Hannover Messe isn’t just a trade show. It’s a glimpse into the future of manufacturing, and a reminder of just how fast that future is moving.
This year, I spent four days on the ground in Hannover, clocking more than 15,000 steps a day exploring 17 halls packed with cutting-edge tech, massive machines, and global manufacturers ready to show off what’s next. Here’s what stood out, what’s changing, and what machine makers need to know as they prepare for events like IMTS, Hannover Messe, and others in 2025 and beyond.
Key Takeaways
- Hannover Messe remains a dominant industrial trade show, drawing 130,000+ attendees from 150 countries and 4,000+ exhibitors, primarily focusing on energy, robotics, AI, and heavy machinery.
- While exhibitors invested heavily in impressive physical displays ($600K+ booths) and digital twin technology, many failed to effectively explain their technology to visitors, creating a gap between visual appeal and practical understanding.
- The technology implementation was often superficial: QR codes typically led to static PDFs rather than interactive content, and AR was confined to the "Future Hub" instead of being meaningfully integrated into product demonstrations.
- The key distinction highlighted was between digital twins (for monitoring and predicting machine performance) and Jigs (for explaining machine operations and systems) - an important consideration for future trade show presentations.
- Looking ahead to 2025, successful exhibitors need to focus on combining physical demonstrations with engaging digital experiences, making QR codes more interactive, and ensuring consistent storytelling across all touchpoints.
Read on to learn more about each of these themes in more detail.
Scale and Significance
With 130,000+ attendees from 150 countries and over 4,000 exhibitors, Hannover Messe continues to be the place where industrial leaders gather to network, launch new tech, and set the direction for the year ahead. If you work in energy, robotics, AI, or heavy machinery, this show is in a league of its own.
Industry leaders from ABB to Siemens were showing off the latest in advanced manufacturing, robotics, and AI. On the whole, booth experiences continue to impress and find new ways to showcase complex innovations. One unique aspect of this scale is the opportunity to visit physical exhibitions and teams from a wide range of competing technologies, tools, and automation systems in the manufacturing supply chain. This agglomeration of industry knowledge, with physical demonstrations and specialist experts on site, all under one roof is a totally unique experience and rivalled perhaps only by IMTS in North America.
AI and Hydrogen Were Everywhere
Artificial intelligence is no longer constrained to software development. It’s everywhere across smart manufacturing, robotics, and machine optimization. From predictive maintenance to quality control, AI is powering smarter machines that promise fewer errors and more efficiency.
And if AI is the brain, hydrogen is the fuel. Hydrogen-powered systems and sustainable energy tech had a major presence this year. These massive, complex machines are often difficult to explain, but incredibly important to understand. The challenge? Turning that complexity into something your audience can grasp.
Industrial Intelligence in Motion
What really stuck with me were the real-world applications of industrial intelligence starting to take shape across the floor. Among all the tech and buzz, two examples really stood out:
FANUC x SAP: Smarter Machines That Actually Talk
I caught a demo of FANUC’s ROBOSHOT at the SAP booth, and it was impressive to see live machine data flowing seamlessly into SAP’s MES platform. No flashy gimmicks—just solid, practical integration that shows what’s possible when your systems speak the same language. It’s the kind of connectivity that’s going to drive serious efficiency on the shop floor.
Bosch’s Hybrion Launch: Hydrogen That’s Ready to Work
Bosch unveiled Hybrion, a high-performance hydrogen fuel-cell stack designed for industrial use, and it wasn’t just a concept. This was a real, working product built for deployment. With all the talk around energy transformation, it was refreshing to see a tangible solution that’s actually moving the needle on decarbonizing manufacturing.
Why These Stood Out to Me
What I appreciated most about both was that they weren’t hypothetical prototypes; they were real solutions, ready to implement. FANUC and Bosch are showing what industrial intelligence looks like when it’s grounded in action: smarter machines, cleaner energy, and systems that are built to scale. That’s the kind of progress I was hoping to see, and it’s already happening!
I went to Hannover Messe to get a pulse on where robotics, AI, and industrial automation are headed, and I wasn’t disappointed. What stood out most was how fast these technologies are moving from concept to real-world application. You could actually see industrial intelligence in motion, whether it was FANUC’s machines feeding live data into SAP’s MES, or Bosch launching a hydrogen fuel-cell stack built for deployment.
It’s clear we’re entering an era where software-defined factories and clean energy solutions aren’t the future, they’re the now. Using JigSpace’s augmented reality technology, we can now bring these innovations to life anywhere, anytime. From a world-class event like Hannover Messe or from the seat of your plane on the way to your next meeting.
Seeing is Believing: Trends in Booth Design and Demos
Some booths looked more like airplane hangars than trade show stands—think $600K+ displays with towering equipment, polished chrome engines, and robotic arms in motion. These physical showpieces pulled crowds and turned heads.
Digital twin technology was also on full display, often projected across huge LED screens, showing everything from live data feeds to lifecycle predictions. While these were impressive, they were often hard to understand what live data was actually being displayed.
And here’s the gap: while the hardware dazzled, many booths fell short in helping visitors understand what they were actually looking at. Visual storytelling was strong at first glance, but weak in follow-through. Once the awe settled, it was clear that many teams hadn’t thought through how to make the digital experience as engaging as the physical one.
Missed Opportunities
Augmented reality
Augmented reality had a presence—but it was tucked away in the "Future Hub" and often packaged in gimmicky ways. Meanwhile, nearly every QR code I scanned across the halls led to... a static PDF. Just a digital version of a paper flyer. That’s a huge missed opportunity.
QR codes
QR codes can do more. Imagine linking to a 3D product walkthrough, an interactive animation, or a Jig showing how a machine works or how to service it. It turns your trade show material into a dynamic experience, one that keeps working after the event is over.
Digital Twin vs. 3D Presentations
One conversation really stuck with me. I was chatting with Steve Dorn from IKN, and we got onto the topic of digital twins. He put it simply: "A Jig is a visualization of a digital twin, not a digital twin itself."
That subtle distinction matters. Digital twins are about monitoring and predicting what’s happening inside a specific machine, performance, failure points, or maintenance needs. 3D presentations (or Jigs, as we call them) are about explaining how a machine works, how to operate it, or how it fits into a larger system. Both are valuable, but they serve different purposes, especially at trade shows where first impressions count and communicating your key selling points is critical.
What Exhibitors Can Learn for 2025
If you’re planning to exhibit at a show like IMTS later this year or Hannover Messe next year, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Your machine is only part of the story. Help your audience understand not just what it does and how it works, but how it integrates into a wider solution and why it matters. You can do this with tools like JigSpace or interactive content. See these examples of show stopping trade show examples.
- Don’t waste your QR codes. Make them launchpads to deeper experiences, not dead ends.
- Augmented reality doesn’t belong in a corner. Use it where it adds value: on the product, in the booth, or as a takeaway.
- Digital and physical need to work together. The most memorable booths nailed both, and told a consistent story across touchpoints.
Final Thoughts
Hannover Messe reminded me how important it is to be on the ground. I made new connections, found new prospects, and saw firsthand what’s working, and what’s not working, for modern manufacturers.
At JigSpace, we help machine makers bring their products to life—on the trade show floor, in customer demos, or across their sales and marketing teams. Because when it comes to complex technology, seeing really is believing.
Looking ahead to 2025? Let’s make sure your next booth doesn’t just look great, but that it tells the right story.
