SAE International 2010 World Congress - Success through Transformation

WARRENDALE, Pa., April 26, 2010; SAE International's reinvented World Congress realized all of its goals - and more - after wrapping up its three-day run in Detroit.

Ford Motor Company served as host company for the event and Magna International served as the Tier One Strategic Partner.

Attendance topped 10,000 with representatives from 46 nations. Nearly 70 percent of the attendees work in the engineering or executive disciplines. Nearly all of the major OEMs were represented and, although the majority of attendees work in the automotive industry, the event was well-attended by professionals from aerospace and commercial vehicle sectors, as well.

The new, "Innovators Only" exhibition featured more than 100 companies on the show floor. Also, more than 1,000 technical papers were presented and the new "Chat with the Experts" networking sessions proved to be valuable to attendees.

In addition to the many technical presentations, several dynamic and engaging panel discussions and presentations were held in the AVL Technology Leadership Center and the FEV Powertrain Innovation Forum. The standing-room-only opening ceremony featured a speech by World Congress general chair Paul Mascarenas, Vice President of Engineering for Global Product Development for Ford; and the banquet featured a speech by Ford Chairman William Clay Ford Jr.

From a business standpoint, the World Congress proved to be successful for exhibitors, as well. Jeremy Goddard, vice president, sales and marketing for IAV Automotive Engineering Inc. said, "(the new format) proved to be very successful... It was a good show for us."

"When redesigning the World Congress we actively sought out the opinions and feedback from our members. They were the ones driving and, ultimately, approving the changes that we made," Patti Kreh, manager, engineering meetings, SAE International, said. "The positive feedback we are receiving about this year's World Congress shows that we have created the type of technical event that our members and customers want and need to do their jobs better."

  Other highlights of the SAE 2010 World Congress included:
  --  Keynote by David Strickland, Administrator, NHTSA
  --  Keynote by Donald Hillebrand, Director, Center for Transportation
      Research, Argonne National Laboratory
  --  JetToy Olympics
  --  Ride-n-Drive featuring some of the most fuel efficient and
      hybrid-technology vehicles available today

SAE International is a global association of more than 128,000 engineers and related technical experts in the aerospace, automotive and commercial-vehicle industries. SAE International's core competencies are life-long learning and voluntary consensus standards development. SAE International's charitable arm is the SAE Foundation, which supports many programs, including A World In Motion® and the Collegiate Design Series.

- www.sae.org -