Groz Beckert Chairman Thomas Lindner was accorded a special honour on 22 April this year. In his capacity as President of the VDMA (German Engineering Association). Dr. Lindner officially opened the Hanover Fair 2012 with none other than German Chancellor Angela Merkel, China's Minister-President Wen Jiabao and the Mayor of Hanover Stephan Weil.

The Hanover Fair ranks as one of the most important technology events worldwide and this year comprised of a total of eight leading trade shows. In keeping with the general theme of ‘greentelligence’ the IndustrialGreenTec, a trade show for environmental technologies, celebrated its premiere this year. The official partner country of the Hanover Fair 2012 was the People's Republic of China.

According to Groz-Beckert, China did an excellent job of presenting its economic efficiency and its new industrial policy for best advantage at the fair. Products and research findings relating to sustainable power generation, intelligent energy networks, green technologies and intelligent automation were all presented.

China is said to have also placed special emphasis on the theme of mobility – by the year 2020 the country is planning to spend over 100 billion Yuan (11.4 billion Euro) on the production of new electric vehicles, Groz-Beckert said.

“It is clear even now that China is becoming increasingly important as a partner in the sustainable technologies sector, both as a trading partner and as an investment location,” Groz-Beckert said.

Groz-Beckert adds that this was confirmed at the Sino-German Future Forum on the second day of the fair, where topics such as energy efficiency and environmental protection were discussed – as well as the development and production of renewable energies in China.

Successful trade fair - sustainable future

Summing up this year’s Hanover Fair, Groz-Beckert said:

“In time-honoured tradition, the Hanover Fair 2012 delighted its target groups once more. From April 23 to 27 Hanover was again visited by more than 200,000 specialist visitors, all eager to work across several sectors with the latest trends and technologies. The main theme of greentelligence met with a very positive echo – making it clear once again that assumption of economic, ecological and social responsibility is becoming increasingly important for numerous companies”