A look into the future of automation at SPS 2022

The 31st edition of SPS, the trade fair for smart and digital automation, will take place from 8 to 10 November 2022 in Nuremberg and will showcase the latest products, solutions and pioneering future technologies in the field of industrial automation.

Visitors will be treated to a dazzling array of products and services from national and international suppliers of automation and digitalisation solutions. They will also have the chance to get a comprehensive overview of the market via the complementary digital event platform “SPS on air”, which will be available before, during and after the three-day physical event in Nuremberg.

SPS will feature an extensive program of lectures on current topics from the automation industry. In the week before the event starts, SPS ticket holders will have an opportunity to participate in a digital ‘pre-heat event’ with numerous technical presentations and product previews on the ‘SPS on air’ platform. During the exhibition itself, the supplementary program will run at the VDMA/ZVEI Forum in Hall 3 on the exhibition grounds and from the SPS Live Studio in Nuremberg on the digital supplement ‘SPS on air’.

The main topics of the panel discussions, product presentations or keynotes this year are:

• Digital transformation/Industry 4.0
• Industrial communications
• Safety and security
• New logistic methods and robotic integration
• Data-driven and intelligent concepts for control and visualisation
• Smart sensors
• Drives
• Use cases for AI
• Sustainability in automation

In addition, participants can use the digital platform to initiate contacts and arrange appointments both on-site and digitally, network with each other, and find contacts for their specific automation queries. ‘SPS on air, including its interaction options, will remain online after the end of the event until November 11, 2022; and the on-demand media library and a large part of the recorded lecture program will be available until November 15, 2022. This means that those who visit the trade fair in person still have the opportunity to view presentations afterwards or to establish contacts with purely digital participants worldwide.

In Hall 6, the ‘Automation meets IT’ joint stand presented by some 16 exhibitors will offer visitors comprehensive insights into specific issues and give them an opportunity to receive individual advice from suppliers. The joint stand will focus on:

• Asset management
• Cloud-based services
• Data-centric services
• Predictive maintenance
• OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA)

In previous years SPS has been held at the end of October, but going forward the exhibition will be sticking with this year’s mid-November time slot. SPS 2023 will be held in Nuremberg from 14-16 November 14 – 16, 2023, and in 2024 the trade fair will take place from 12-14 November.