EMVA Business Conference 2018 – what did you miss?

If you joined us in Croatia recently, you’ll know the key points from this year’s EMVA Business Conference, but in case you missed it, or you’d like a recap, here’s our synopsis of the 3 days.

Market consolidation
Friday afternoon witnessed one of the most enthralling discussions in recent years, delving into the recent intensification in Mergers and Acquisitions within our sector. Consolidation in the marketplace has been fast-paced, due to the vast number of smaller players in our niche industry. In general, the market is growing as vision systems become prevalent in more sectors and applications – we can see this in the growth of inline optical inspection, amongst other things. Panellists discussed how M&A activity has been driven by organizations’ desires to acquire technology and grow IP, mature into new market sectors and “own” skilled management who have a clear vision of the future for the industry.

Deep Learning
We thought that Michal Czardybon from Adaptive Vision gave one of the most interesting presentations as he described the company’s innovative deep learning add-on. Adaptive Vision combines deep learning recognition software with traditional object recognition algorithms. Together, they offer the ability to learn based only on 20-50 images instead of thousands and less than 10 minutes’ learning time. Michal’s real-world examples of machine vision supported by GPU processing covered case studies in quality inspection, food processing, medical imaging and more, demonstrating the massive potential that deep learning brings to the vision industry. You can read more about deep learning in our AI series of blogs.

Embracing change
Jeremy White, Editor of WIRED magazine, also entertained us with a dig at the industry sceptics. His advice was to keep an open mind when considering new and disruptive technology as you never know which innovations will take off overnight. Referring to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s famous dismissal of the iPhone in 2007, his presentation warned us to embrace and learn from AI applications in order not to get left behind.

Networking
The opening drinks reception on Thursday evening was the first occasion to catch up with old friends and make new acquaintances, and further networking opportunities abounded. Friday night, however, offered a novel chance to enter the world of fiction, as the social event was held in Dubrovnik’s Old Town, within the famous Walls of Dubrovnik, the main filming location for the Game of Thrones’ city, Kings Landing. The picture here shows our CEO, Colin Pearce and Director of North American Operations, Eileen Zell, enjoying the evening.

Overall, the event was well-attended and informative as always, and we’re looking forward to next year’s gathering in Copenhagen. Sign up to our newsletter to hear more from us about developments in the vision industry.