Showcasing IT in Europe

With deals worth around €11bn signed last year, Hannover’s CeBIT exhibition provides a tantalising glimpse of where European technology is heading, says Jorgo Chatzimarkakis

Every year since 1986, in spring, a gigantic trade fair takes place in Hannover: CeBIT. What is CeBIT? The name stands for Centrum für Büro und Informationstechnik. A somewhat unglamorous name perhaps, but don’t be put off. This centre for office and information technology is the world’s largest trade fair showcasing digital IT and telecommunications solutions for the home and work environments. Just a part of the Hannover industry fair until the 1980s, CeBIT became an event of its own in 1986 and has grown more successful every year ever since.

What is it all about? A week long every year, CeBIT plays the role of an international platform for key target groups – users from the industry, the wholesale and retail sectors, skilled trades, banks, the services sector, government agencies, science and all users passionate about technology. They compare notes on current trends, network and showcase new innovative products. Last year about 480,000 visitors attended the fair.

Just another trade fair among many? Not quite. With deals worth around €11bn signed last year, CeBIT is definitely a leading business event for the digital world, attended by trade visitors with decision-making authority. Among the people strolling around the over 300,000 square metre fair are indeed numerous high-ranking visitors: from CEOs of major international companies, such as Microsoft Germany, to ministers and high envoys, CeBIT attracts decision makers from the public and private sectors from all over the world.

Last year I discovered with the US special envoy for trade a new car-to-car early warning communication system, an innovation enabling cars to “communicate” for safer driving. The roads are icy? Cars communicate to inform each other about lengthened breaking distances. The envoy was enthusiastic and so was I, especially as this innovative system was developed in Saarland, my constituency!

This year’s CeBIT will be organised along three pillars: business solutions, public sector solutions and home and mobile solution. The first pillar will address among other questions about software and services or banking and finance. The second will showcase solutions to modernise the public sector through the application of ICT technologies while the third pillar will present products revolutionising private lives. Let me give you some examples.

I will visit the stand of the DFIK, the German research centre for artificial intelligence, a leading German research institute in the field of innovative software technology, internationally recognised as a centre of excellence. It will showcase, among other things, the multimodal interactive system BabbleTunes that enables you to communicate with your iPod. Just tell it the song you want to hear, its voice-recognition system will recognise your voice and your command and will play the song you request without you having to fiddle with the command-wheel.

The i2home project will also be presented. This EU-funded innovation aims at digitalising your home. Imagine all your electrical appliances and installations, i.e. TV, washing machine, heating or shutters, connected and controlled through a remote so easy to use that a child could do it. You would like 20° in all rooms or to shut down the shutters? Push one button and it’s done. Such systems as well as voice-recognition systems will make everyday life for many people much easier, especially for the elderly and disabled.

New developments will also be showcased for the industry. The smart factory of the future will be able with IT technologies to produce customer-tailored goods and service. It will also be able to work more efficiently saving energy.

Indeed, green IT will be particularly honoured during this year CeBIT fair. From industry to agriculture, ICT technologies have a great potential to help tackling environmental challenges. Whether to reduce energy consumption or to help the production of alternative energy sources, ICT can contribute. Finally, education and training will not be forgotten.

To exploit our strengths in the ICT sector and remain a leading region, Europe will need a highly qualified workforce. CeBIT is also the opportunity for industries and universities to come together and design the training courses of tomorrow.

In a nutshell, CeBIT is a multifaceted fair that helps Europe remain competitive in a crucial sector. No matter what new technologies the future will be made of, you can be sure that you will have seen them at the CeBIT first.