AI takes center stage at HANNOVER MESSE

Boosting competitiveness, protecting the climate, promoting prosperity – these are the major tasks facing industry today. Innovative technologies are the key to mastering these challenges. But how can companies make efficient use of automation, artificial intelligence (AI), renewable energies, and hydrogen? And what steps can be taken to counteract the impending de-industrialization of Europe? From April 22 to 26, 2024, HANNOVER MESSE will provide answers.

HANNOVER MESSE is the world’s leading trade fair for industrial technology. Its lead theme “Energizing a Sustainable Industry” brings together exhibiting companies from mechanical and electrical engineering, the digital industry, and the energy sector to present solutions for the future of manufacturing and energy supply. Leading topics include Industry 4.0/Manufacturing-X, energy for industry, digitalization/artificial intelligence and machine learning, carbon-neutral production, and hydrogen and fuel cells. Conferences and forums complement the program.

HANNOVER MESSE 2024 will showcase technologies for a connected and climate-neutral industry and provide a forum for a global policy discussion among industry, government, science, and social representatives.

Dr. Jochen Köckler, CEO of Deutsche Messe AG, described the upcoming show at a recent media preview: “In Hannover, technologies and solutions will be presented to enable industry to produce on a competitive and sustainable basis. The trade fair will be all about intelligent and carbon-neutral production, AI, hydrogen, and cross-sector energy solutions.”

The solution lies in the interplay of automation, digitalization and electrification, broad cross-industry and cross-border cooperation, and a clear political course. Köckler, says, “With the lead theme ‘Energizing a Sustainable Industry,’ 4,000 exhibitors, high-caliber representatives from politics and industry, and with Norway as the partner country, HANNOVER MESSE 2024 is the ideal platform for this.”

“Visitors to HANNOVER MESSE are looking for guidance on how they can use automation, artificial intelligence, renewable energies, or hydrogen in a meaningful way. This is precisely the expertise that the exhibitors at HANNOVER MESSE can provide,” Köckler says.

AI is now taking industrial digitalization to the next level by revolutionizing industry, making processes more efficient and adding value. By using AI, companies will be able to shorten development times while saving resources and energy.

“The speed at which AI solutions are finding their way into industry is breathtaking. Companies need to invest now and, above all, introduce their employees to the opportunities offered by AI, otherwise they will get left behind by the competition,” Köckler emphasizes. “AI is the key to competitiveness and sustainability in industry.”

Specific applications on show at HANNOVER MESSE: robots that can be controlled by voice, machines that automatically recognize defects, or systems that cut downtimes through predictive maintenance. Köckler says, “In the near future, generative AI will be able to design machines. This will lead to fundamental changes in engineers’ job profiles – a subject that will also be discussed at HANNOVER MESSE.”

Hydrogen is increasingly coming to the fore as a suitable energy carrier for an emission-free economy. Around 500 exhibitors from the hydrogen and fuel cell industry will be showcasing their solutions in Hannover. This makes HANNOVER MESSE the world's largest and most important trade fair for the topic of hydrogen.

“At HANNOVER MESSE, we will be demonstrating what is technologically feasible, and creating the framework for discussions between representatives of politics and industry, hopefully allowing decisions to be taken on a specific road map towards a functioning hydrogen economy,” Köckler says.

Norway is using the global stage offered by HANNOVER MESSE to present itself as an innovative and reliable energy partner. Their motto is “Norway 2024: Pioneering the Green Industrial Transition,” underscoring Norway’s ambition to play a key role in the development of solutions in the fields of renewable energies, carbon-neutral production, carbon capture, and the digitalization of industry.