HANNOVER MESSE 2024: Focus on Sustainable Industry
Published on : Sunday 11-02-2024
Hannover Messe is one of the world's largest trade fairs, dedicated to the topic of industry development.
Cristian Rodrigo Valdes Carter and Ms Geeta Bisht.
Globally, the focus is on energy transition and sustainability, and so it is at HANNOVER MESSE 2024, scheduled from 22 to 26 April 2024 at the Hannover Fair Grounds in Germany. The event, billed as one of the world's largest technology trade fairs, is an annual exhibition and conference programme, a 5-day show that takes place under ideal weather conditions in late April, attracting visitors by the thousands from across the world.
The world today is facing major challenges in terms of improving competitiveness, protecting the climate and driving prosperity. Innovative technologies are crucial to meeting such challenges. At a press conference held in Mumbai recently, the organisers made a presentation on how exhibitors at this prestigious event would demonstrate efficient use of automation, artificial intelligence and renewable energies to achieve these goals. Norway is the Partner Country at Hannover this year. The meeting was addressed by Mr Basilios Triantafillos, Global Director, Deutsche Messe AG; Mr Arne Jan Flolo, Consul General, Royal Norwegian Consulate General, Mumbai; Mr Cristian Rodrigo Valdes Carter, Director – Innovation Norway; Mr Pankaj Chadha, Sr Vice Chairman, EEPC India; and Ms Geeta Bisht, CEO, Hannover Milano Fairs India Pvt Ltd, who introduced the speakers.
The lead theme at HANNOVER MESSE 2024 is ‘Energizing a Sustainable Industry’. In his presentation, Mr Basilios Triantafillos, referred to the top industry trends at the fair that include artificial intelligence, carbon-neutral production, energy systems, Industrie 4.0 and Manufacturing-X, and hydrogen and fuel cells. “Industrie 4.0 enables smart factories using IoT, AI and robotics. Manufacturing-X extends this model by connecting the entire ecosystem of suppliers, partners and customers. Together, Industrie 4.0 and Manufacturing X create a responsive, customer-centric environment that transforms traditional manufacturing into a dynamic, interconnected landscape,” he said. Manufacturing-X is intended to implement an open, decentralised and collaborative data space for Industry 4.0 in order to realise an intelligently networked industry.
More than 4,000 companies coming from all parts of the world shall exhibit their offerings spread across the 25 functional halls of the massive fairgrounds at Hannover. These are companies representing the mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and digital industries as well as the energy sector, bringing new ideas and solutions for a greener, sustainable future. Together they represent a united industrial ecosystem and demonstrate how automation, digitalisation and electrification can enable climate neutrality. Mr Basilios Triantafillos emphasised that there are three things that must work in tandem, though. “Technology is important, but so is collaboration – between stakeholders and governments. But it is the third thing that is equally important – the political aspect. Government initiatives and policy framework are necessary for technology to succeed with collaboration,” he stressed.
Partner Country Norway
Norway – a small country with great ideas – is the Partner Country at HANNOVER MESSE 2024. With “Norway 2024: Pioneering the Green Industrial Transition” as the theme, the country highlights its plans for converting to a low-carbon society and its key role in developing solutions within sectors such as renewable energy, carbon-neutral production, and application of green and digital solutions. Mr Arne Jan Flolo, Consul General, Royal Norwegian Consulate General, Mumbai, made a presentation on Norway’s industrial strengths, most notably in the renewable energy sector with over 90% of the electricity generation coming from hydropower, now complemented by growing contributions from wind and solar. The country is also evolving as a major player in the emerging hydrogen economy that creates investment security for infrastructure, production, transport, storage, and distribution. “Norway is a small country with a population around 5.5 million people and one of the harshest environments on earth. With strong emphasis on equal opportunities, the country is at the forefront of the Industry 4.0 ecosystem and plays a significant role in the energy and manufacturing sectors, leveraging the advantages of a highly scalable and proficient workforce in areas such as sustainable food, energy and transportation,” he said.
Mr Cristian Rodrigo Valdes Carter, Director – Innovation Norway, further elaborated on the strengths of the Norwegian industry. Innovation Norway is
coordinating the Partner Country Program and the Norwegian presence in the main pavilion. “Norwegian businesses really excel in adopting cutting-edge technologies such as IoT, AI and automation, providing foreign investors with opportunities to be part of a digitally advanced ecosystem in Norway. And one of many innovative AI solutions emerging from Norway is, just to give an example, the no-code industrial AI tool developed by Intelecy, a Norwegian company, which allows engineers to access and leverage all available production data without learning how to code. So there are a lot of, not only developments in technologies, but also in business models, and there's a lot of innovation in the business model space,” he emphasised.
Speaking about the Norway-India partnership, Mr Cristian Rodrigo Valdes Carter referred to Norway’s initiative towards zero emission shipping and how some of the most modern ships of Norway are built at the Cochin Shipyard in India with Norwegian technology. “We have positioned ourselves as a global leader in sustainable technologies and innovations, particularly in renewable energy, green hydrogen, batteries, ocean-based renewable energy like offshore wind and also floating solar plants. These are technologies that we are looking at implementing here in India. And it's very obvious that our industries and our companies are very much committed to environmental stewardship, making our companies and our industries very attractive partners for industries across the globe, and in India in particular,” he asserted.
India at Hannover Messe 2024
Mr Pankaj Chadha, Sr Vice Chairman, Engineering Export Promotion Council of India (EEPC India), presented an overview of the engineering exports from India to Europe and how the country is now evolving as a manufacturing hub with proactive policies of the government. Mr Chadha also spoke about the Indian participation at Hannover Messe 2024. EEPC India is the premier trade and investment promotion organisation in India that organises the India pavilion at Hannover Messe. This year 40 Indian companies are scheduled to participate with another 20 expected to join before the deadline for participation ends. However, the overall Indian participation is much larger as many companies are direct participants and not part of the EEPC group participation, which mainly comprises MSMEs supported by the government.
Exhibiting companies at Hannover Messe 2024 include global technology enterprises such as Amazon Web Services, Bosch Rexroth, Google Cloud, Microsoft, Salzgitter AG, SAP, Schneider Electric, and Siemens as well as small and medium-sized enterprises such as Beckhoff Automation, EBM-Papst, Festo, ifm electronic, igus, LAPP, Pepperl+Fuchs, Pilz, Q-CELLS, Rittal, Turck, and WAGO, among others.
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