HANNOVER MESSE 2026 focused heavily on AI and digitalization. Which topics shaped the discussions with visitors and customers the most?

It has become clear that companies are moving beyond general discussions of AI and are now seeking concrete use cases. The central question is no longer whether to use AI, but how to generate measurable business value from it. Many discussions focused on integrating AI into existing processes to accelerate decision-making and increase productivity without creating additional complexity. HANNOVER MESSE once again confirmed its role as a key meeting place for industry, technology providers, and experts to exchange ideas. This is precisely where Infor comes in. We integrate AI directly into business-critical processes and industry-specific ERP solutions, enabling companies to benefit from innovations faster and achieve concrete results.

What conclusions did you draw from the discussions at HANNOVER MESSE?

One key conclusion is that companies today are paying much closer attention to time-to-value. Large-scale transformation programs are increasingly judged by how quickly they deliver concrete results. At the same time, there is significant interest in industry-specific solutions that incorporate best practices and processes from the start. Companies are looking for pragmatic ways to quickly and efficiently integrate digitalization and AI into their value creation processes. This confirms our focus on Industry Cloud solutions. Standardized, industry-specific processes allow companies to become productive more quickly and scale innovations like AI more easily.

Which developments will have a significant impact on the industry in the coming years?

We are at the dawn of a new phase in the industrial use of AI. In addition to predictive and generative AI, agentic AI approaches will become increasingly important. These systems assist with analysis and independently perform tasks and processing steps. It will be crucial to deploy these technologies securely and transparently in a way that integrates them into existing business processes.

We do not view this as the end of ERP systems, but rather as an evolution of their role. ERP systems will become central data and process platforms, and AI agents will support users in decision-making and operational workflows. Companies will benefit most when these technologies work together seamlessly while taking industry-specific requirements into account.