commonization of the elevator industry. The commonization of manufacturing and maintenance companies is a threat to public safety. The collapse of Korea's manufacturing industry could lead to a serious crisis in a few years. The government, elevator operators, associations and organizations, and companies need to work together to take measures, and the expo will serve as a focal point. 

 

 First, the participation of small and medium-sized manufacturing companies is noticeable. Many of the SMEs that participated in the first year have increased their booth size by two or three times. There are also companies that have never participated in a trade show before and are determined to do it right this time. The participation of non-manufacturing designers, communication equipment, parking lot equipment, and security equipment companies was unexpected. On the other hand, large companies are considering long-term participation and are making slow progress for now. In particular, the Elevator Valley Business Council, which will be located in Geochang-gun, has applied for a total of 34 booths, which is the largest single-scale. This includes Gyeongnam Techno Park and Elevator University, which will play a pivotal role in Geochang Elevator Valley.

The reason why companies are so eager to participate is because it is the only specialized elevator exhibition in Korea. Companies are also interested in the expo because there are not many opportunities to showcase their products and technologies. The organizing committee expects that the expo will help companies explore new markets and expand their network.

 

The first purpose of the expo is to expand and open up new markets by introducing their products and technologies. Since there are exhibitions that are highly related to our expo, such as the Building Industry Exhibition, it will be more advantageous for companies to develop sales. In addition, we want to increase the brand value of companies and expand exchanges among human networks.

However, participation in the expo should not be viewed simply as a tangible effect, as there are many aspects that cannot be calculated as economic effects. We believe that raising interest in elevators and approaching the public in a friendly manner will make the domestic elevator industry stronger in the long run. The fact that the indirect economic impact of the 2010 Expo reached KRW 13 billion is a testament to the intangible value.

 

There are many interesting and special things. There will be two seminars by overseas experts on the topics that people are interested in, 'Space elevator is not a dream, but a reality' and 'Hidden secrets of Buzzdubai skyscraper elevator'. This will be an opportunity for both companies and general visitors to think a lot about elevators.

In addition, for the first time in Korea, civil society organizations in the field of safety will hold a grand discussion on the topic of public safety. Despite the fact that elevators are an amenity that modern people use dozens of times a day, there have been few opportunities for the general public to think about the working principle, advanced technology, and safety. We are confident that this expo will be an opportunity for the general public to see everything about elevators that they have not been exposed to.

 

The biggest theme of our booth is "empathy." We will have a total of 20 booths and three main themes: the National Safety Hall, where you can experience elevator safety, the Science Theme Hall, and the Elevator Consulting Hall.

At the largest National Safety Hall, visitors can experience tips on how to deal with trapped accidents, which account for the majority of elevator accidents, and experience safe use of escalators, which account for 80% of all elevator accidents, through a full-scale model escalator experience hall. There will also be a children's puppet show on the theme of elevator safety, which will raise awareness of elevator safety among kindergarten and elementary school students, who are vulnerable to elevator accidents.

Today, elevators are an indispensable means of transportation in our daily lives, but many people do not even know the basic working principle. In the Science Theme Hall, children, teenagers, and university students will be invited to learn about the 'principle of space elevator' that connects the ground and the sky, and the 'magnetic levitation elevator' that moves by installing magnets on the wall without ropes, as well as education on basic safety devices, and there will be an elevator-themed game field. 

Recently, the elevator consulting service business has been booming due to the expansion of high-rise and medium to large buildings. In general, hundreds of elevators are installed in very large buildings, but there is no consulting industry in Korea to help people install and manage elevators safely. In the U.S. and Europe alone, this industry is over 80 years old. Therefore, we plan to operate an elevator consulting pavilion at the Expo. The Elevator Facility Safety Management Act, which was revised this year, allows elevator inspection organizations to legally provide consulting services, so we plan to expand the exposure of elevator consulting, which is a future growth engine, through this expo.

 

The Elevator Safety Expo will become an international expo from 2014. To this end, we are paying special attention to attracting overseas companies this year. The organizing committee has hired dedicated staff to attract companies from China, the largest market. The goal is to attract more than 10% of all exhibitors from overseas.

Attracting overseas buyers is just as important as attracting overseas companies, and fortunately, the International Elevator Standardization Conference (ISO/TC 178) will be held during the expo, with 15 countries participating, so we can expect a reflex effect. In addition, associations related to elevators from Japan, China, Russia, and other countries are planning to visit the Korea Expo with observation teams, so we expect about 2,000 overseas visitors to visit the expo.

 

We expect more than 30,000 visitors from all over the country to visit the exhibition hall during the four days of the Expo, October 23-26. Therefore, the direct and indirect economic impact of the Expo is expected to be more than 30 billion won. Moreover, if the expo is successfully concluded, the ripple effect will be much more than the estimated figures, such as enhancing the international brand of the Korean elevator industry, raising the self-esteem of entrepreneurs, and the expectation that they can leap to the next level.