Looking back at IFA 2020
Underpinned by tight health and safety rules, IFA 2020 Special Edition connected brands with media, retailers and the public. IFA 2020 Special Edition has sent the message that “tech is back” and that both the consumer electronics and home appliances industry and tech media have a hunger for real-life experiences.
IFA 2020 Special Edition
This year’s IFA Berlin was a hybrid event:
Three days of keynotes, presentations and product launches took place in real life under tight health and safety rules, but were augmented by IFA’s new virtual platform, IFA Xtended Space.
IFA 2020 Special Edition also hosted SHIFT Mobility meets IFA NEXT, an innovation platform that brought together start-ups, innovators and many companies shaping the future of mobility and everyday life. In addition, the IFA Business, Retail & Meeting Lounges provided an opportunity for brands and retailers to meet and do business in a safe, but face-to-face environment.
Feedback from IFA 2020
» First and foremost I would like to thank our partner Messe Berlin for putting together the concept of an IFA 2020 Special Edition, and then making it happen. This was a bold move, but it has been rewarded with the event’s success. The IFA 2020 Special Edition was the first hybrid event in our industry and has set the standard. It brought people together, both in front of the screens and in person on the exhibition grounds in Berlin. IFA had a very special role to play this year and it fulfilled it perfectly. For the global markets, IFA provided important impulses at the right time in the run-up to the highest-turnover period as an innovation platform with numerous new product presentations. But as important as virtual components are in pandemic times, they never can replace human contact. Our goal for IFA 2021 will be to combine the traditional strengths of IFA – bringing together many innovations with even more people in one place – with the experiences of IFA 2020 Special Edition to create a robust future format. «
Kai Hillebrandt, chairman of the gfu Consumer & Home Electronics GmbH, organizer of the IFA
» The IFA 2020 Special Edition showed us the impressive power of innovation. On a deeper level, it also showed us that the world needs these face-to-face meetings between industry, retail, consumers and media, and it is IFA that facilitated these crucial connections, despite the limitations imposed by the pandemic. «
Dr. Christian Göke, CEO OF Messe Berlin
» The IFA 2020 Special Edition sent an important signal: ‘tech is back,’ and the recovery and rebuilding of the industry starts here and now. Of course, we had to keep the numbers at this year’s IFA low, but it demonstrated the keen interest of everybody to meet in real life, and it sets us on the right track for a strong, full scale IFA 2021. «
Jens Heithecker, Executive Director of IFA Berlin