Hannover Messe 2026: A Review

Last week, our Smart Industry team attended Hannover Messe 2026. Here are my thoughts from this year's event!

First things first, it can't be an honest review without mentioning the chaos of getting to and from the event due to train strikes in the city. There were efforts made to limit the disruption with constant buses being put on to and from the event, but with over 110,000 attendees across the week the disruptions were inevitable.

Now that the slight negative is out of the way (and a negative that was not at all the fault of the event organisers), I can get onto everything that was so good about the event.

Why is this event so special?

Hannover Messe is my favourite event of the year. The sheer scale of the event and the number of organisations that attend is really impressive; upwards of 3,000 exhibitors attended across the nine halls this year. Be it multinational and industrial automation businesses through to niche software vendors and start-ups, the event is always an excellent platform to showcase product offerings and is the best networking opportunity in the industry. I can't praise the event organisers enough for how they bring this all together.

Any prominent themes from your conversations at the event?

AI was obviously a major talking point, and it was everywhere. But not just as a bolt on, it was more about technology stacks and how everything complements the software offerings. Partner networks were also brought up at the event with how different organisations are working together, and the third most prominent theme was around robotics being brought into manufacturing.

Were there any companies or product launches that stood out?

I'd say that Velotic were a stand out as this was the first time in Europe where the 3 separate organisations - Proficy, Kepware, and ThingWorx - had come together to showcase their new venture. There was certainly a lot of hype around that organisation and what they can do in the space.

Something else of note was the interest in MES providers, and how each one is differentiating themselves from the others and the particular niche they were targeting.

What was a personal highlight for you from your time at the event?

Just getting to know our customers better was the real highlight for me. Getting to understand their personalities even better, what makes them tick, what motivates them, and how we can work even better together in the future. 

We pride ourselves on the relationships we build with customers, and events like these where we get face-to-face with them is an aspect of my job that I absolutely love. The power of meeting people cannot be understated.

Finally, how would you describe your time at the event in 3 words?

Eye-opening - The amount of vendors attending and different technology that was on show really puts into perspective how amazing the industry we work in truly is.

Essential - This is simply a must-do event; having presence at Hannover Messe is so important and I'm happy that we have been able to attend for many years now.

Tiring - There's no beating around the bush, this is an event that takes up all your energy! From travelling to Germany, walking and standing all day at the event, and the constant conversations take a lot out of you, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Overall, myself, Kim, and Justin had an excellent time and I'm looking forward to helping build out teams for the companies we met across the event. If you're looking to grow your team this year, then please reach out to me at wda@fmctalent.com and let's see how we can work together.