Hannover Messe eyes Korea partnership to boost participation

Jochen Kockler, chairman of Deutsche Messe's managing board, speaks during a press preview for this year's Hannover Messe trade fair at Hannover Exhibition Grounds in Hanover, Germany, Wednesday (local time). Korea Times photo by Park Jae-hyuk

HANOVER, Germany — The lead organizer of Hannover Messe, the world's leading trade fair for the manufacturing industry, pledged Wednesday (local time) to ramp up efforts to attract more exhibitors from Korea, acknowledging the event’s declining popularity in the manufacturing-reliant Asian country.

Speaking to The Korea Times at a press preview held eight weeks before the trade show, Jochen Kockler, chairman of Deutsche Messe's managing board, said he believes his company should examine why the number of Korean participants has decreased and why it has not yet considered a partnership with the Korean government.

Deutsche Messe selects a partner country for Hannover Messe each year. This year's partner country is Brazil, with a visit planned for President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in April.

"It's really a challenge, but we will work on it," Kockler said.

When Deutsche Messe hosted a separate press conference in Seoul on Feb. 5, the event organizer said HD Hyundai Electric would be the only conglomerate among 70 Korean institutions and companies participating in this year's show. Unlike China, which fields hundreds of exhibitors, Korean companies have had low attendance in recent years amid the absence of major conglomerates.

"The Korean market is still very interesting," Kockler said. "There are many similarities to Germany. Both are hungry to be competitive, have great industrial companies and have to handle bigger players like China and the United States."

Highlighting Hannover Messe as an event worthwhile for Korean companies to join, the chairman said he hopes to increase the number of Korean exhibitors next year.

Reporters look around the booths of German exhibitors during a press preview for this year's Hannover Messe trade fair at Hannover Exhibition Grounds in Hanover, Germany, Wednesday (local time). Korea Times photo by Park Jae-hyuk

During the press preview, attended by journalists from more than 100 countries, Kockler introduced physical artificial intelligence (AI) as one of the key topics for this year's Hannover Messe.

"Physical AI means that AI ultimately moves from the screen to the real physical world, thereby demonstrating its effectiveness and leading to increased productivity and efficiency," he said.

Given the growing global attention to the technology, a panel discussion on AI in manufacturing also took place during the preview event.

Among the three panelists was Sven Parusel, head of research partnerships at Agile Robots, a German robotics company that plans to unveil its Agile One humanoid robot at this year's Hannover Messe.

While introducing Agile Robots’ technologies at the company’s booth, Parusel told The Korea Times that Agile One takes an approach similar to that of Hyundai Motor Group’s Atlas humanoid robot, as both aim for industrial use rather than entertainment.

However, he noted that the two robots differ in the number of fingers on each hand.

"It's very important to look into the actual physical interaction with our unique five-finger hands that are very capable and sensitive," Parusel said, contrasting it with the four-finger hands of Atlas.

In addition to Agile Robots, about 20 German companies opened booths during the press preview to introduce their technologies.

Siemens, one of the largest exhibitors at Hannover Messe, said it will focus on showcasing programs enabling the use of industrial and physical AI at factories. The German tech firm also plans to welcome a delegation of Korean customers at the trade fair again this year.

TeamViewer, a German software company that opened its Korean branch in 2022, demonstrated its zero-error assembly line technology using a wearable device equipped with a monocular display and a voice recognition system. Co-developed by Cybus, a German industrial data management company, the technology helps unskilled workers receive real-time instructions for work processes without using their hands.