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Hannover Messe to help position Korean firms as industrial AI leaders
Hubertus von Monschaw, global director of Deutsche Messe, speaks during a press conference at Plaza Hotel Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of Deutsche Messe
By Park Jae-hyuk
HD Hyundai Electric to rejoin German trade fair
The organizer of Hannover Messe, one of the world’s largest trade fairs, said on Thursday in Seoul that this year’s event will focus on exhibitions featuring artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and defense technologies.
With HD Hyundai Electric returning for the first time in seven years, the German exhibition’s organizer also emphasized that around 70 Korean institutions and companies, including small innovative machinery and robotics firms, will join the event to explore ways to navigate rapid changes in the industrial landscape.
“Korea is a country that perfectly fits into Hannover Messe,” said Hubertus von Monschaw, global director of Deutsche Messe, during a press conference. “The strong attendance and the knowledge that comes from your country are highly appreciated.”
This year’s exhibition will take place from April 20 to 24 in the German city of Hanover, under the theme “Think Tech Forward.”
For the first time since the annual fair began in 1947, there will be a display dedicated to manufacturing technologies for the defense sector.
“Why we are looking at that is because there’s a very high demand for defense technology,” the global director said. “It’s not that we have defense products themselves on the shelf. It’s about the manufacturing of them and how to scale that production up.”
Von Monschaw mentioned Hyundai Motor’s introduction of its U.S. subsidiary-developed Atlas humanoid robot during CES 2026 in Las Vegas last month, and added that Schaeffler, BMW and many other exhibitors at Hannover Messe will demonstrate how they are already using humanoid robots in production.
Among the participating robotics companies are eight Korean firms that will showcase their technologies at the Korea Pavilion, operated by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency. The pavilion will also feature exhibitions by 16 machinery companies.
“Hannover Messe will offer an opportunity to showcase globally the Korean machinery and robotics industries’ ability to integrate AI into their businesses and highlight their leadership in the industrial AI sector,” said Chung Lee-jin of the Korea Industry Intelligentization Association, the pavilion’s co-organizer.
HD Hyundai Electric, the largest of the Korean exhibitors, will run a separate booth.
Once a regular participant at Hannover Messe, the power transformer maker has been absent from the event since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Although its rival LS Electric continued to attend the trade fair until 2024, major Korean conglomerates were absent from last year’s event.