Industrial Interactive Zone at Motek/Bondexpo 2026: “People – Machines – Teamwork”

The 43rd Motek international trade fair for automation in production and assembly, alongside the 18th Bondexpo international trade fair for bonding technology, is preparing for its next edition in Stuttgart from the 6th through the 8th of October, 2026. The proven business platform for the industrial manufacturing sector will set new benchmarks with sustainable, practical solutions. The three-day autumn event will focus attention on the Industrial Interactive Zone – an interactive platform where expert visitors will be able to gain first-hand insights into process integration, rapid commissioning and flexible format changeovers: automation specialists will present holistic solutions to a specific task involving the interaction of different system functions within the framework of a competition.

Motek/Bondexpo 2026 will be distinguished by the central participatory event, namely the Industrial Interactive Zone. The goal is to demonstrate opportunities offered by sustainable, state-of-the-art automation in industrial production, with a focus on user benefits. “The Industrial Interactive Zone will launch a competition within the scope of the Motek trade fair, which is intended to demonstrate how quick and easy it is to get started with automation. It will illustrate how automation solutions can be provided entirely from a single source, are easy to use and can also be readily integrated into small businesses,” says Bettina Schall, managing director of Schall trade fair promoters. “We cordially invite all machinery manufacturers, special machine builders, system integrators and automation specialists to set up automation teams and breathe life into the ‘People, Machines, Teamwork’ competition at Motek’s Industrial Interactive Zone in 2026,” announces the trade fair promoter.

Acting as a “general contractor”, a single competition participant combines all the sub-functions and components to be integrated in cooperation with their respective manufacturers and suppliers and submits an entry for the entire system. A maximum of four automation teams have been slated for the Industrial Interactive Zone, which will be located centrally in hall 6 at Motek/Bondexpo. Each competition participant works independently with their team to complete the assigned task. The task includes two stages: stage 1 involves automated, robotic picking and palletising of four small parts of different shapes and colours onto a rack to form a finished assembly. After ten assemblies have been picked using the same robot on the same line, stage 2 is launched with a product changeover: automated, robotic handling of a spherical object and subsequent dropping into a container or placing at a specified location. Time is the decisive factor for winning the competition – the project team that completes the task fastest is the winner.

“The key requirement is to get the system up and running and implement the automation task quickly,” explains Georg Knauer of trade fair promoters P. E. Schall, who is managing the project together with Rainer Bachert. “We want the Industrial Interactive Zone to clearly demonstrate how automation specialists achieve rapid commissioning, fast format changeovers and minimal set-up times. The idea is to make it plainly evident that automation solutions can be easily implemented if they come from a single source and are designed as integrated systems. On the basis of examples, competing participants should demonstrate how the smooth interaction of different functionalities within a system can be achieved. They should illustrate process integration, flexibility, adaptability and intuitive operation without the need for expertise in the field of robotics, and verify that the automation of easily implementable solutions supports cost-effective production.

The specific task and decisive competitive factors, as well as detailed competition conditions and project descriptions, are outlined here: www.motek-messe.de/en/specials/industrial-interactive-zone-at-motek-bondexpo-2026-people-machines-teamwork/.

All machine manufacturers, special machine builders, system integrators and automation specialists are invited to submit their applications as contestants, including all necessary information, to the trade fair promoters via the specified portal by the 30^th of May, 2026.

The competition will begin at 11:00 a.m. on the first day of the trade fair – Tuesday, 6 October 2026 – in the public exhibition area designated “Industrial Interactive Zone” in hall 6. Setup, programming, commissioning and testing will take place on site in view of trade fair visitors and in the presence of an expert jury. After the winning team has been chosen, all competition systems must be operational and accessible to all trade fair visitors during exhibition hours on all days of the trade fair up to and including Thursday the 8th of October, 2026. “It’s the express intention of the Industrial Interactive Zone to bring people and machines together,” emphasizes Georg Knauer. “The competition will place special emphasis on interactivity within the framework of the trade fair. After the competition has come to an end and the systems are up and running, trade fair visitors will be able to configure tasks and formats themselves as they wish. In this way, the competition teams will demonstrate that their systems meet the requirements of easy operation, quick format changeovers, rapid commissioning and short setup times, and make it easy to get started with automation.

Traditionally, Motek/Bondexpo focuses on topics covering the entire value creation chain for modern industrial production. The event addresses all industry stakeholders who, on the one hand, offer solutions for sustainable, efficient automation and, on the other hand, need to put them into practice. For the first time in 2026, the industry’s autumn highlight will cooperate with the VISION international trade fair for image processing. Both events will take place at the same time in the same place, and can be enjoyed by all visitors with just a single ticket. The optimised use of resources and bundled communication result in increased effectiveness with regard to target group canvassing and visitor reach, and the two events complement each other with their high levels of practical value. As of 2026, Motek/Bondexpo will switch to a biennial cycle. With a streamlined trade fair duration of three days, the complementary business and communication platform will offer all participants a significant increase in efficiency and benefits.

To the websites:
www.motek-messe.de/en/
www.bondexpo-messe.de/en/

Technical information on the trade fair and the industry:
https://www.motek-messe.de/en/news-stories/

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Schall has developed successful business platforms with internationally recognised trade fairs for quality assurance (Control), optical technologies, components and systems (Optatec), stamping technology (Stanztec), automation in production and assembly (Motek), bonding technology (Bondexpo), plastics processing (Fakuma), sheet metal working (Blechexpo) and joining technology (Schweisstec). This has given rise to completely new markets in various sectors, whose protagonists are characterised by a high level of innovative strength, comprehensive system competence and practical application solutions.