Intersec, one of the world’s leading trade fairs for safety, security, and fire protection, recorded its biggest visitor turnout in history when it wrapped up a three-day run at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) earlier last month.
According to the organisers, some 43,305 industry professionals from 131 countries attended the event’s 24th edition, the largest in the series’ history with over 800 exhibitors from 55 countries spread across nine DWTC halls and the Trade Centre Arena. The visitor turnout saw a significant uptick in international visitors, with attendees from the GCC, Europe, Asia, and the Americas accounting for 49 per cent of the total headcount. Footfall meanwhile was spread across 48,331 gross square-metres of dedicated product showcases for commercial and perimeter security, homeland security, fire and rescue, safety and health, and cyber security.
A new report from Pricewaterhousecoopers (PwC), produced in partnership with Intersec, found that the wider sector is treading a new pathway to cognitive security and surveillance, which will see the system evolve with active involvement from customers alongside their OEMs of choice to drive client-centric development.
“With emerging technologies playing a leading role in driving change across the ecosystem, the success and future of the security and surveillance industry lie in moving from an industry-driven strategy to a customer-focused strategy,” says the report. “The shift can be enabled by partnership strategies with varying degrees of control and investment to strike a partnership equilibrium, while building a robust technology foundation as an enabler. This will require a collective effort throughout the whole ecosystem.”
Alex Nicholl, Show Director, Intersec, added: “This year’s heightened visitor numbers underline the industry shift to this new era of cognitive security and surveillance likely to dominate the sector going forward. It demands a heightened focus on customised technology and partnership requirements, both of which Intersec deliver.”
Partnerships were prominent from the first day at Intersec 2023 with a Memorandum of Understanding being signed between video surveillance provider Hikvision and the UAE’s Ministry of Interior, as well as headline collaborations between Sharjah Civil Defence and Austrian firefighting equipment provider Rosenbauer, and Indian satellite, digital cable, and broadband provider Nxdigital and US cyber security technology company Cybereason.
Technology and innovation remained front and centre of the event with the exhibitor profile featuring the biggest industry names alongside sector entrants and innovators. Major new exhibitors included Thales of France, Singapore’s ST Engineering, Saudi Arabia’s SAFE, Germany’s AGMC/BMW, Israel’s D-FEND, the UAE’s Tabbara, Holland’s Robin Radar, Sigma Security of Greece, Poland’s Megavision, and VX Ray of the USA.
The show featured special areas and events which also drew large audiences across the The Attack Zone, a Safety Walk, a Tech Stage, Start Smart Zone, and Future Defenders Hack Arena.
There were also full houses for the powerful Intersec 2023 conference and knowledge-sharing programme and the show also hosted a successful bid by the UAE’s Cyber Security Council (CSC) to achieve the first Guinness World Records title for the largest cyber drill competition. The Guinness World Records team had set a requirement for 100 participants for the inaugural record attempt, which the CSC surpassed with 150 participants across three days.
An official adjudicator was on site to review the record bid and present a certificate to His Excellency Dr Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, Head of Cyber Security for the UAE Government.
Intersec organisers Messe Frankfurt Middle East are now beginning to plan for the event’s silver jubilee edition set to run at DWTC from 16 – 18 January, 2024
