• Debut show adjoins Light Middle East | Intelligent Building Middle East to create leading MENA Lighting & Building Tech Fair  

Dubai, UAE: Messe Frankfurt Middle East, the name behind some of the Middle East & North Africa’s (MENA) largest and most successful trade shows, has launched a new exhibition dedicated to serving the region’s fast-growing, multi-trillion-dollar smart buildings market.

Intelligent Building Middle East (IBME) will run from January 17-19 next year at the Dubai World Trade Centre and will be co-located with Light Middle East | Intelligent Building Middle East and Intersec to create MENA’s leading trade fair for lighting and building services technology which will span 13 halls with 60,000 square metres of display space and house around 1,000 exhibitors.

“This new collaboration realises an unmatched opportunity for the entire building technology community to advance towards a smart, safe, secure, and sustainable future,” commented Dishan Isaac, show director of Light Middle East | Intelligent Building Middle East. “This show has arrived in the right place at the right time as nations across the region continue to progress smart city ambitions with mega projects encompassing the entire construction value chain. The MENA region today is fast becoming a global smart, and sustainable, city hub.

“With analysts identifying a GCC project pipeline of over US $2.3 trillion in planned and unawarded projects, and current estimates of the Middle East Lighting fixtures market alone being US$5 billion, the overall regional potential is quite simply huge. The region has established a reputation as an increasingly important smart city development hub where advanced technologies drive lifestyles in urban environments. This means architects, developers, construction companies, governments, technology firms, and engineering firms must adapt and collaborate to realise these ambitions.”

Light Middle East | Intelligent Building Middle East will reflect 2023 themes of Innovative Design, Sustainable Future and Seamless Integration, and new-to-market features will provide unrivalled networking and knowledge building opportunities. Among these are LIGHTALKS discussion and networking platform, which will discover where the industry is heading through five key sessions and panel discussions involving the entire lighting design process. InSpotLIGHT will put attendees at the centre of the latest developments in the industry connecting lighting, technology, and the built environment, providing a 360-degree platform.

A new addition to this year’s event is the practical lighting design workshop, Meraki. Participants will be part of a series of practical sessions that guide them through the whole process of a lighting project, from concept development right up to the realisation of the project. This will be done by selecting and testing lighting fixtures to installing and fine-tuning the scheme on site, before presenting the final concepts to a professional audience.

The Smart Buildings Summit will see experts offer an outlook on MENA’s prospects, provide an update on the region’s iconic projects, explore next-gen people-centric technology and design and discuss  smart paths to sustainability and legacy retrofits. The knowledge-sharing programme will see more than 70 speakers, and 12 focussed sessions on architecture and design, sustainability and net zero buildings and integrated systems.

The speaker line-up includes Eng. Nawal Alhanaee, Director of Future Energy Department at the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure; Christopher Seymour, Regional Director and Head of Strategy and Investment, MEASA at Mott MacDonald, and Chairman of RICS MENA;

Ioannis Spanos, Director of Sustainability and Environmental Services Division at KEO International; as well as Omar Barakat, Associate Director - Projects Delivery at The Red Sea Development Company.

The 9th edition of the Light Middle East Awards will recognise innovations in lighting, design & technology, and are aimed at raising the profile of the profession and demonstrating the visible success of lighting inside and outside the region. Industry players are vying for 14 awards to be judged by an expert panel in the Specifiers Arena live at the event on 17 January. The winners will be announced at the awards gala two days later at the Ritz Carlton hotel Dubai.

Light Middle East and Intelligent Buildings Middle East will also run alongside Messe Frankfurt Middle East’s Intersec event - the world's leading trade fair for safety, security, and fire protection – providing 360-degree coverage of all smart buildings’ needs.

“Everything smart and technology focussed will be covered via the simultaneous staging of these three major fairs from lighting to smart building applications, to all security and safety needs,” explained Isaac. “This focussed trio will enable professionals to get the most knowledge and industry exposure possible over three days and combined present the industry with a world of opportunity in one of the world’s most opportunity-rich locations.”

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About Light Middle East Dubai

Light Middle East | Intelligent Building Middle East brings together world-renowned brands, regional players, and promising innovators for an exciting three-day showcase featuring products within lighting, electrical engineering, home, and building automation. The exhibition has played a vital role in the growth and development of the industry since its launch in 2006, with a solid representation of global products and brands, several educational conferences, certified workshops, and leading awards programme to recognize the very best the industry has to offer.

For more information, please visit our website.

Background information on Messe Frankfurt

The Messe Frankfurt Group is one of the world’s leading trade fair, congress, and event organisers with their own exhibition grounds. With a workforce of 2,200 people at its headquarters in Frankfurt am Main and in 28 subsidiaries, it organises events around the world. As in the previous year, annual sales for 2021 were significantly lower owing to the COVID-19 pandemic: approximately €154 million compared with Group sales as high as €736 million in pre-pandemic 2019. We serve our customers’ business interests efficiently within the framework of our Fairs & Events, Locations and Services business fields.

Sustainable business practices are a central pillar in our corporate strategy and strike a healthy balance between ecological and economic interests, social responsibility and diversity. Another of Messe Frankfurt’s strengths is its powerful and closely knit global sales network, which covers around 180 countries in all regions of the world. Our comprehensive range of services – both onsite and online – ensures that customers worldwide enjoy consistently high quality and flexibility when planning, organising and running their events. We are using our digital expertise to develop new business models. The wide range of services includes renting exhibition grounds, trade fair construction and marketing, personnel and food services. With its headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, the company is owned by the City of Frankfurt (60 percent) and the State of Hesse (40 percent).

For more information, please visit our website at: www.messefrankfurt.com

About Messe Frankfurt Middle East

Messe Frankfurt Middle East’s portfolio of 16 exhibitions includes Automechanika Dubai, Automechanika Riyadh, Beautyworld Middle East, Beautyworld Saudi Arabia, Hardware + Tools Middle East, Hypermotion Dubai, Intersec, Intersec Saudi Arabia, Gifts & Lifestyle Middle East, Light Middle East, Materials Handling Middle East, Materials Handling Saudi Arabia, Middle East Cleaning Technology Week, Paperworld Middle East, Prolight + Sound Middle East, and SPS Automation Middle East. In the 2021/22 event season, Messe Frankfurt Middle East exhibitions combined featured 2,394 exhibitors from 53 countries and attracted 83,124 visitors from 116 countries.

For more information, please visit our website.

Kate McGinley
kate.mcginley@uae.messefrankfurt.com
www.ae.messefrankfurt.com 
light-middle-east.ae.messefrankfurt.com