President Barack Obama and the Dept. of Commerce will lead the largest-ever U.S. delegation to Hannover Fair 2016 on April 25-29 in Germany. This will be the first time in the event's history that the U.S. will be the fair's partner country, and President Obama will be the first sitting U.S. president ever to participate in the show, where he will also promote the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
Hannover Fair regularly attracts more than 200,000 visitors, and this year's edition is expected to feature about 5,000 exhibitors from 70 nations showing the latest Industry 4.0, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and other technologies for factories and energy systems. In fact, the U.S.-based Industrial Internet Consortium will also mount its first-ever display at the fair.
Johann Soder, technology and innovation manager at SEW Eurodrive, John Emerson, U.S. ambassador to Germany, and Dr. Jochen Köckler, board member of Deutsche Messe AG, take a break after delivering their keynote addresses at the Jan. 27 preview for Hannover Fair 2016 in Hannover, Germany.
Thanks to ongoing recruitment, the U.S. delegation stands at 177 U.S. companies and research institutions, including General Electric, Eaton, Molex, Microsoft, AT&T and IBM, as well as 34 state and regional economic development organizations (EDOs). The delegation of 211 entities is the largest U.S. presence ever at Hannover Fair.
"The U.S is honored to be the partner-land for 2016 Hannover Messe, and I know U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and her boss, President Obama, are excited to be coming here in late April," said U.S. Ambassador to Germany John Emerson at the fair's preview event and press conference on Jan. 27 in Hannover. "And we in Mission Germany are fully engaged in making certain our partnership is an unparalleled success."
During the preview, Dr. Jochen Köckler, Deutsche Messe managing board member responsible for Hannover Fair, added, "The world's key drivers of industrial digitalization will all be in Hannover, among them German specialists from the fields of mechanical and electrical engineering and the electronics industry, as well as leading U.S. software providers and Asian firms focused on making industrial digitalization a tangible reality. This adds up to promising new partnerships and business models on the road to the next industrial revolution. A world first this year will be over 100 examples of real-world implementations of Industry 4.0. That's an unparalleled achievement."