A Sneak-Peek at IPC APEX EXPO 2018

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

IPC President and CEO John Mitchell gave I-Connect007 a sneak-peek at the upcoming IPC APEX EXPO, taking place in February in San Diego. Mitchell provides a description of this year’s keynote, as well as a few new additions and areas of emphasis. It looks like it will be another packed house, with plenty to see, do, and learn about.

Patty Goldman: John, what can you tell us about the upcoming show, and keynote speaker, which I understand is expected to be quite a draw?

John Mitchell: Jared Cohen is our Tuesday keynote. He is now the CEO of Jigsaw, which is a part of Google. He’s the former advisor to two U.S. Secretaries of State and the author and member of the Council on Foreign Relations. The title of his speech is, “Game changers, Technology, and the Next Big Disruptions.” He travels a lot, so he’ll be drawing on his travel and first-hand accounts of some of the various important and emerging trends in technology, and then reveal how some of those will matter to the electronics industry.

Goldman: That should be very interesting and appropriate.

Mitchell: Yes, we’re looking forward to Mr. Cohen’s insights into the complex world of technology. In addition to this opening keynote on February 27, I will give a keynote on ‘Educating a 21st Century Workforce,” and cover how understanding the challenges and solutions in educating a 21st century workforce, is critical to businesses and leaders around the globe.

Goldman: Sounds good. What else will be going on at APEX?

Mitchell: Our theme this year is “Succeed at the Velocity of Technology.” We are more than 95% sold out for the show floor, which is great, and we’re anticipating more than 450 suppliers to showcase their products and services. In addition to the exhibition, we of course have our educational offerings, the professional development courses, which include subjects like PCB fabrication troubleshooting, printing, dispensing, jetting, manufacturing yield, reliability, and DFX. We really try to provide things that are driven by real-world application of what’s happening right now, so the attendees can apply it later. We’re trying to help them access new research on materials and processes and learn about trending materials or applications and processes, such as Industry 4.0 and wearables.

To read the full version of this article which is published in the January 2017 issue of The PCB Magazine, click here.