Hannover Messe
Chancellor Angela Merkel has called on the business community to remain open to the merging of traditional industry and the digital world. Europe must also make every effort to catch up its competitors in the field of information and telecommunications technology, said the Chancellor at the opening of the Hannover Messe.
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Industrie 4.0.- integrated industry - is the focus of the fair
Photo: Bundesregierung/Kugler
"Make an effort to accept one another, be interested and curious in what is coming, and don’t cling too much to the old vision of separate individual branches," said the Chancellor on Sunday evening in her address to the leading German business associations. She welcomed the fact that the branches affected have got together to form the platform "Industry 4.0.".
With a view to the self-organising factory of the future, Angela Merkel underlined the fact that we must not lose sight of the human factor. She looks forward, she said, to seeing the first staff council being founded in a factory of this sort.
A call for greater innovative force
Angela Merkel called on Europeans to launch a bid to catch up with competitors in the field of information and telecommunications technology. In many branches, European states have lost ground to competitors from around the world. This makes a massive joint effort necessary. The European Commission must set a priority for research, say on developing routers or chips. Germany too must become more innovative, she said.
"90 per cent of growth is taking place outside Europe," pointed out the Chancellor. "So we must get our skates on and do all we can to maximise our advantages." Europe must not miss out on the next industrial revolution.
Hannover, 06.04.14: On Sunday evening Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the world's largest industrial fair
"Industry 4.0" is a focus of this year's Hannover Messe. Angela Merkel recommended that the business commmunity remain open to the merging of traditional industry and the digital world.
The Netherlands are this year's partner country. Prime Minister Mark Rutte accompanied the Chancellor at the opening ceremony.
Afterwards there was a reception for the Dutch Prime Minister at the guest house of the state government of Lower Saxony.
And the opportunity for a private conversation with the Chancellor.
Hannover, 07.04.14: The next morning the Chancellor and the Dutch Prime Minister undertook the traditional tour of the fair.
First of all the Chancellor visited exhibitors from this year's partner country. At the Holland High Tech stand a robot in traditional Dutch costume presented her with a tulip.
At the NXP stand the Chancellor discovered how networking vehicles could improve the management of traffic flows and prevent accidents.
Bosch exhibited an assembly line without overarching steering. Each station along the line recognises which processing step is required for the individual product.
With a view to this sort of self-organising factory of the future, Angela Merkel stressed, however, that it is important not to lose sight of the human factor.
Changing energy systems were another focus of the Hannover Messe.
Netherlands – this year’s partner country
She believes that close cooperation with companies from the Netherlands and the UK is particularly important, stressed Angela Merkel. The Netherlands are this year’s partner country of the world’s leading industrial fair, and 270 Dutch companies are exhibiting. Under the banner "Global Challenges, Smart Solutions", Dutch companies are showcasing pioneering solutions to the industrial challenges of the future.
At the start of her traditional tour of the fair on Monday, the Chancellor opened the Dutch pavilion with the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. They were both impressed by the cooperation between the two countries and the technical innovations on show. Mark Rutte stressed that Germany is the Netherlands’ most important trading partner. In 2013 bilateral trade was worth 167 billion euros and, he added, "There is still scope for more".
Industry 4.0
Because of increasing integration, machines, plants, pieces and suppliers are increasingly sharing and exchanging information. The Hannover Messe shows how far the branch has already come along the road towards integrated industry.
The watchword is "Industry 4.0". We are at the brink of the fourth industrial revolution: after the steam engine, mass production and automation, it is now information technology that is driving production. We are seeing a merging of the digital software-steered world and manufacturing.
Industrial manufacturing is now seeing an increasing individualisation of products with highly flexible but large-scale production. The far-reaching integration of clients and business partners in business and value processes and the coupling of production and high-quality services too are set to continue.
The Hannover Messe has been held every spring since 1947. It is the most important industrial exhibition in the world. This year more than 5,000 exhibitors have made their way to Hannover, 51 per cent of them from outside Germany. 2,500 exhibitors are German, followed by a good 500 Chinese companies, Italy with 267 exhibitors and this year’s partner country the Netherlands with 270 exhibitors. The fair will run from 7 to 11 April.