FIBO 2014: Report

The 2014 FIBO – The Leading International Trade Show for Fitness, Wellness & Health, held from April 3 to 6 at the Cologne Exhibition Centre in Cologne, Germany, set new records with 15 percent more attendees and a sold-out event.

The 2014 FIBO hosted 116,000 visitors, selling almost 100,000 tickets before the opening on Thursday, April 3, with 58,000 tickets sold to private visitors before the event. Europe's leading trade show had a total of 697 exhibitors arriving from 38 countries to present their innovations and discuss current trends in the industry.

FIBO, organised by Reed Exhibitions Deutschland GmbH, is the largest show for innovations in the fitness and health industry, and offers an excellent overview of the global market for intelligent health promotion concepts and exercise and training equipment. Along with world product premieres and specialist lectures, the show provides visitors with direct contact with global brands and their new products and concepts.

This year's event helped expand FIBO's position as a leading global trade show of its kind, and also marked an important step in broadening the event's influence beyond the fitness market even further. "Each year we get closer to realizing our objective of expanding FIBO's influence beyond the initial fitness market to cover the entire spectrum of fitness, wellness and health," said Ralph Scholz, FIBO Event Director. The attendees confirm this. The results of a visitor survey reveal that the interests of the attendees certainly go beyond fitness, and that interest in topics covered by FIBO WELLNESS & BEAUTY and FIBO MED is very strong.

The exhibitors largely reported a positive experience, too. "We are extremely satisfied," said Harri Vartiainen, Junior Vice President of International Operations, Iron Gym Europe/ Provio Ltd. "We are happy with the stand in a perfect position. We have sold a lot on every of the four days. In some items we were sold out already on Saturday. Also there was a big interest in reselling our products from distributors from many countries around the world. In addition to that we are very happy with the media interest at the fair. It is our fifth year at FIBO and it is getting better every year. We already booked for the next year on Friday."

"We very much appreciated the optimisation of visitor orientation and the layout planning, which made a significant difference," said Liane Popow, Trade Marketing Manager, Technogym Wellness & Biomedical GmbH. "We are very satisfied upon completion of the trade fair."

The topics covered at the numerous conferences, forums and congresses included movement therapy, corporate health management, and the physical therapy office of the future. These drew health care experts, sports medicine physicians and physical therapists, among other professionals, and contributed significantly to the health industry being represented at the event.

EUROPEAN HEALTH & FITNESS FORUM

The first European Health and Fitness Forum (EHFF) was held on April 2, a day before FIBO officially opened. The roundtable event provided a meeting place for European health and fitness associations, industry professionals and policy makers, and focused on future development of the industry and its role in combating inactive lifestyles and preventing the health issues commonly associated with them.

Held under the motto "Europe Active 2025," the first EHFF has set ambitious common goals to fight health problems by increasing the number of active people. "The Future of Health & Fitness – A Plan for getting Europe active by 2025," a study describing current demographic, economic and health trends across Europe, was the highlight of the event. The study examined the role of fitness and physical activity in fighting the problems resulting from inactivity that Europe is faced with. The target of the new initiative is to increase the number of health club members from the present 44 million to 80 million by 2025.

The program had more than 200 participants, including CEOs of Life Fitness, Technogym, Johnson Health Tech, Precor, and Cybex International, as well as heads of Health & Fitness Nordic, Fitness First, Pure Gym and Holmes Place on the gym side.

EHFA (European Health & Fitness Association) and Deloitte presented a new Study on the European Fitness Market 2014, which provided a comprehensive view of the current industry trends and market figures, including sector leaders, individual country profiles, and European market shares in the fitness industry.

Discussions on cutting edge technologies and ways they can help inactive people become more active drew a lot of interest among the attendees.

Other topics at the event covered funding opportunities, positive effects of regular exercise on the economy, investment in disease prevention and treatment, childhood obesity, and fitness for individuals aged 50 and older.

"It is very positive to see the tremendous response to our initiative to organize a 'Forum' with debate among the stakeholders and not a traditional congress," said Herman Rutgers, EHFA Board Member. "The platform which was launched by EuropeActive with our partner FIBO will be strengthened for next year! Save the date of April 8, 2015 for an exciting 2nd EHFF in Cologne, again on the day before the opening of the FIBO tradeshow."

The Forum was organized by FIBO and the European Health & Fitness Association, which announced its new name yesterday: EuropeActive.

FIBO MED

The 2nd FIBOmed Congress, a multidisciplinary convention focusing on movement therapy, was held on April 4 and 5 under the motto "Exercise is the Medicine of the 21st Century," underscoring the value of exercise in prevention and therapy. The Congress offered a wide range of activities, workshops, and lecture forums, and hosted numerous sports physicians, physical therapists, orthopaedists, and health facility operators and managers.

FIBOmed had around 150 exhibitors presenting their new products, rehabilitation equipment, concepts, and latest developments. Themes ranged from new technologies and diagnostic devices to interiors for PT offices and specialised training equipment and software solutions.

The Congress was organised in collaboration with the German Society for Sports Medicine and Prevention (German Sports Medical Association), the Department for physical activity and health promotion of the German Sport University Cologne, the daily medical journal Ärzte Zeitung, and publisher Springer Medizin.

THE FIBO INNOVATION AWARDS

The FIBO Innovation Awards 2014, presented in cooperation with technical and certification services company TÜV Rheinland and fitness portal FIT FOR FUN, acknowledged the industry's most outstanding new training devices. The awards were presented at the Innovation Forum on April 4. Four products were selected out of 45 entries from 12 nominees to win the FIBO Innovation Award in four categories: Training Equipment, Training Concepts, Health Promotion, and Interior & Design.

SLACK NUT by Slack Nut GbR was the winner in the Training Equipment category. The device is designed as a rocking shell with lines stretched across it, and can be used anywhere to train all the major muscle groups. It is suitable to both beginners and pros. SLACK NUT was singled out this year because it combines balance training with a versatile range of options for coordination, strength, and agility training.

Pixformance, a new intelligent training concept from Pixformance Sports, won in the Training Concepts category. Equipped with a digital fitness station, the device is designed to effectively optimise training sessions, and also to evaluate and analyse the user's movements. Pixformance, which automatically adjusts to the user's needs and creates an individualised intelligent training plan, was selected for its ability to let users create and adjust their workout routines.

flexxvib by proxomed Medizintechnik GmbH was the winner in the Health Promotion category. Designed to help alleviate back pain and stretch muscles, the device uses targeted vibration to improve the user's circulation and local metabolism wherever needed. The innovation lies in applying the device locally to the muscle belly. flexxvib can be used for prevention of back pain and in rehabilitation.

Bodyficient won in the Interior & Design Category with the XBody Newave EMS device. The device comes with a versatile range of design, placement and exercise options, and uses innovative EMS electrodes to optimise XBody EMS training. It also has shoulder electrodes which for the first time make it possible to work the entire muscular system.

The awards were presented for the 15th time this year, and the winning products were honoured for making a major contribution to the advancement of the industry as a whole through innovation, multifunctionality, and problem-solving features.

You can watch a short video from the 2014 FIBO Innovation Awards below.

FIBO 2015 takes place from April 9 to 12 at the Cologne Exhibition Centre.