Everything outdoor was his life and his passion, says friends and co-workers. He enthusiastically and tirelessly worked to promote the outdoor industry and outdoor themes, putting all of his professional effort into making sure that outdoor activities really took off. More than 20 years ago, he founded the Outdoor in Friedrichshafen, followed by the asia outdoor in 2005 and the asia bike shortly after that, thereby putting outdoor on the international map.
Now the outdoor industry must say goodbye. Last weekend Knut Jaeger died of a heart attack at age 72.
“Knut Jaeger was a remarkable person, always thinking positive and always on the go. He knew how to motivate others and to bring his team along with him”, stated Klaus Wellmann, CEO of Messe Friedrichshafen.
Knut Jaeger was a fixture in the international outdoor business. In the early 1990s, he was at the forefront of efforts to create a trade show specifically around outdoor themes. He was the chairman of the outdoor working group in the Association of the German Sporting Goods Industry (BSI) and, in close cooperation with the Messe Friedrichshafen Team, developed a new trade fair concept that was centered specifically – and only – on the outdoor theme. “It has to be pure outdoor,” Jaeger declared at the time.
All the different outdoor activities had found a new, common trade show roof over their heads, in Friedrichshafen. It was a concept that the outdoor man was dedicated to and that he fought for, together with other like-minded colleagues. The choice of the name for the trade fair, with the capital D in the middle, was a quick and logical one. The OutDoor at Lake Constance was also Knut Jaeger’s baby.
Knut Jaeger dedicated himself just as strongly to the establishment of the asia outdoor in Nanjing, China, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary in July 2015, and to the asia bike, which every October presents the theme of bicycles in China. As part of a joint venture with Messe Friedrichshafen, Jaeger successfully built up Asian variants of the trade shows at the Nanjing expo center. These developed rapidly and in the process, Jaeger convinced many European and American outdoor and bicycle manufacturers – in addition to the Chinese brands – to become engaged in Asia. As an experienced outdoor man and because of his many years of experience, Jaeger knew the customs and special characteristics of the Chinese market and “paved the way” for the international outdoor industry, an industry he supported in recent years at the expo center in Nanjing.
Jaeger also brought his many years of experience in China to bear in the newest Messe Friedrichshafen project: In October 2015, the AERO ASIA will be launched in the Chinese city of Zhuhai. “Here too, thanks to his contacts, Knut Jaeger helped make a lot of connections and created a solid basis for the premiere of an aviation trade show”, Klaus Wellmann stated. “We will deeply miss his creative force and his dedication, but will continue to move the effort forward, in his memory.”
