About two years ago, I noticed a trend in our LinkedIn group - that outside of the USA, the majority of requests to join were coming from India. This was no surprise, as India is a huge market for fluid power technology and the machinery that uses it as its power/drive force.
Recently, I've been noticing a new influx of membership requests coming from the opposite side of the world — Brazil. Each time, I'd say about one-third of the requests are coming from hydraulic, pneumatic, or just technical/engineers from Brazil, and this seems to be a fairly new phenomenon. I don't know if it's because fluid power technology is growing in use in Brazil, as it is considered one of the larger developing countries, or if it's just that these folks have just discovered LinkedIn, but it's a great trend to see.
I'm not the only one who's noticed the growth, either. Earlier this year, Assofluid and Fiera Milano announced that they would host their first-ever Fluidtrans Compomac in Sao Paolo October 4-6 of this year, and now comes word from OTC that they will host an event at the same time in Rio de Janeiro. Like its American counterpart, the OTC Brasil technical conference will feature sessions on key issues facing the Brazilian and global offshore and gas industry. At least 200 technical papers have already been submitted and more sessions are being added regularly. Event organizers say that 342 exhibitors are already confirmed with the event, with more being added every day. Visit www.otcbrasil.org for more details.
With all the development that is happening in that country in the next couple years, it's no surprise that hydraulics, which is used so prominently in construction, agriculture and other mobile equipment, is growing. Brazil host the 2016 Olympics, 2014 World Cup, and more events in the near future, so they will need to make heavy use of the technology we know and love to prepare. Glad to hear it!