…says Dr Jochen Köckler, Chief Executive Officer, Deutsche Messe AG – the organiser of Hannover Messe.

Hannover Messe 2018 will be underway from April 23. What are the highlights of this edition?

There are too many highlights to list. We have five main exhibit sectors, each of which presents its own highlights. Our lead theme in 2018 is “Integrated Industry – Connect & Collaborate”, which means companies should use digitalisation not only to optimise their production processes, but also to improve in areas such as energy efficiency, supply chain management and connectivity among business partners.

In terms of participation from exhibitors and visitors, what are your expectations?

We expect more than 6,000 exhibiting companies and 200,000 visitors at Hannover Messe and CeMAT in 2018.

Industry 4.0 is the buzzword across global manufacturing industry. How will Hannover Messe help participants to gain from Industry 4.0 trend?

Every year we stage more than 80 conferences with more than 1,700 talks and panels about a broad range of topics. For example, the forum “Industrie 4.0 meets the Industrial Internet of Things” attracts more than 8,000 participants. The Motion & Drives Forum provides an overview of the latest trends and technologies in power transmission and control. Exhibitors at the Logistics 4.0 Experience Hub demonstrate their products using the concrete example of a physically and digitally connected logistics chain. The special display Electric Transportation Systems focuses on the public transport of people and goods and the basic design of transport solutions.

What can one expect from the concurrently held CeMAT 2018? What will be the special attraction for this year’s show?

More and more, technologies like warehouse management systems, intelligent containers and driverless transport systems support smart production. However, isolated technical solutions remain dominant in the intralogistics branch. Logistics 4.0 requires integrated system solutions, international standards and the automation of the entire supply chain – across company, industry and national borders. CeMAT exhibitors will show how this works in five different exhibition areas.

Could you like to recommend visitors about the “must-see” technologies, exhibits, products, etc at this year’s Hannover Messe?

Hannover Messe is the global showcase for new products, technologies and innovations. If it is a “must see”, you will find it in Hannover. Exhibitors include big names like ABB, Festo, Harting, Jungheinrich, Microsoft, Phoenix Contact, SAP, SEW Eurodrive, SICK, Siemens, SSI Schäfer, Still, and Toyota Materials Handling, but there are also thousands of startups, small and medium-sized companies, technical universities, and government organisations as well as diverse group exhibits and special displays that spotlight new developments and trends in industry.

How do you view the potential Indian engineering industry? as there been a rise in participation in Hannover Messe 2018 from India (compared to earlier editions of the trade fair)?

India’s engineering industry has a lot of potential. We saw that first-hand in 2015 when India was Partner Country at Hannover Messe. Today, India is one of the top ten participating countries at Hannover Messe. In 2017, we hosted 160 exhibiting companies and more than 5,300 visitors from India. We expect similar figures in 2018.

What are your growth plans for Deutsche Messe in India?

We are currently conducting an extensive market analysis in India. Once we determine which topics and industries there are interesting for our customers, we will be able to say more about our plans.