Hannover Messe knocked on to 2021

The Hannover Messe industrial manufacturing, automation and logistics exhibition, due to take place this April and then rescheduled for July, has been postponed for a second time.

This vast German show was rescheduled last month from April to mid-July but the ongoing Coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic has precipitated another postponement. The 5,500-exhibitor, 200,000-attendee event will now run next year, from 12 to 16 April 2021.

Jochen Köckler, chairman of the Board of Management, Deutsche Messe, said, “Given the dynamic development around Covid-19 and the extensive restrictions on public and economic life, Hannover Messe cannot take place this year. Our exhibitors, partners and our entire team did everything they could to make it happen but today we have to accept that in 2020 it will not be possible to host the world’s most important industrial event.”

It will be the first no-show in the event’s 73-year history. A digital information and networking platform is being developed. The organiser explained, “It will allow exhibitors and visitors to exchange information about upcoming economic policy challenges and technological solutions. Live streams will transport interactive expert interviews, panel discussions and best-case presentations all over the world. The online exhibitor and product search is also being enhanced, for example, with a function that enables visitors and exhibitors to contact each other directly.”