Hannover Fair fortifies economic ties between Germany and China

The Industrial Fair Network 2024, a leading exhibition platform for advanced manufacturing in the Asia-Pacific region, will be held at the Shanghai New International Expo Center from Nov 5 to 8.

Covering an area of nearly 220,000 square meters, the event will comprise several international trade shows including PTC ASIA, CeMAT ASIA, ComVac ASIA, HEAVY MACHINERY ASIA, E-PACK TECH, FBC, CISSIE, Cold Xpo and ISA, respectively specializing in fields such as power transmission and control, logistics and supply chain management, compressed air technology and vacuum technology, heavy machinery, special steel, processing and packaging technologies for e-commerce, mechanical processing parts, automation machinery and equipment, robots, energy-saving and environmental protection equipment, new energy and new materials.

"More than 2,800 well-known exhibitors from upstream and downstream areas of industrial manufacturing will have a strong presence at the event," Dr. Jochen Koeckler, chairman of the managing board of Deutsche Messe, the organizer of the Industrial Fair Network, said. "The international buyers and industrial insiders are already very much looking forward to the latest products and technological deliverables our exhibitors will demonstrate."

One of the highlights of this year's event is the some 200 specialized and innovative small and medium-sized enterprises, competitive in niche markets, strong in innovation capabilities and core technologies, and large in market share. They will occupy an exhibition area exceeding 5,000 square meters, about half of which are "little giant" firms, capable of providing key components, parts and supporting products for large enterprises and projects.

Many supplementary activities will concurrently be held during the event. Among them, thematic forums on future smart manufacturing will be launched for the first time, a move for the organizer to explore the forum pattern that breaks the would-be barrier of specialized trades and connects the upstream and downstream of smart manufacturing.

The Creativity Competition for University Students — Intelligent Manufacturing Competition, launched in 2018, will be held again during the event, in a bid to help enhance innovation capabilities in intelligent manufacturing, set a benchmark for intelligent manufacturing education and promote the sustainable development of intelligent manufacturing in China. The competition is expected to attract over 2,000 applicants from the intelligent manufacturing sector.

"In the field of manufacturing, China has achieved revolutionary results in many areas in recent years. With new ideas and approaches toward intelligent manufacturing, industrial upgrading, digitization, unmanned operation, and dual carbon economy, we can see that the Chinese market is full of vitality," noted Dr. Koeckler.

Deutsche Messe is the key organizer of the event and one of the earliest foreign companies to develop the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) business in China. The company is also a shareholder of the first Sino-German joint venture exhibition center, Shanghai New International Exhibition Center.

"International professional exhibitions not only facilitate the rapid realization of new products and technologies, but also promote the acceleration, upgrading, and iteration of industries," he added.

"China has always been our most important overseas market. We will further accelerate project landing and docking in China," he said.

According to the chairman, Deutsche Messe is looking to introduce more of its international exhibitions to China by its subsidiary company, Hannover Milano Fairs Shanghai, and continue its role as a bridge for its international and Chinese clients.

Each year, Deutsche Messe organizes notable trade fairs in its self-owned exhibition center, Messegelaende Hannover, and around the world, covering fields such as industrial manufacturing, agricultural machinery and equipment, woodworking and wood processing, flooring and interior finishing as well as fire prevention and emergency management.

He said Deutsche Messe hopes for more active participation of Chinese companies in its exhibitions and a more important role of its exhibitions in the bilateral trade development between Germany and China, stressing the significance of win-win Sino-German cooperation and the fair and free exchange of ideas and goods.

China has been Germany's largest trading partner for eight consecutive years, with bilateral trade value notching up to 253.1 billion euros ($273.78 billion) in 2023, according to the German Federal Statistical Office.

The value was 953.1 billion yuan ($133.62 billion) in the first eight months of this year, customs statistics indicate.

As its next step, Deutsche Messe will redouble its efforts to make its trade fairs more influential and widely known in China and around the globe; it will also strive to integrate the exhibition industry chain, promote deep integration and interindustrial cooperation.

And the company will leverage new technologies such as digitization and intelligence to improve the quality and efficiency of exhibition services, he added.

"With a commitment to sustainable development as our strategic foundation, we aim to achieve carbon neutrality for our exhibition halls by the year 2035," he disclosed.