Francois Gervaix, product manager, surveying for SenseFly, did the best job of describing what was different about InterGeo 2017. In terms of his own company, he described four product launches the prior year in Hamburg and then said, “We had great products, but what people were asking for was a solution.” This year’s event, held in Berlin, reflected the result of what might best be described as a lot of parallel thinking by many manufacturers.

Here’s how Gervaix explained the process for SenseFly. They defined market segments and then identified who were the customers within those market segments. The next step was to spend time with some individuals who best reflected a cross section of customers (by segment) and determine SenseFly’s strengths and weaknesses. The process clearly did not just focus on products, the exercise was designed to yield a better picture of what the market was saying it needs.