Saturday, 12 October was the closing day of 34.BI-MU, the international biennial exhibition dedicated to the industry of machine tools, robots, automation, digital and additive manufacturing and subcontracting, held at fieramilano Rho from Wednesday, 9 October.
Organised by EFIM-ENTE FIERE ITALIANE MACCHINE and promoted by UCIMU-SISTEMI PER PRODURRE, the Italian machine tools, robots, automation systems and auxiliary products manufacturers’ association, 34.BI-MU featured the best of the international sector production, an expression of the product offerings of over 750 companies, 8.5% more than those registered for the 2022 edition, on a total area of 65,000 square metres.
A percentage of 37% of the exhibiting companies were from abroad: Germany, Japan, Taiwan, Switzerland, USA, Spain, France, China, South Korea, Austria, UK, Turkey, Czech Republic, Denmark, Poland, Netherlands, San Marino, Ireland, Hong Kong, Belgium were the represented countries.
About 35,000 trade operators were present over the four days of the exhibition. Of these, 5% came from 62 foreign countries. The most represented countries were: Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, Slovenia for Europe; the USA and Brazil for the Americas; China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Turkey for Asia.
Among the foreign visitors were also 80 operators – mostly users and including some journalists, coming from 16 countries (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, China, Croatia, Egypt, France, India, Morocco, Mexico, Serbia, Thailand, Turkey, USA, Uzbekistan, Vietnam) – invited within the mission organised by UCIMU-SISTEMI PER PRODURRE, in cooperation with ICE-Italian Trade Agency and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
A total of 4,000 students took part in BI-MU through free and guided tours entrusted to 55 young tutors from Higher Technological Institutes. In addition to students from high schools, for the first time, the exhibition opened its doors to students from lower secondary schools, a crucial school time in deciding which educational path to take after “compulsory schooling”. All students were welcomed in the ROBOTGAMES area, where the initiatives of the special Education & Job project took place, conceived to encourage dialogue between the world of education and that of industry and to attract talents. A meeting point for matching job demand and supply was offered by Randstad, which also proposed job orientation and gamified light self-assessment activities. The real attraction of the area was ROBOTGAMES, the new automation and robotics contest for high school students, promoted by UCIMU Academy through UCIMU Foundation and organised by EFIM, with the support of Fiera Milano Foundation. The final of the contest, which took place on Friday, 11 October, saw a challenge among eight teams of eight different institutes coming from all over Italy.
Alfredo Mariotti, general manager of UCIMU, stated: “Despite the particularly complicated economic period, BI-MU has been able to defend its position as the reference event for the industry of machine tools, robotics, automation, digital and additive manufacturing, showing an increase in the number of its direct and indirect exhibitors, as against a partial reduction in exhibition spaces. Moreover, the presence of thematic areas, such as the well-established RobotHeart, piùAdditive and BI-MUDigital contributed to enhancing the value of the thematic and product offerings of our trade show”.
Over eighty events were organised by exhibitors and organisers, most of which were held in the BI-MUpiù Arena , promoted by UCIMU Foundation, with the support of the Lombardy Region, the sponsorship of Banca Generali and the patronage of TM.
The programme of meetings started with the opening ceremony, which included an exclusive interview by Simone Spetia, a journalist from Radio 24, with Federico Faggin, physicist and inventor of the microprocessor.
The 60 speeches hosted in the BI-MUpiù Arena involved over 1,400 people in attendance and about 5,000 users connected online thanks to the live streaming service activated on the homepage of bimu.it.
Of particular prestige and interest was the Robotics Day that saw all the main organisations representing the segment, such as IFR (International Federation of Robotics), SIRI (Italian Robotics and Automation Association), I-RIM (Italian Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Machines) and AIxIA, (Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence) together with UCIMU, called to an open discussion on the potential for development and application of the new technologies in all markets. IFR has chosen BI-MU to hold its annual assembly and a series of in-depth meetings dedicated to its members.
Riccardo Rosa, president of UCIMU, said: “These initiatives, as well as the great commitment dedicated to young people through our UCIMU Academy, are an essential element for the success of the trade show, which, besides the display of products, intends to propose activities conceived to foster the growth and development of the sector”.
It is also thanks to this approach that 34.BI-MU obtained the ICIM Certification ISO 20121: 2013, which attests that this exhibition is a sustainable event, organised according to the principles of environmental, economic and social sustainability.
The interest of the manufacturing world in the event is also measured by the lively activity on the exhibition website, bimu.it, and on the digital channels (Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, YouTube). In the period from 1 January 2024 to 15 October 2024, bimu.it was visited by 75,580 unique users (+8% compared to 2022) for 385,351 page views (+9%). Of the total users, 14% were from abroad. The average time spent on the website was over 4 minutes, confirming the interest of users in the in-depth content offered by the online platform.
The social community of BI-MU currently has 11,020 registered followers. There were 8,753 in 2022, at the end of the last edition of BI-MU. Among all the exhibition profiles – Facebook, X, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube – it is LinkedIn that registers the highest activity, with an increase of about one thousand followers in the month preceding the event alone, which brought the page to 4,017 connected users, twice the number counted in the previous edition. Thanks to this increase, the LinkedIn page is definitely the most followed among the four social networks of the event.
Instagram is confirmed as the second social network of BI-MU by growth rate in the number of followers. However, also thanks to the presentation of its side initiatives, in particular those dedicated to young people, about 60% of the views and interactions to the page posts were from users who did not follow the profile directly. In this way, the visibility of the event was extended to a wider audience than that already affiliated.
Appointment in October 2026 with 35.BI-MU, which will celebrate its 70th anniversary, together with exhibitors and all operators. The dates of the exhibition will be announced soon.
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