We’re just about a month away from the annual Hannover Fair, the world’s largest industrial tradeshow. The German tradeshow is pretty hard to comprehend, with 30-ish trade halls, 200,000 visitors, and 6,500 exhibitors. It’s definitely a show you have to plan a strategy for, not to mention packing some comfortable shoes.

This year’s Fair will focus on the concept of “Integrated Industry – Discover Solutions.” Fair organizers say that exhibits will inform the international audience how to transform their production facilities into smart factories for the digital age and how to build intelligent, networked systems for energy generation, distribution and storage.

I’m personally interested to see who will win the Hermes Award, which is given out at the Fair each year. The award is given in honor of a technologically innovative product making its debut at Hannover. Products entered for the award must have undergone industrial trials and/or already be used in industrial applications, and must be particularly innovative in terms of technical and economic impact. Last year, Wittenstein AG won for its Galaxie product, a new type of mechanical gearhead that features Industry 4.0 connectivity.

Each year, Hannover Fair chooses a partner country; last year it was India, in 2014 it was The Netherlands, and in 2013 it was Russia. The Fair encourages all exhibitors to focus on their businesses within the partner country, as well as invite customers from that country. Traditionally, the partner country’s head of state conducts the ceremonial opening ceremonies with the German Chancellor.

For the first time, the United States will be the partner country at Hannover. Approximately 250 companies from the U.S. will present industrial solutions at the Fair, scheduled for April 25–29. President Obama will appear at the Fair with Chancellor Merkel, and we’ll be there to cover all of the news and innovations. In fact, for the first time, Design World will be sending two editors to the Fair, to provide you information on all of the latest products and innovations across the mechanical and electrical engineering spaces. Please follow myself and Executive Editor Lee Teschler on Twitter at @DW_Editor and
@DW_LeeTeschler to keep up with the latest on Hannover

---

Filed Under: Commentary • expert insight

 

---