After being postponed earlier this month, this year's Hannover Messe exhibition has been cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The next Hannover Messe will occur during April 2021.
Deutsche Messe have announced that a digital information and networking is now available that will will provide exhibitors and visitors the opportunity for economic policy orientation and technological exchange.
Comprehensive travel restrictions, bans on group gatherings and a prohibition decree in the Hannover region make it impossible to stage Hannover Messe. According to Deutsche Messe, demand and sales in German industry are declining, resulting in supply bottlenecks, production stops and reduced working hours for employees.
"Given the dynamic development around COVID-19 and the extensive restrictions on public and economic life, Hannover Messe cannot take place this year,” said Jochen Köckler, chairman of the board of management of Deutsche Messe. "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."
This will be the first time in the show's 73-year history that the event will not take place.
The organizers will not let the show completely vanish, instead they are working on a digital information and networking platform for Hannover Messe that will be open to its customers shortly.
Various web-based formats will enable exhibitors and visitors to exchange information about upcoming economic policy challenges and technological solutions. Live streams will bring interactive expert interviews, panel discussions and best-case presentations globally. 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.
Hannover Messe 2021 will be held from April 12 to 16.
