MAY 8--The European Machine Vision Association (EMVA; www.emva.org) and German Engineering Federation (VDMA; www.vdma.com/vision) have decided to extend their present relation into an agreement to promote the machine-vision industry. Ever since its foundation in May 2003, the European Machine Vision Association has experienced steady and dynamic growth. It currently has 72 members from 18 nations. The cooperation agreement recently signed with the VDMA is expected to further boost growth and leverage additional synergies between the EMVA and its hosting association VDMA. Joint projects and activities have been identified, such as the annual market study, standardization, appearances at trade shows, representation in the area of European R&D funding, and public relations.
At the core of the agreement, the VDMA, which represents approximately 3000 member companies of the capital goods and machine-building industries, recommends all its members apply for membership in the EMVA and subsidizes the annual membership fee. In turn, all German machine-vision companies are asked to join the VDMA to become an EMVA member in the future. Due to the size of the German machine-vision industry, this will substantially accelerate the growth of the EMVA.
The agreement also defines the EMVA as the European and international platform for the German machine-vision group, further reinforcing the role of the EMVA. Consequently, international activities, such as the VDMA International Vision Night, will be organized by the EMVA starting from this year.
Fields of work, such as machine-vision standardization, will be taken care of by the EMVA at an international level. The VDMA will actively market the EMVA as its European platform for the machine-vision area.
