Hannover Messe 2022 and CeMAT 2022 – “Industrial Transformation” Hybrid Event Symbolises Successful Comeback

Hannover Messe 2022 and the absorbed CeMAT marked the events' comeback. They took place as a hybrid event at Messe Hannover under the lead theme "Industrial Transformation". The event received around 75,000 live visitors, 15,000 digital attendees and 2,500 exhibitors. The hosting dates for the hybrid comeback edition were set between 30.05.2022 and 02.06.2022. One sub-event took place on 29.05.2022 as a pre-introduction.

Hannover Messe 2022 occurred as a hybrid event. It comprised a live trade fair at Messe Hannover, complemented by a digital platform. The venue did not feature strict Covid-19 safety measures. This was due to the improved epidemiological situation. Organisers encouraged the carrying of an FFP2 mask. They additionally advised attendants to maintain a social distance of 1.5 metres. Organisers encouraged attendees at all times to perform regular hand disinfection. Participants also had to avoid physical forms of contact, such as handshakes. The venue’s event spaces received regular sanitation. All areas also received a continuous supply of external air.

The central theme for the hybrid event was “Industrial Transformation”. It reflected the industry’s desire to adapt to the latest megatrends and challenges. The representation of the theme occurred through various means. Such included exhibiting companies presenting how connected production facilities can conserve resources. They also showed how such structures will generate and transport sustainable energy. The comeback edition featured many highlights. Among them was a sub-event that occurred on 29.05.2022, one day before the beginning of the official event.

One highlight of Hannover Messe 2022 was the Economic Forum 2022. The sub-event took place on 29.05.2022, one day before the official beginning of the trade fair. The sub-event discussed some of the most pending topics related to the lead theme of the event. This included the subjects:

• Industrial country—What framework conditions are necessary for the industry's successful transformation?
• Investment country – What is the value of entrepreneurial bravery to us?
• Innovation country – How do we transition from technological to transformation leadership?

Many leading experts, including C-Suite executives and regulatory representatives, discussed the topics. The speakers included:

The moderator of the sessions was Ina Karabasz, the Head of Handelsblatt Live.

One of the leading sub-events of Hannover Messe 2022 was the Opening Ceremony. It inaugurated the event on 30.05.2022. It featured several distinguishing moments. These included the presentation of the Hannover Messe’s Hermes Award. Two companies received the Award. One of them was MP Technology, which received the Hermes Startup Award. It was the third time that a startup company earned the prize. MP Technology received the Award for its outstanding project. The project is a magnetic identification solution that can replace RFID tags. The proposition comprises applying the ID tag under a non-magnetic protective layer. It is then integrated into the corresponding product. The completion of the step occurs via welding, injecting or vulcanisation. The notable advantages include the data carrier's thermal and chemical resistance. This is essential for industrial applications.

The jury granted the Hermes Award to Sumitomo Cyclo Drive Germany. The enterprise received the prize for its integrated robot application drive system. This was the TUAKA product that incorporates a driver with safety functions. It is ideal for high-precision and sensitive service robotics applications. This is due to the product’s thermal management and sensor technology. It is also suitable for use in interactions with humans. The product is ideal due to the application-specific configuration of the hardware. Such a configuration is achievable via its modular concept and systems.

The Night of Innovations was also among the highlights of the trade fair. It took place on the evening of 30.05.2022 at Hall 2. It presented innovative technologies and featured five speakers:

• Daniela Thrän
• Dr Gunther Kegel
• Joachim Schachtner
• Prof Raimund Neugebauer
• Björn Thümler

Christina von Sass was the moderator of the sub-event. The Night of Innovations included a panel discussion on circular cities.

The Lightweighting Summit was also among the highlights of Hannover Messe 2022. It occurred on 31.05.2022. Its maxim was “Lightweight construction and hydrogen—game-changer meets game-changer”. The Summit attracted business, politics, and science experts. They discussed the cross-sectional technologies and how they complement one another. The patron of the sub-event was the German Minister of Economics, Dr Robert Habeck. He discussed climate protection, resilience and resource efficiency.

The H2Eco Award Ceremony was among the leading sub-events in the event schedule. The DWV and Deutsche Messe AG hosted the sub-event. It was a micro-event that lauded companies and their industrial H₂ generation projects. Faun Group's ENGINIUS earned the H2Eco Award for their project. The Ceremony took place on 31.05.2022 at the Energy 4.0 Conference Stage in Hall 12. The winner received the prize for their serial production of hydrogen-powered trucks project.

Another Award Ceremony that was also a highlight was the IoT/WT Innovation World Cup®. This is a tech open innovation platform that lauds IoT innovators. It took place on 01.06.2022 between 4 pm and 6 pm at the Industrial Startup Stage in Hall 3. The winners of the World Cup included:

• XELA Robotics from Japan (Industrial category)
• Serinus Labs from the USA (Energy & Safety category)
• Vourity from Sweden (City category)
• Soil Scout from Finland (Agriculture category)
• Altered Carbon from the UK (ST Industrial Innovation Challenge category)
• Ladon Energy from Germany (5th EBV Innovation Hero category)

The jury elected each winner after considering several factors. These included the innovation level, go-to-market approach, commercial potential, and sustainability. XELA Robotics received the Award for providing robots with the human sense of touch. Serinus Lab earned the Award for their early-warning sensors for lithium-ion battery safety. Vourity received the Award for their trademark product (Vourity embedded payments). Soil Scout earned the Award for its wireless soil condition sensor. Altered Carbon earned recognition for its solution that converts scent into digital data. Ladon Energy received acknowledgement for their trademark product (Ladon energy box). The winners will receive imprints in the Hall of Fame. They also receive support from global leading technology experts, investors and business partners.

The LightCon, likewise, was also among the notable features of Hannover Messe 2022. It occurred on 01.06.2022 and 02.06.2022 under the maxim "Lightweight Design on the Path to Circular Economy". It featured four focus topics:

• Innovative Manufacturing Technologies
• Sustainable Lightweight Engineering and Design
• New Material Solutions
• Solutions and Use Cases from the Perspective of a User

LightCon featured four keynotes, a pair of panel discussions, and a community discussion. During these sessions, experts discussed sustainable mobility and steel production. They also debated climate-neutral lightweight material production. The debates also focused on the potential of hydrogen and lightweight construction combinations. The programme featured sessions such as:

• Materials and structures as critical facilitators of sustainable aviation
• Green is not an option
• Cost and Resource-efficient Production of Organosandwich Panels
• We light up manufacturing innovations! — Examples along different TRL-levels
• An Integrated Analytical Approach to Lightweight Structures Manufacturing

Dr Franziska Brantner opened the event, while Olaf Lies provided the closing keynote.

The 19th Career Congress or WomenPower Forum was also a highlight. It occurred on 02.06.2022 under the theme “Future of Leadership”. It featured over 1,400 participants, including leading experts. During the sessions, attendees discussed diversity, equal opportunities, career development and sustainability. The programme featured several highlights, including:

The Forum also included the Engineer Powerwoman Award Ceremony. It honours a STEM field female pioneer for their commitment to promoting innovation. The winner of the Award was Dr Kamila Flidr. They will receive an appealing PR package worth 5,000 euros.

Among the highlights were the various industry platforms and stages. The sub-events took place throughout the four event days. Among these micro-events was the Industrie 4.0 platform. This was a sub-event area where attendees could attend a variety of sessions. These included practice-oriented lectures, product presentations, panels, and innovation showcases. It featured the Internation MES Conference, which occurred on 02.06.2022 as part of the schedule. The Conference discussed means to promote sustainability within the production chains. The highlights included:

The Energy 4.0 platform also was among the sub-event areas to serve as a highlight of the event. The sub-event area was available in Hall 12. It attracted speakers such as thought leaders, high-profile practitioners and industry experts. Such speakers discussed the latest energy-intelligent trends and solutions. Such included renewable energy and storage capacity expansion. They further featured CO2-neutral and energy-efficient production. Sector coupling, resource efficiency and green hydrogen were likewise discussed. They also included building automation, smart metering, smart grids, and the circular economy. The subjects further featured digital energy management and monitoring. The question of sustainable mobility to electrification was also among the featured topics. Among the highlights of the programme were the sessions:

Like the Energy 4.0 and Industrie 4.0 platforms, the Tech Transfer stage in Hall 2 also served as a highlight. It was the meeting location for scientists, researchers, entrepreneurs and political representatives. The platform featured topics on technology transfer and pending industry challenge solutions. The highlight lectures included in the programme were:

The Industrial Startup Stage also served as one of Hannover Messe’s highlights. It was the meeting and presentation location for various participants. These ranged from startups to economic development associations. This included related networks, incubators, consulting firms, and foreign investors. The Stage comprised several micro-events and areas, each with a specific purpose. These included an exhibiting zone, speaker’s corner, pitching location, and matchmaking sub-events. The corner featured keynotes, a podium, panel discussions, pitches, and workshops. The featured topics were additive manufacturing and augmented engineering intelligence. They further featured crisis-time recruitment and AI solutions for machine downtime. They also included the future of passwords. It was also the showcase zone for “Startup Pitches@Young Tech Enterprises”. This was a micro-event during which startups could present their ideas. Approximately 150 startup companies presented their solutions at the Industrial Startup Stage. This included exhibitors, such as:

Examples of the presented wares included CompActive’s bending actuator with thermal control. The product reduces vehicle rim air vortices. This increases sustainability and reduces fuel consumption. Another innovation example is DEFLA Systems’ sensor and drive systems. They imbue objects, robots, and machines with sensitivity and reflexes. They furthermore featured NIMMSTA’s combination industrial scanner and smartwatch e-paper touch display. The highlights of the lecture programme included:

The Main Stage was also an event schedule highlight. It featured keynotes, interviews, talks, partner sessions, and panel discussions. These sessions discussed topics related to digital conversion and sustainability. This included the latest challenges and opportunities. The Main Stage attracted a diverse range of attendees. Among them were pioneers and visionaries from the science, business, and political sphere. It was also among the central presentation areas for technological innovations. The distinguished sessions included:

Hannover Messe 2022 featured two special shows as highlights. The Special Show “The future of the process industry’s production" was one of them. It featured the maxim ”Process Industry: Future Production is Modular & Open”. It focused on two essential aspects. These were the Module Type Package (MTP) and the NAMUR Open Architecture (NOA). Each facet is of importance due to several reasons. MTP improves the digital conversion of the processing industry. It achieves this improvement by improving various aspects. Such include such as halving the time to market. They further reduce engineering efforts by 70% and increase flexibility by 80%. NOA is essential as a digital conversion aspect. It increases the amount of usable data and reduces the engineering effort. The Special Show took place in Hall 11 at booth D44. PNO, ProcessNet, VDMA, ZVEI and NAMUR organised the sub-event. It featured leading companies, such as Emerson, Phoenix Contact, and Evonik. This also included universities, such as the Dresden University of Applied Sciences.

The second special show was the Special Events Hydrogen & Fuel Cells Europe. It comprised two forum areas: the Public and Technical Forum. The Special Show was also the hosting location for the novel H2Eco Award. The event schedule included moderated interviews, lectures, and discussions. Among the topics discussed at the Public Forum were the subjects:

The highlights of the Technical Forum included the sessions:

• Powering seafaring vessels using ammonia fuel cells—introduction to the Aegir project
• Improving hydrogen fuel cells through innovative carbon fibre bipolar plates
• How can OEMs pass the benefits of hydrogen fuel cell technology to bus operators?
• Fuel cell and electrolyser bipolar plate coating production equipment and services
• Achieving high-pressure compression of large volumes of hydrogen without the use of oil

Among the highlights was the event schedule that presented the Partner Country Portugal. The presentation of the country occurred under the maxim “Portugal Makes Sense”. This included a central pavilion and three thematic ones. The thematic area included Engineered Parts & Solutions, Energy Solutions and Digital Ecosystems. These served as the showcase locations for innovative companies presenting novel solutions. This allowed decision-makers to discover cooperation and investment opportunities. Additionally, various lectures and seminars discussed the Partner Country. Speakers presented these, including experts such as:

• Francisco Almada Lobo from Critical Manufacturing
• Marta Almeida from Armis Group
• Fernando Anacleto from Caetano Coatings, S.A.
• Liliana Baptista from DALMA ROBOTICS
• António Braz Costa from CITEVE
• João Claro from INESC TEC

The sessions included:

• Bilateral investment cases in Portugal and Germany's industries
• The core of Portugal’s industrial DNA—engineered parts and solutions
• The Digital Nation – Portugal
• Deglobalisation and the role of SMEs in the trend

Hannover Messe 2022 marked the successful comeback of the leading trade fair. It featured 2,500 exhibitors, 75,000 in-person and 15,000 digital visitors. Additionally, the event met the expectations of participants. Approximately 100% of exhibitors confirmed their attendance at Hannover Messe 2023. This exceeded the expectations of the organisers. It also showed the importance of face-to-face trade fairs. The event has also shown that global situations will not delay industrial transformation.