Looking to the future at Hannover Messe

Looking to the future at Hannover Messe

We were happy to be back at Hannover Messe, the leading international platform for industrial technologies, where European businesses of all sizes showcase their leadership. The political dimension of the event and the geo-strategic importance of our technologies was highlighted by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen giving the keynote at the opening ceremony.

Key themes of the event included ongoing concerns about Europe's manufacturing competitiveness, alongside strong confidence in automation, electrification, and digitalisation. 2024 is a key year for EU politics, with experts predicting that the composition of the Parliament will change, perhaps significantly. The political landscape of the EU could look quite different next time we meet in Hannover.

Whatever the composition of the European Parliament after the elections, the decisions they make over the next five years will affect European industry and there are key questions that they will need to tackle. Core questions were raised by the Letta report, released on 17 April, which sparked discussion about how the Single Market can better serve European companies.

In Orgalim Director General Malte Lohan's view, "Europe needs to make far better use of its Single Market to generate scale, it needs to tackle the costs of spiraling regulatory burdens, and it needs to unlock barriers in access to capital."

As the leading representative of the European technology industries at EU level, Orgalim - together with its member associations - once again had a strong presence at this year's Hannover Messe with President Javier Ormazabal, Director General Malte Lohan and Policy Director Daniel Wennick in attendance, including for the opening events of Orgalim members VDMA and ZVEI.

Besides the heavy agenda of bespoke meetings, Orgalim's Director General Lohan joined a panel on AI and industrial robotics at the opening event of the European Commission booth where speakers discussed how European manufacturers can integrate new technologies and maintain a competitive edge internationally.

Left to right: Malte Lohan, Director General, Orgalim; Emanuela Girardi, President of the European Partnership for AI, Data and Robotics; Thomas Hahn, Chief Software Expert, Siemens AG.

The impressive display of state-of-the-art technologies on show at this year's Hannover Messe is evidence that Europe's tech companies continue to go from strength to strength, putting them in a strong position to build leadership in arenas from energy sustainability to advanced technologies.

Orgalim will continue working to shape an EU framework that can maximise this potential and highlighting the important role industry plays in setting Europe on a path to a prosperous and sustainable net-zero future.