The 70th annual Hannover Messe is scheduled to kick off Sunday in northern Germany. If you’ll be joining us there, fantastic, and we look forward to seeing you there. If you’re sitting this one out, here are 10 reasons you might want to reconsider.
1. You can be proud to be an American: The United States is the official partner country for the first time in the 69-year history of the world’s largest industrial show, and the stars and stripes will be out in force. President Barack Obama will tour the grounds Sunday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel (with loads of extra security, of course) and more than 430 American companies and organizations will be showing off their products, services and ideas throughout the week. Expect to hear The Star-Spangled Banner a time or … 50.
2. Every company you can think of will be there (and plenty more who will be totally new to you) … : AT&T, Badger Meter, Communica, DeWAL Industries, Exosite, Flextronics International, Giner, Honeywell International, Intel, JobsOhio, Kepware Technologies, Link Labs, Microsoft, NEC, Offshore International, Potomac Photonics, QMP, Rethink Robotics, Sight Machine, Texas Instruments, Unlimited Power, Verdant Power, Watertech Equipment, Xtreme Green Electric Vehicles … and those are just some of the American companies, pared down to one for (almost) every letter of the alphabet.
3. … and many of them will be showing off new services and products: The official exhibitor count will be in flux even during the show, but expect it to be somewhere around 6,000, which is more, of course, than any one person — or even a whole group from one company — can hope to cover. But if you plan well, you can squeeze in a year’s worth of networking, and maybe even orders, in just a few days.
4. Every industry, too: From automation and robotics, to additive manufacturing and solar power, to predictive maintenance and smart factories, right on to the next generation of industrial tech … everything will be under one (really big) umbrella.
5. You’ll bump into some people you know, and plenty more you don’t: Somewhere between 200,000 and 250,000 folks are expected to pour in, walking the floor, talking with friends, strengthening old connections and building new ones. Give yourself the best chance at landing that new business and building new partnerships by just being there. (As Woody Allen once said, 80% of success is showing up.)
6. Maybe even Satya Nadella or Penny Pritzker: The Microsoft CEO and the U.S. Commerce Secretary are scheduled to speak at 9 a.m. Monday and 6 p.m. Sunday, respectively. Who knows, what they have in store, though no doubt, though, it will be worth listening to — and if luck is on your side, you might be able to track them down for a minute afterward, too.
7. It is a sort of heaven for tech geeks: So many robots will be at the fair, but some of the more important ones will be recognized Tuesday afternoon at the sixth annual Robotics Award ceremony. FARO Europe, pi4 robotics and WHN Technologies are in the running for the prize for applied robotics solutions, nominated by Robotation Academy and the Industrieanzeiger trade journal.
8. You could see some living history: The German government introduced Industrie 4.0 at Hannover Messe five years ago and, though terminology differs from country to country and even company to company, it was an incredible moment. Working Group Industry presented its final report on Industrie 4.0 two years later, an exciting next step. What might be in store this year? Industrial Industrie Internet 4.0 of Things is a part of our world now, more necessity than novelty, but plenty more improvements are still ahead. Expect some announcements next week.
9. You can eat some sausage, drink some beer, then burn (most of) it off: With thousands of exhibitors spread across more than two dozen halls at the Hanover Fairgrounds, you can cover a lot of distance during every packed day — no matter whether you measure your distance in miles or kilometers — which is good, because the German food and drinks are still packed with calories. Public transportation workers have announced a planned one-day strike on Tuesday, too, which might help you cover even more ground.
10. Oh, and you can finally give the Google Translate app on your phone some work: Im vergangenen monat reiste ich für eine international medien-tour nach Kanada. Es gab reporter aus den Vereinigten Staaten, Kanada, Mexiko, Japan, Südkorea … und Deutschland. Der deutsche mann, Gerd, was stoisch, still, steife Oberlippeund das alles. Bis war begannen, ihn Fragen mit dem Übersetzen app zu fragen. Dann öffnete er auf, fing anzu lachen und zeigte eine unglaubliche persönlichkeit ab.
Wenn wir alle mehr oder weniger gleiche sprache sprechen, tun türen öffen.
Holen sie nach Hannover und haben eine große messe!