Door Industry Journal - Spring 2021

Also online at: www.dijonline.co.uk 26 THE door industry journal spring 2021 Industry News Adapting to Business Life in Lockdown Businesses everywhere have been hit hard by lockdown with many even being forced to close. It’s not just smaller family-owned businesses either, as many established high street brands have sadly closed their doors for good. During these extremely difficult times, businesses have been forced to adapt in order to suit this new world. A shining example of groundbreaking innovation in this brave new world was the R+T Digital trade show. From the 22nd to the 25th of February this year, the R+T trade show hosted their event in a whole new way, making it entirely digital. With companies like SOMMER and DOCO International having digitally manned stands, featuring informative video conferences, demonstrations and even live avatars who you can talk to in real-time. The core of the hybrid event format was the R+T Innovation Award. The second day was tagged as the ‘Day of Innovations’, highlighting all of the prize winners of the R+T Innovation Award. The winners were able to present their product developments through informative web sessions, highlighting all of the reasons why their entries for the award were successful. SOMMER, for example, received an innovation award for their Telecody Courier and were able to quickly outline why their product was worthy of the award in a short presentation. With people previously considered ‘technophobes’ being forced into online shopping over lockdown, online purchasing and delivery have become increasingly essential. The innovative Telecody Courier makes this simple by allowing the courier to operate the SOMMER product with a unique code or button, which opens the garage a pre-set amount just large enough to slide the parcel underneath. Once the parcel is inside, the door can safely close, securing the parcel. It’s relevant (contact-free), accessible and smart solutions like this that set SOMMER aside as a worthy award winner for the R+T Innovation award. The third day was dedicated to craftsmanship. Various workshop programs were organised by participating associates, allowing visitors to brush up and expand their specialist knowledge in areas of internal and external sun protection, doors/gates and smart home technology. On the fourth and last day of R+T, in the Conference Area, the visitors were able to follow the State Congress for Architecture and Urban Planning, ARCHIKON 2021, both by live stream and on location. By focusing the core of the event around the R+T Innovation Award, exhibitors were given a platform to present their new products in detail. This structure proved extremely effective and although we know that digital event formats will never replace live trade fairs, the digital format was a great success. A success we will no doubt see replicated in the years to come. The R+T show can still be accessed online until their next physical show takes place next year. Use the code RTdigitalDIJ and save the 15 Euro entry fee.