Communications, information, infrastructure – and of course: industry. This megatrend is also a “meta-trend”, because it influences or even determines virtually every current development. From zero to sixty in just a few years, from vague vision to reality, with no end in sight.

In digitalized industry, the entire supply chain merges with state-of-the-art information and communications technology. In the process, data becomes the new number one raw material. But it needs to be processed. Success only comes when the data is properly linked and evaluated, thus helping to generate new solutions, new business models and better customer relations. That is when data saves time, costs and effort. The path to the intelligent factory – in which everything is networked, components communicate with their production equipment and machines take care of their own maintenance – is quite rightly described as the fourth industrial revolution.

Industry 4.0 was initially the keyword of the hour. In the meantime, other terms are coming to the fore, above all machine learning and artificial intelligence. HANNOVER MESSE has been closely involved in the digitalization of industry from the very beginning. Topics like the cloud, data analytics, the Internet of Things, platforms, security and artificial intelligence are at the top of the agenda.

The line between software providers and industrial manufacturers is becoming increasingly blurred: their worlds are converging. If you want to survive in global competition, you have to take advantage of the opportunities offered by digitalization. And it’s always about making design, development, production, distribution, operations and recycling more efficient, faster and more individual.

The world needs change, and industry is a bringer of change. That is why the lead theme of HANNOVER MESSE 2020 is Industrial Transformation. The subject of demographic change will feature prominently at the show’s numerous forums and conferences as well as the exhibition stands. HANNOVER MESSE’s central platform for discussion on the megatrends of climate change, digitalization, individualization and demographic change and the challenges and consequences arising from them is the Transformation Stage in Hall 25. There, on each day of HANNOVER MESSE, leading figures from industry, science and wider society will address the big issues and challenges of our times with courage, passion and hard-hitting honesty.