If it's CeBIT it must be Hannover
CeBIT could well be described as the flagship product of Deutsche Messe and probably the main reason why people, including from Malta, travel to Hannover in droves at this time of the year. Ray Bugeja takes a closer look at what is reputed to be the world's largest high-tech exhibition, the company that organises it and, of course, the city which hosts the world event.
The 2009 edition of CeBIT could not have had a better start. When someone like Angela Merkel, "the woman who wears the trousers", teams up with a man who is better known as The Terminator, rather than Arnold Schwarzenegger, what they do together is likely to have some kind of impact. Chancellor Merkel and the Governor of California, whose IT industry takes centre stage at the fair, declared CeBIT 2009 open on Monday.
Up to the beginning of the final quarter of last year, the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry reported that business in the trade fair sector was somewhat stable. Indeed, it had maintained then that the downturn in economic growth in Germany and the turbulent international finance markets had not yet had a noticeable effect on the performance of German events in terms of exhibitor and visitor numbers.
But things seem to have changed since!
There are about 4,300 firms from 69 countries displaying the latest in information and communications technology over an area equivalent to 130 football pitches. This year's participation is a quarter lower than last year and the promoters have blamed the global economic slump for this.
Yet, Deutsche Messe board member Ernst Raue still considers the participation level positive "given the depth of the world economic crisis". Apparently, the drop is mainly due to a significant number of small hardware and telecommunications suppliers from China, Taiwan and South Korea that decided not to attend.
According to the official list on the Deutsche Messe's website, there are two Maltese exhibitors at this year's CeBIT: GFI Software of San Ġwann and The Distribution Channel Ltd. of Msida.
GFI provides a single source for network administrators to address their network security, content security and messaging needs. Founded in 1992, GFI has offices in Malta, London, Raleigh, Hong Kong and Adelaide, supporting over 200,000 installations worldwide. GFI is a channel-focused company with over 10,000 partners throughout the world and is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner.
The Distribution Channel Ltd. is a content provider and a channel marketing agency. Its website points out it is not a rep or sales agency, nor a market research company, and acts as an extension of a company's marketing department. It says it is often hired by events (trade shows, conferences, company distributor meetings) to design, prepare and deliver content that appeals to a pan-European channel audience.
Judging by the figures, CeBIT seems to be quite popular in Malta. In fact, about 350 Maltese nationals visited the IT and telecommunications fair in 2007.
CeBIT is primarily a trade fair for sector executives but it has also become a world showcase for innovative gadgets that vary from the brilliantly practical to the fancifully futuristic.
Expected to be unveiled in Hannover during this week - CeBit ends on Sunday - are new, ultra-thin, ultra-efficient Netbooks, including the first "zero-watt" laptop from Fujitsu-Siemens that uses no electricity when in sleep mode; new videoconferencing technology; TV sets that use half the power of normal sets; what is being termed as the world's first internet car radio, offering access to "tens of thousands of stations" via cellular phone networks; a waterproof GPS tracker allowing owners to locate stolen motorcycles, boats and caravans or even shut down engines remotely via text message; a "gentle" alarm clock that monitors sleep rhythms and then choosing a shallow sleep phase within 30 minutes of the desired wake-up time to go off, and an age-simulation suit through which young people can get an idea of the physical limitations of the average 75-year-old.
Deutsche Messe was founded on August 16, 1947 and the biggest shareholders - each having a stake of just under 50 per cent- are the German state of Lower Saxony and the city of Hannover. The first industrial fair was held in Hannover shortly after the company had been set up and the city soon became the shop-window of German industry.
At the time, the city was still being rebuilt after the ravages of World War II. Indeed, six million cubic metres of debris had to be removed and tens of thousands of houses and apartments had to be rebuilt. Hotels were hard to come by, so much so that the mayor at the time used to make regular appeals to inhabitants to offer a minimum of one room per household to visitors to the fairs organised by the city. Of course, this not only helped to promote the hospitality of the Hannover people and the city's attractions but also built everlasting relationships, which very likely meant repeat visits.
In a way, the accommodation problems have not been solved till this very day, for different reasons, of course. Then, it was a dearth of hotel beds and rooms; today it is the huge success of the fairs held in Hannover. Indeed, it is not unusual for visitors to exhibitions to have to seek hotel accommodation in nearby Hamburg and Berlin. Living with families is not unheard of either.
It is not just the reputation that makes these fairs so attractive but also the fact that they are a very effective business tool. Indeed, a study conducted last year among German exhibitors indicated that 82 per cent deemed trade visitor-oriented fairs to be important or very important.
Monika Brandt, from Deutsche Mess's press office, says the German exhibitions organiser has an edge over competitors for three main reasons: 1) the good service it offers; 2) its very modern facilities and 3) the attractiveness of the city, including its night life and pubs.
Indeed, Hannover practically breathes exhibitions and conferences.
Apart from the state-of-the-art exhibitions centre, which had hosted the first World Exposition in Germany in 2000, suffice to mention the Hannover Congress Centrum, where the CeBIT opening ceremony is held.
The congress centre has three multi-functional event halls, seven auditoriums and 28 conference rooms, spread over 10,000 square metres and a total capacity of 12,500 seats.
In addition, there are 3,000 on-site, free of charge parking lots and the four-star Congress Hotel am Stadtpark with 258 rooms, the hotel having a direct connection to the congress centre.
Even the airport reminds visitors that Hannover is mainly about exhibitions.
Soon after passengers unbuckle their seat belts and walk through the finger jetty into the arrivals lounge they are greeted by a small notice with the words: Welcome to Hannover, the city of fairs.
The international city of fairs worked hard to become what it is today.
The four town models of 1689, 1939, 1945 and present-day, displayed in the Town Hall, are three-dimensional evidence of the growth, destruction and re-awakening of Hannover.
The city grew by leaps and bounds: In 1873, the number of inhabitants exceeded 100,000 and so it could be called a city. By 1895, its population was close to 210,000.
Today, the state capital of Hannover has about 516,000 inhabitants.
Of course, there's more to Hannover then fairs, conferences and business. There is relaxation, entertainment, sports, arts, culture, gastronomy and fun.
So while it is perfectly in order to say that if it is CeBit it must be Hannover, it would be just as correct to say that in Hannover you can mix business with pleasure, in the very sense of the word.
The author visited Hannover as guest of Lufthansa and the Hannover Tourism Office.
http://www.lufthansa.com
http://www.hannover-tourism.de
http://www.messe.de
http://www.hcc.de
Up to the beginning of the final quarter of last year, the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry reported that business in the trade fair sector was somewhat stable. Indeed, it had maintained then that the downturn in economic growth in Germany and the turbulent international finance markets had not yet had a noticeable effect on the performance of German events in terms of exhibitor and visitor numbers.
But things seem to have changed since!
There are about 4,300 firms from 69 countries displaying the latest in information and communications technology over an area equivalent to 130 football pitches. This year's participation is a quarter lower than last year and the promoters have blamed the global economic slump for this.
Yet, Deutsche Messe board member Ernst Raue still considers the participation level positive "given the depth of the world economic crisis". Apparently, the drop is mainly due to a significant number of small hardware and telecommunications suppliers from China, Taiwan and South Korea that decided not to attend.
According to the official list on the Deutsche Messe's website, there are two Maltese exhibitors at this year's CeBIT: GFI Software of San Ġwann and The Distribution Channel Ltd. of Msida.
GFI provides a single source for network administrators to address their network security, content security and messaging needs. Founded in 1992, GFI has offices in Malta, London, Raleigh, Hong Kong and Adelaide, supporting over 200,000 installations worldwide. GFI is a channel-focused company with over 10,000 partners throughout the world and is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner.
The Distribution Channel Ltd. is a content provider and a channel marketing agency. Its website points out it is not a rep or sales agency, nor a market research company, and acts as an extension of a company's marketing department. It says it is often hired by events (trade shows, conferences, company distributor meetings) to design, prepare and deliver content that appeals to a pan-European channel audience.
Judging by the figures, CeBIT seems to be quite popular in Malta. In fact, about 350 Maltese nationals visited the IT and telecommunications fair in 2007.
CeBIT is primarily a trade fair for sector executives but it has also become a world showcase for innovative gadgets that vary from the brilliantly practical to the fancifully futuristic.
Expected to be unveiled in Hannover during this week - CeBit ends on Sunday - are new, ultra-thin, ultra-efficient Netbooks, including the first "zero-watt" laptop from Fujitsu-Siemens that uses no electricity when in sleep mode; new videoconferencing technology; TV sets that use half the power of normal sets; what is being termed as the world's first internet car radio, offering access to "tens of thousands of stations" via cellular phone networks; a waterproof GPS tracker allowing owners to locate stolen motorcycles, boats and caravans or even shut down engines remotely via text message; a "gentle" alarm clock that monitors sleep rhythms and then choosing a shallow sleep phase within 30 minutes of the desired wake-up time to go off, and an age-simulation suit through which young people can get an idea of the physical limitations of the average 75-year-old.
Deutsche Messe was founded on August 16, 1947 and the biggest shareholders - each having a stake of just under 50 per cent- are the German state of Lower Saxony and the city of Hannover. The first industrial fair was held in Hannover shortly after the company had been set up and the city soon became the shop-window of German industry.
At the time, the city was still being rebuilt after the ravages of World War II. Indeed, six million cubic metres of debris had to be removed and tens of thousands of houses and apartments had to be rebuilt. Hotels were hard to come by, so much so that the mayor at the time used to make regular appeals to inhabitants to offer a minimum of one room per household to visitors to the fairs organised by the city. Of course, this not only helped to promote the hospitality of the Hannover people and the city's attractions but also built everlasting relationships, which very likely meant repeat visits.
In a way, the accommodation problems have not been solved till this very day, for different reasons, of course. Then, it was a dearth of hotel beds and rooms; today it is the huge success of the fairs held in Hannover. Indeed, it is not unusual for visitors to exhibitions to have to seek hotel accommodation in nearby Hamburg and Berlin. Living with families is not unheard of either.
It is not just the reputation that makes these fairs so attractive but also the fact that they are a very effective business tool. Indeed, a study conducted last year among German exhibitors indicated that 82 per cent deemed trade visitor-oriented fairs to be important or very important.
Monika Brandt, from Deutsche Mess's press office, says the German exhibitions organiser has an edge over competitors for three main reasons: 1) the good service it offers; 2) its very modern facilities and 3) the attractiveness of the city, including its night life and pubs.
Indeed, Hannover practically breathes exhibitions and conferences.
Apart from the state-of-the-art exhibitions centre, which had hosted the first World Exposition in Germany in 2000, suffice to mention the Hannover Congress Centrum, where the CeBIT opening ceremony is held.
The congress centre has three multi-functional event halls, seven auditoriums and 28 conference rooms, spread over 10,000 square metres and a total capacity of 12,500 seats.
In addition, there are 3,000 on-site, free of charge parking lots and the four-star Congress Hotel am Stadtpark with 258 rooms, the hotel having a direct connection to the congress centre.
Even the airport reminds visitors that Hannover is mainly about exhibitions.
Soon after passengers unbuckle their seat belts and walk through the finger jetty into the arrivals lounge they are greeted by a small notice with the words: Welcome to Hannover, the city of fairs.
The international city of fairs worked hard to become what it is today.
The four town models of 1689, 1939, 1945 and present-day, displayed in the Town Hall, are three-dimensional evidence of the growth, destruction and re-awakening of Hannover.
The city grew by leaps and bounds: In 1873, the number of inhabitants exceeded 100,000 and so it could be called a city. By 1895, its population was close to 210,000.
Today, the state capital of Hannover has about 516,000 inhabitants.
Of course, there's more to Hannover then fairs, conferences and business. There is relaxation, entertainment, sports, arts, culture, gastronomy and fun.
So while it is perfectly in order to say that if it is CeBit it must be Hannover, it would be just as correct to say that in Hannover you can mix business with pleasure, in the very sense of the word.
The author visited Hannover as guest of Lufthansa and the Hannover Tourism Office.
http://www.lufthansa.com
http://www.hannover-tourism.de
http://www.messe.de
http://www.hcc.de