Innovation Award, lectures and the new “Immersive Shopping” special event.
The coveted Innovation Award is the most important and recognised prize in the baby and toddler outfitting industry, which is presented at Kind + Jugend. Nine categories will be evaluated for the first time this year instead of eight. In addition to the previously familiar categories reflecting the exhibition focal points of the trade fair, the topic of sustainability will now also be premiered. The “World of Sustainability” will create particular visibility for sustainable products, which is of great importance for the industry. Since its introduction in 2005, the Innovation Award has enjoyed a high level of recognition and acceptance in the sector, due in large part to the jury of industry professionals with extensive and valuable expertise. The jury will nominate a selection from the approximately 80 submissions received this year. The winners will also be chosen from this selection. All of the nominated products will be presented together with the award-winning products at the trade fair in an attractive special event, so that visitors to Kind + Jugend can acquire an excellent overview of the most important trends of the industry. The winners will be honoured on 8 September 2022 at 11:00 a.m. on the Trend Forum stage.
The Trend Forum of Kind + Jugend is the hub for information and networking. Exciting lectures on current trends and important industry topics will take place on the stage in Hall 10.2. on 8 and 9 September 2022. The entire programme will be targeted to the needs of industry and trade. Thus, the experts of the international trend agency TrendBible, based in the UK, will once again elaborate on the developments of the coming season. “Baby & Kids 2023 Macro Trends” is the title of the first session taking place on Thursday. Friday will deal specifically with “Baby & Kids 2023 Design Trends”. On both days, TrendBible will also offer trend consultations; an important tool for all those looking for more detailed information.
The theme of sustainability will be addressed in a lecture by the OEKO-TEX expert Markus Tiemann. The focus here is on transparent supply chains and the importance of credible communication. There will alos be a lecture on the topic of recycling. KAOS, a Norwegian company specialising in sustainable products and concepts, will report on this.
Light will also be shed on online marketing from a variety of perspectives, including by experts from Movesell, the leading agency for Amazon marketing. Additional themes, like the creation of a meaningful shop video, will also be discussed at the Trend Forum. Product presentations for online marketing will provide the focus of the lecture from Studio Volpi, an international agency for innovation and corporate development.
The afternoon of the second day of the trade fair (Friday) is reserved for start-up companies, which will introduce themselves in brief presentations.
This year’s Kind + Jugend will embrace a new theme with the special event “Immersive Shopping”. This refers to the use of innovative technologies and features in B2C and B2C channels for providing product information and product configurations in a visually appealing way.
Trade fair visitors have the possibility to interactively explore various state-of-the-art product presentations in the digital sector. The presentations deal with themes like virtual shopping, immersed e-commerce, secure online shopping for expecting parents and the use of artificial intelligence for baby products and toys.
The section is divided into four stations representing different innovative technologies and covers the following areas of interest:
- Augmented reality in product visualisation for B2B and B2C
- 3D product configurators with the best UX cases
- Artificial intelligence in the field of product development and marketing
- Exclusive virtual reality preview/walk through digital commerce
And finally, one will also find an entertaining and educational video game.
The aim of the special event organised by Koelnmesse and Focuskind Medien is to stimulate incentives and ideas for digital business models that facilitate experience-oriented shopping.
Start-up area (Hall 10.2)
Ten companies from nine countries, including Singapore, Latvia and Israel, will once again use the attractive participation opportunities of the start-up area to test market maturity and expand the action radius of their products.
The stand for young innovative companies (Hall 10.2), sponsored by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, also presents up-and-coming companies in the sector – in this case especially from Germany.
Kind + Jugend is the most important meeting point for the international baby and toddler outfitting industry and will take place from 8 to 10 September 2022 in Cologne. Expected are around 500 providers from 40 countries, including both leading companies and brands, as well as smaller and medium-sized providers.
Admission tickets are only available online. Exhibitors and visitors can use new networking tools with the expanded trade fair app.
All information and the current exhibitor list can be found HERE
