Under the guiding theme of "Integrated Industry - Connect & Collaborate", 210,000 visitors came this year to find out about the innovations of the 5,800 exhibitors at Hannover Messe, CeMAT and the leading trade fair IAMD - a merger of the previously annual 'Industrial Automation' (IA) and the biennial 'Motion, Drives & Automation' (MDA). Around 30% of visitors (70,000) came from abroad. Most of them came from China (6500), the Netherlands (5300), Poland (2700) and the USA (1700). There were 1400 visitors from this year's partner country Mexico. At the stands, visitors and exhibitors discussed topics such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, industrial IT platforms, the expansion of power grids for electromobility, the use of robotics and autonomous systems in production and intralogistics and the role of people in the networked factory.

"Technology is assistance and not competition for people. This is the core message of this trade fair week, which has once again shown that Hannover is the global hotspot for the digital transformation of industry," said Dr. Jochen Köckler, CEO of trade fair organizer Deutsche Messe AG. "The focus here is on people: they are the decision-makers and drivers. In interaction with machines and IT, this creates an enormous competitive advantage in production, logistics and the energy industry."

Partner country Mexico as an innovative business partner

According to the trade fair organizer, the partner country Mexico, which presented itself as an innovative economic partner and industrial location, also attracted a great deal of attention. More than 160 Mexican companies showcased their products and innovations. Chancellor Merkel and Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto agreed that progress and prosperity can only be achieved with open markets. Mexico's participation was therefore also in line with the international free trade agreement that Mexico and the European Union agreed on last Saturday. In future, the countries want to trade 99% of their goods duty-free.

Industry 4.0 at home at Hannover Messe

"Hannover Messe has once again shown that the global Industry 4.0 movement has its home here. Expanded value networks, new forms of human-machine collaboration and the increasing integration of artificial intelligence in production are key features of digitalization and networking that were once again the first to be seen in Hanover. All of this will require even more connectivity in the future, which is why the ZVEI has been calling for an industry-capable 5G network from the outset," said Dr. Klaus Mittelbach, Chairman of the ZVEI Management Board.

The next Hannover Messe will be held from April 1 to 5, 2019. The partner country will be Sweden. The next CeMat will take place from April 20 to 24, 2020, again in conjunction with Hannover Messe.