During the 2024 Ignition Community Conference (ICC), Inductive Automation announced it would be moving the annual event to a new venue. For more than a decade, each in-person ICC has been held at the Harris Center for the Arts in Folsom, California. The conference has steadily grown in popularity over the years, and the need for a larger site has grown evident with around 1,000 people in attendance this year. The size of ICC has exceeded the Harris Center’s hosting capacity.
Inductive Automation Chief Operating Officer Kat Jeschke announced during the 2024 keynote address that the Safe Credit Union Convention Center in Sacramento, California, would be home to the 2025 ICC. About 30 miles from Folsom, the convention center is a fully remodeled venue with more than 240,000 sq ft of space.
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On ICC’s final day, the Build-a-Thon, an industrial automation building competition, was held. The first round of the event had been livestreamed on YouTube in August. It featured 26 competitors who simultaneously competed for two spots in the finals. In the fantasy-themed journey through the Lands of Ignition, system integrators performed tasks and solved puzzles. The first two integrators to finish all challenges—the United Kingdom’s BIJC SCADA Systems and Chicago-headquartered DMC—were invited to the final battle at ICC 2024, live on stage.
DMC’s team included Brandon Tanner, Sheila Kennedy-Moore and Nicoli Liedtke, who were tasked with programming an Ignition application to control a convenience store with a carwash, gas pump and food mart. The objective was to enable the convenience stores' branding. To accomplish this, DMC made a high-level map screen displaying each store's location and status. Users could click on a store location on the screen to see more details. In order to verify each store's profitability, transaction simulation was employed. After watching the live competition, the audience voted and determined that DMC was the 2024 Build-a-Thon champion.
Inductive Automation selects projects that use Ignition to receive awards based on a variety of graded criteria each year. Projects deemed noteworthy are featured and named Discover Gallery finalists. Projects that achieve a high level of innovation, impact or are otherwise significant are awarded the Firebrand Award.
2024 Discover Gallery Finalists included:
- end user Saint-Gobain Glass submitted by 2Gi Technologie
- end user Barbados Water Authority submitted by Aquatec
- end user Smart Energy Applications submitted by Automation Solutions Ecuador
- Carlton & United Breweries (CUB)
- end user Copower submitted by Dautom
- end user Stonehill Environmental Partners submitted by Edge Controls
- Environmental Operating Solutions
- end user Belden submitted by Flexware Innovation
- end user Murakami Manufacturing USA submitted by Musson Industrial
- end user Northern Wasco County People’s Utility District (NWCPUD) submitted by OS Engineering
- end user Certarus submitted by Streamline Control
- Vertiv.
2024 Firebrand Award Winners included:
- end user Goodman Fielder submitted by Deloitte
- Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
- end user Cinfa submitted by IDOM
- Madkour Group
- CertainTeed.
