Christoph Hinte on 25 years at Intergeo

Christoph Hinte is the organizer of INTERGEO, the world’s biggest annual geospatial trade fair and conference. As CEO of HINTE Expo & Conference, he has been involved in the development and strategy of INTERGEO events since in 1995. Hinte tells xyHt why this year’s event, October 13 to 15, is special—and different.

INTERGEO celebrated 25 years in business. What is the most memorable year and location for you?

Last year’s event in Stuttgart was a real highlight, with a great atmosphere among the exhibitors and the attendees. It was a major step towards becoming more international and reaching new target groups.

What makes INTERGEO 2020 special?

This is the very first time that INTERGEO will be a 100 percent digital event. We are aiming for a real global reach this year.

What are the challenges of putting the event in digital format this year?

Carrying out a digital event for the very first time means we have to cope with uncertainties. We will surely learn a lot after this. We are closely in touch with our partners, and fortunately we have a very open-minded team.

Our project management approach is completely agile and there’s a main emphasis on communication.

How many people are expected to participate this year?

There will be more than 200 geospatial companies exhibiting their products. And as a digital event, we hope to reach the same number of attendees as we did in Stuttgart last year (20,000 participants).

What can we expect from the main speakers in the conference?

The motto of INTERGEO this year is “Geoinformation for a Smarter World,” so expect only the best from our speakers. They will report on the

contribution of geodesy and geoinformation in climate protection, the digitalization of the construction industry, and the resilience of our cities. Our program includes technological trends such as artificial intelligence, block chain and cloud computing. There will also be first-class keynotes and lectures on standardization in digital planning and construction, as well as developments and projects in building information modeling (BIM).

How can people participate in the different INTERGEO conferences?

You just need a valid ticket to participate in the various online events (which you can get here).

I saw that this year’s INTERGEO will be available in various languages. That’s cool! How did you make this possible?

You find all products and solutions this year in our new INTERGEO.digital platform. It works just like an exhibition stand where visitors can have the opportunity to view various products, information and videos. You can also talk to exhibitors and other participants, all without any language barrier. The lip-synchronous real-time transmission of conversations in the digital video room can be translated into several languages by transcription.

Tell us more about automated and intelligent matchmaking. How does this work?

Programming and algorithms are at work in the background, matching the offers and solutions by companies with the interests of potential customers. Our INTERGEO.digital platform will perform everything that we are used to in B2B events: business initiation, exchange, networking–and all that without gimmicks or avatars. We have focused on the central element of trade fairs: face-to-face exchange, meetings, finding each other, discovering new products, participating in the programs, and more. You can see how it works in a video: