Representative End User Clients
Representative Automation Clients
Representative Software Clients
Hanover Fair is once again back in the driver’s seat of industry. Noticeable was the strong presence and clear messaging of companies actively driving the convergence of IT and OT. Industrie 4.0 and IIoT have moved beyond the hype phase and are now being adopted by all industry suppliers with various stages of success. More importantly, end users are implementing digitalization strategies and looking to their suppliers – machine builders and integrators - for modern, competitive solutions.
The Fair in Numbers
Hanover Fair 2017 featured 6,845 exhibitors and attracted over 225,000 visitors, up from 217,000 in 2015 (the last comparable year that included Motion, Drives & Automation). A third of the visitors came from outside Germany, a new record and another increase compared to last year. Moreover, the show recorded a pronounced increase in attendance from China and partner country Poland. The largest number of foreign visitors came from China (9,000, a plus of 50 percent), followed by the Netherlands (6,200), India (5,300) and Poland, whose 5,000 visitors set a new partner country record. An impressive 3,000 visitors came from the US, last year's partner country.
Plans for Hanover Fair 2018
The Hannover Messe AG, the organizer of the show, announced that from 2018 on the annual Industrial Automation show and the biennial Motion, Drive & Automation (MDA) show will merge. The resulting annual show will be called Integrated Automation, Motion & Drives (IAMD), aiming to reflect the entire spectrum of industrial automation, power transmission and fluid power.
The other big change is the announced return of the CeMAT show. From next year on, the intralogistics trade fair will be staged every two years in parallel with the Hanover Fair.
Commercial IT and Automation Technology
Last year’s Hanover Fair was an inflection point for the convergence of “IT and OT”, or commercial IT with traditional automation technology. It is surprising and exciting to see how fast the traditional industry is changing and profiting from the growing influence of technology from “outsiders” like Intel, SAP, Microsoft, HP and Cisco. Many of these suppliers had large partner booths that allowed automation companies of all sizes to demonstrate how their automation solutions run on commercial-grade IT platforms like SAP HANA, Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services.