April 2011
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Hannover Messe 2011 was larger than any other in the last 10 years, with more than 230,000 visitors. More than 6,500 businesses from 65 countries came to Hannover to display their solutions. The attendance numbers represent a growth of 10 to 15 percent over the comparable 2009 event. In 2010, the Icelandic volcano erupted right before Hannover Messe, and had a major impact on attendance. Show management noted that this year one in every three visitors was a member of top management, marking a 20 percent increase in this category.
The Hannover grounds have 496,000 square meters of covered indoor space (over 5.3 million square feet) and 58,000 square meters of open-air space with 27 halls and pavilions.
“This year's event in Hannover has given industry a real boost, powering it up to drive the economic recovery," commented Deutsche Messe Managing Board Chairman Dr. Wolfram von Fritsch at the end-of-show press conference in Hannover on Friday, April 8. "This HANNOVER MESSE has generated even more momentum for industry as the force behind the economic upswing."
The opening ceremony is a pre-fair celebration complete with entertainment, political speeches, Hermes Award presentation, and reception. The 2011 partner country was France.
FESTO SmartBirds caught everyone’s attention at the beginning of the opening ceremony. The bionic SmartBirds, inspired by the herring gull, can start, fly and land autonomously. Consistent with the Hannover Fair themes, the SmartBirds are extremely lightweight for efficiency in resource and energy consumption. By analyzing SmartBird's flow characteristics during the course of its development, Festo has acquired additional knowledge for the optimization of its product solutions and has learned to design more efficiently.
On February 10, 2011 the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) opened its German-Austrian office in Berlin at the location of DFKI, the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence.
François Charles Amand Fillon, Prime Minister of France, addressed the audience by saying, “…competition from emerging economies is formable and requires a burst of competiveness.” “In the future, the conditions for progress will still be called innovation, education, the professional quality of employees and a social and democratic consensus.”
“France has made innovation one of the strategic pillars of its competitiveness. We have developed 71 clusters of excellence that promote networking and collaboration between big companies, SMEs (small and medium enterprises), and research laboratories. We have tripled the tax credit for research projects. Foreign investors in France have applauded this because it reduces their investment in R&D expenses by 30%. France is now the number one country in Europe for the establishment of research centers and finally we’ve launched an exceptional program for investments for the future that earmarks 35 billion Euros to the knowledge economy.
Universities, research, industry and new technologies, digital technologies, biotechnologies, sustainable development - these will be the great beneficiaries of this - including contributions from companies in total of 65 billion Euros for investments in the future.”
On the Japanese tsunami and nuclear crisis he noted, “I would like to reiterate here in Hannover the extent to which France feels solidarity to the Japanese people, how we are at the side of this courageous people, this dignified people, this creative people which I am sure will be able to get back up and move forward again.” “We all have a job to draw the necessary lessons from the disaster in Fukushima.” He noted that all nuclear power plants in Europe will be subjected to stringent stress test by independent groups and they will take action on the results.
Over 220 French companies were at Hannover Messe 2011 to present products and technologies in the areas of mobility, clean energy, sustainable industrial processes and materials. The 450 square meter "Espace Prestige France" stand in Hall 13 featured displays of R&D projects for CO2-reducing solutions and energy-efficient technologies. The auto maker Citroën displayed its electric cars in a special exhibition area.
Merkel emphasized, “Ladies and gentlemen, the era of renewable energy has always been important here at the Hannover Fair - energy efficiency, and renewable energy…this is everyday business at Hannover Fair.” “The number of exhibitors in this area has increased by a factor of 10.”
The Chancellor stressed the German government commitment to technology, “Ladies and gentlemen, we started an innovation dialog in Germany combining the partners of innovation, offering advice, and consultancy services, through the federal government.”
Dr. Annette Schavan, Federal Minister for Education and Research, in her address commented, "Krautzberger GmbH is a perfect example of a relatively small company driving technology, which despite the economic downturn has managed to stay on course with good ideas, discipline and a real commitment to business success.” “And today that company has been awarded this distinguished prize for a uniquely innovative technology with great commercial potential."
The scope and size of Hannover Fair is tremendous with 13 different trade fairs on the Hannover grounds. The 13 trade fairs included:
- Industrial Automation - Process, factory and building automation.
- Motion, Drive & Automation - Electrical and mechanical power transmission and control along with advances in hydraulics and pneumatics.
- Energy - Energy topics including conventional and renewable power generation, transmission and distribution systems.
- Power Plant Technology - Power plant design, systems, operation and maintenance.
- Wind – Manufacturers, component and service providers, plant operators and project funders.
- MobiliTec - Showcased manufacturers of hybrid and electric powertrain technologies as well as battery makers and providers of alternative mobility technology.
- Digital Factory - Highlighted the role of IT in driving industrial productivity.
- ComVac - ComVac is held every two years as an international meeting point for manufacturers of compressors and compressed air systems and producers of vacuum equipment and pumps.
- Industrial Supply - Displays focused on lightweight construction and subcontracting options for maximum material and cost efficiency.
- CoilTechnica - This year featured the second CoilTechnica as a fair for subcontractors offering special types of electrical technology for industrial applications.
- Surface Technology - The Surface Technology Forum devoted its four "Material Days" to surface technology innovations for glass and ceramics, polymers, metal and wood.
- MicroNanoTec - Displayed latest advances in micro- and nanotechnology, including laser systems for micro-materials processing.
- Research & Technology – Technology transfer is the focus for the Research & Technology hall.
First introduced in 2009, Wind Fair is biennial with the next one to be held at Hannover Messe in 2013.
Out on the open-air site, visitors were able to take a test drive in electric vehicles of every description.
Over 100 leading manufacturers of coils, electric motors, generators and transformers were on hand to display their innovations.
Another major topic was energy harvesting for energy autonomous systems.
Together with the German government, the organizers of Hannover Messe for the fifth year sponsored the TectoYou pavilion and activities. TectoYou is a long-term initiative aimed at getting young people interested in technology and encouraging them to pursue careers in engineering and other technical areas. TectoYou events are attended by school classes and student groups from across Germany that travel to Hannover in coaches sponsored by partner companies. During the five days of the Hannover Messe, the TectoYou program offers guided tours of selected stands and one-to-one contact with the representatives of exhibiting companies.
The groups are assisted throughout the day by specially trained guides who coordinate with the accompanying teachers to ensure that participants benefit from high-quality, useful information and experiences.
TectoYou provides an initial idea of the various careers in the technology sector, with guided tours serving as a valuable touch point between young people and industrial companies.
Metropolitan Solutions
New at Hannover Fair this year was the Metropolitan Solutions area which showcased intelligent solutions for large cities and metropolitan areas. Metropolitan Solutions presented four core areas of urban innovations: energy infrastructure, water/wastewater, building infrastructure and mobility. Roughly half of the world’s population now lives in an urban environment. By the middle of the 21st century, this proportion will have risen to more than two-thirds. Towns and cities already account for more than two-thirds of global energy consumption and more than 70% of carbon emissions.
At the same time, the growing numbers of residents increase the demand for modern urban infrastructure. Urbanization and modernization will be the main driving forces for infrastructure worldwide. The Metropolitan Solutions exhibition illustrated how urban infrastructure can be built or adapted on a sustainable basis.
I will be highlighting various items from the Hannover Fair in other upcoming articles but these are first impressions relative to automation. Future articles will be elaborate on these trends:
- Integration –Integration of more control functions - one single controller including drives, pneumatics, hydraulics, vision, and robot control.
- Energy – Controls and automation solutions are incorporating ways to do manufacturing more efficiently and optimize operations to save energy.
- Performance – Controls are being designed for higher speed and synchronized manufacturing.
- Panel Free Installation – There were many products introduced for panel free installation.
- Industrial Protocols in Silicon – More industrial protocols are being committed to silicon.
