AVALON BRINGS THE WORLD TO AUSTRALIA

While aviation enthusiasts may wax lyrical about flying agility and speed in airshow displays at the Australian International Airshow & Aerospace and Defence Exposition (AVALON 2023), industry exhibitors and visitors see every aircraft through the lens of its potential as a business opportunity.

The first four days of AVALON are all about the business of aviation, aerospace, space and defence. Closed to the general public, the purpose-built exhibition halls at Avalon Airport become the region’s largest single aerospace industry networking and marketing event.

Every AVALON includes:

• Specialist conferences and symposia, including conferences of major government and defence agencies, industry associations and international organisations;

• An industry exhibition featuring Australian and international companies, with formal business to business and business to government networking programs;

• Australian and international defence, industry, government and scientific delegations, with formal delegation access programs;

• Small business and export development programs;

• A prestigious innovation awards program; and,

• Programs promoting STEM, careers and skilling.

AVALON 2023’s exposition trade days will feature 798 participating exhibitor companies from around the world, visited by thousands of industry representatives and 234 official scientific, military, industry and government delegations from around the world. They come because they are competing for a share in the estimated $24 billion Australian military aerospace market, $43 billion civil aviation and aerospace market, and a burgeoning space industry worth around $4 billion per year, which the Australian Space Agency is working to triple in size by 2030.

Virtually every facet of the aviation, aerospace and defence community is represented, from civil and defence manufacturers, airlines and airports, to air forces, maintainers, operators, regulatory bodies, industry associations, air traffic managers, training schools and universities, specialist suppliers and subcontractors.

So too are the government departments and agencies charged with overseeing and developing Australia’s industry. Defence’s Capability and Sustainment Group (CASG); Defence Science & technology Group (DST): Austrade; Air Services Australia; Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA); the Office of Defence Industry Support (ODIS) and various national and state industry development departments and organisations are all in attendance.

They come for the engagement opportunities created by the sheer concentration of industry, government, defence and academia, where chance conversations can and have led to multi-million dollar contracts and exhibitors speak of transacting more business in one week than they would normally achieve in months.

AVALON is an industry melting pot for sales, product launches, customer relationship development and market research, for seeking out potential suppliers and for studying major competitors.

The event provides unique opportunities for Business to Business (B2B) networking on an industrial scale. Many exhibitors conduct meetings in the security of their own business chalets, while others take advantage of meeting rooms provided by AVALON organiser AMDA Foundation and bodies such as AusIndustry and Austrade. Networking events bring people together for preplanned and ad hoc meetings.

The AVALON App provides a downloadable awareness and engagement tool, including the details of every exhibitor, a means of requesting appointments and schedules for conferences, the exposition and air displays. With much of this information and functionality available well before the event, industry players plan meetings and searches in advance to make the most of their time at AVALON.

Once on site, they walk a 300-strong flight line of the latest light aircraft, business jets, airliners and military aircraft, see some of the world’s most capable aircraft put through their paces in daily air displays and attend their choice of around 59 separate conferences, symposia and briefings on everything from advanced technologies to airport design, major defence acquisition programs, advanced manufacturing techniques, export opportunities and government regulation. The conferences are a primary source of market intelligence; and speakers and attendees at these events are both clients and influencers.

And the vast majority will be here again for 2023, including major manufacturers such as Airbus, Dassault, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and BAE Systems and suppliers large and small, including many of the Australian companies that together have won more than $1.35 billion worth of work on the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

AVALON also provides a showcase for Australia’s innovators. The AMDA Foundation’s Innovation Awards program will present $100,000 worth of civil and military innovation awards at AVALON 2023, to help celebrate and stimulate Australian innovators.

AVALON also hosts an Innovation Pitchfest, which provides innovators and researchers from Defence, industry and academia with a global stage to present their innovations to potential partners, customers and investors.

AVALON is the practical illustration of AMDA Foundation’s goal: Taking Australia to the world, by bringing the World to Australia.