Last year around this time Computex was rescheduled. In mid-June, the organisers, TAITRA, decided to cancel the event entirely. This year, having learnt a lesson in the efficacy of various governments in controlling the spread of Covid-19 amongst populations, TAITRA has gone straight from planning a physical event for 1st to 4th June in Taipei, to cancelling it. However, it will create a virtual online event this year.
A brief message on the official Computex website shared the unfortunate news, as reproduced below.
Computex Cancelled Onsite Exhibition in 2021. With another wave of coronavirus pandemic across the world, it doesn't look like we are close to the end. The majority of the show's stakeholders, including international exhibitors, visitors, and media, cannot join the show due to border control. Therefore, the organizers of Computex have decided to cancel the onsite exhibition this year.
With the above news out of the way, TAITRA is keen to make #ComputexVirtual a success. The dates for the virtual event are 31st May to 30th June – which is quite a prolonged period and will run in parallel with the #InnoVEXVirtual event which showcases tech start-ups.
The Computex organisers put forward four reasons you will still want to 'visit' its virtual show. First of all there will still be keynote speeches from world-leading companies – available via live stream this year. Virtual displays will be set up for companies to show their wares. Virtual booths are being set up to include images, videos and more.
Some social aspects of Computex shows will be maintained by way of video conferencing, meeting requests and instant messaging as well as Computex AI tech being used to provide hyper-personalized recommendations between virtual exhibitors and attendees.
With the virtual show spanning a whole month, hopefully we won't get all the biggest news on day one, like at the physical show. It could be better for news-flow if 'exhibitors' use the time wisely.
