Positive economic indicators meant that exhibitors had arrived with high expectations. But according to Wolfram von Fritsch, HANNOVER MESSE 2011 "even surpassed those high expectations - with the right themes, over 5,000 innovations on exhibit, and significantly greater international participation".

'Smart Efficiency' as the keynote theme for HANNOVER MESSE 2011 was the common thread running through the majority of this year's displays, and was also addressed in the many debates and forums featured at the event. "A total of over 60 forums drew greater attendance than ever before - 30 percent up on 2009 as the most recent show of comparable scope. This further consolidates HANNOVER MESSE's position as the world's leading platform for technology and knowledge transfer."

Energy and automation topics were at the very heart of visitor interest. "Major emphasis was placed on the energy mix for the future, as well as on energy efficiency. The message from Hannover is very clear: There are promising ways of saving energy right now, and we can do this faster than the time it takes to build new plants. HANNOVER MESSE has shown that industry is already able to provide the efficient technologies needed; now it's a matter of putting them to work. Experts estimate the total savings potential at around 30 percent," von Fritsch noted, adding that each of the sectors covered by HANNOVER MESSE had profited greatly from concerted efforts to bring the energy topic to the forefront of interest over the past several years.

Looking ahead to next year, von Fritsch announced plans to expand the scope of the Metropolitan Solutions show launched in 2011. "Metropolitan Solutions has met with a tremendous response. Urbanization is an incredibly dynamic process in the world today. The last few days have demonstrated that industry already has a wide range of very specific answers to today's pressing urbanization challenges, and that HANNOVER MESSE is the ideal home for this important topic."

The scope of next year's HANNOVER MESSE will be more comprehensive than ever, thanks to the addition of a brand new show: "IndustrialGreenTec will serve as a unique global platform for industrial environmental technology, focusing on promising solutions for recycling, waste disposal, and clean air and water at every link of the industrial value chain. The motto will be 'by industry, for industry,'" von Fritsch explained.

HANNOVER MESSE 2011 attracted a total of well over 230,000 visitors. This represents growth of 10 to 15 percent over the comparable 2009 event. Some 60,000 of these visitors were from abroad, which is over a third more than in 2009. "Our foreign visitors, alone, would have filled over 150 jumbo jets," said a delighted von Fritsch. "Attendance was up from every country, thus bringing tangible benefit to exhibitors in every sub-section of the event." One in every three visitors was a member of top management, marking a 20 percent increase in this category.

Germany's Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel and the French Prime Minister Francois Fillon opened HANNOVER MESSE 2011 on 3 April in Hannover before an audience of 2,400 invited VIPs, among whom were over 120 political delegations from abroad. "France as this year's Partner Country presented its profile as an innovative industrial nation and a strong partner for the German economy," commented von Fritsch.