"The Hannover Messe opens on Sunday evening with a lot of political celebrities.
Artificial intelligence and platform economics determine Germany's largest industrial exhibition this time.
But some promises of the past have not been fulfilled to this day.
Hanover has always been a good place for announcing technological revolutions. About ten years ago it was the so-called Industry 4.0 that was announced here, the digitalization of machines, processes and even entire factories - it was intended to raise German industry to a new level, strengthen its competitiveness and enable unprecedented income. Making money from data was part of this vision - just as American and Asian online giants had demonstrated.
The opening of the Hannover Messe 2024 on Sunday was again about visions, this time about the possibilities of artificial intelligence (AI) in industrial production and about the so-called platform economy, a kind of Google and Amazon at the same time for industry, located in a safe and secure environment closed data room according to European, not American or Asian standards. The magic word this time: Manufacturing
For Manufacturing the much-cited digital business models - fueled by unprecedented amounts of machine and production data - have been developed too rarely. Only machines and systems have become more modern, equipped with lots of cameras and sensors. While engineers are usually good at tinkering and developing, but less good at marketing, in the case of Industry 4.0 it was the other way around: an artificial term suitable for marketing that has raised high expectations, but has still lagged behind its central promise to this day.
More political than sales fair
Technological developments and their uncertainties overlap with the uncertainty of the trade fair business itself. The German trade fair in Hanover - flanked by the national industry associations for mechanical engineering (VDMA) and electronics (ZVEI) - has regained a respectable level, but the industrial trade fair is still not what it was before the pandemic. While 4,000 exhibitors are coming to Hanover this year, there were still 6,500 in the year before Corona, i.e. 2019. However, an entire trade fair was canceled in between, and one took place exclusively digitally - at that time there were thousands of exhibitors on the huge trade fair grounds two dozen halls still a distant fantasy. This year's exhibitors come from 60 countries, most of them from Germany, China, Turkey, the United States and Italy.
In addition to national and international companies such as Microsoft, Google, Siemens and SAP, there are dozens of medium-sized companies and more than 300 start-ups.
In this respect, the recovery at the Hanover trade fair location is progressing. Especially since the political support is as intense as it was in the best of times. At the opening on Sunday evening, in addition to Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre came as a representative of this year's partner country. Because Hanover has always been more of a political trade fair than a sales trade fair, companies can hope to be heard as usual, as the recent industrial policy debates have been about nothing less than the future viability of Germany as an industrial location. No other trade fair conveys the image of “Made in Germany” more than this one, says VDMA President Karl Haeusgen. It's about "technological advantage from Germany".
Automation, digitalization and electrification
Despite all the prophecies of doom, no heavyweight among industry representatives and entrepreneurs sees the industrial location as being in serious danger. This may also be due to the fact that mechanical engineering and electronics are not particularly energy-intensive industries, so the high prices in this field are bearable. However, this does not apply to the excessive bureaucracy; it is also a major nuisance in Hanover. Especially since the opposite is the case in the United States and China, where immense amounts of subsidies are invested in strengthening their own industry and industrial infrastructure.
The association presidents Haeusgen and Gunther Kegel (ZVEI) therefore demand nothing as vehemently for their companies as their competitiveness ability in Germany; some of this no longer exists. Only if there is improvement here can the consequences be avoided that have not yet arrived in both industries despite all the problems and setbacks in incoming orders: large-scale layoffs, factory closures or relocations abroad.
Trade fair boss Jochen Köckler said before the opening: "Our exhibitors will show that a competitive and sustainable industry is also possible in Europe."
The solution lies in the interaction of automation, digitalization and electrification.
It is very likely that companies would take advantage of the opportunity if they were just allowed to do so. ZVEI President Kegel said: "I'm not worried about the companies in our industries.
I'm worried about Germany as a location." [1]
Germans are like lost bunch of sheep. They get the ideas from outside. They become real believers. They do nothing. Rinse and repeat. They send troops to Lithuania. They do nothing there too. Rinse and repeat.
1. Waren die Erwartungen an Industrie 4.0 zu groß? Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (online) Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH. Apr 21, 2024. Von Uwe Marx, Hannover
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