In taking this decision, Messe Düsseldorf is responding to the changes in the innovation cycles within the industry. Messe Düsseldorf Director Joachim Schäfer: “Trade fairs are a reflection of the markets and at the same time provide an insight into industrial trends and developments. As a partner to the industry and in close liaison with its associations, it is our mission to react to changes and to create the appropriate platforms for good business and cutting-edge innovations.”  
There has been widespread approval of the switch to a different cycle in the sectors covered by the event too. Dr Ioannis Ioannidis, CEO of Oskar Frech GmbH & Co. KG: “With digitisation and the rapid changes experienced in networked business life, trendsetting activities are becoming increasingly important. It is essential that the leading international trade fair GIFA makes a major contribution here by taking place at an appropriate interval. The new 3-year cycle for the “Bright World of Metals” is right in line with this development.”  
In the course of their history, the 4 leading trade fairs have adapted to the changes in their industries’ cycles on several occasions: GIFA, which premiered in Düsseldorf in 1956, was initially held every six years before it switched to a five-year cycle in 1974 and then to a four-year cycle at the beginning of the millennium. THERMPROCESS has taken place at the same interval since 1974, while METEC was added in 1979 and NEWCAST made up the quartet in 2003. Dr Peter Dahlmann, who is a member of the Executive Board of the steel institute VDEh, thinks that a three-year cycle for the “Bright World of Metals” corresponds exactly to the present innovation cycle in the industries covered by the event: “There has been a substantial change in the entire process chain in the steel metallurgy industry in recent years. Many industrial customers, such as the automotive industry, are very innovative – like the steel industry – and need appropriately innovative technologies and products to manufacture their new products. This makes it particularly important for both suppliers and customers to have an outstanding presentation platform at which it is possible to obtain a prompt insight into the newest innovations and future developments.