Tech
Brains and brawn
Hanover Exhibition Centre is the largest exhibition venue in the world –
and now it wants to be the smartest, too
rom a layman’s point
of view, the exhibition
and event venues of the
world differ essentially
in their size, and the appearance of
their halls.
For the event expert, however,
there are a number of other criteria
that describe the performance of a
venue. Usually it is the infrastructure
data, such as the floor load capacity
of the halls, the maximum ceiling
load, or the supply of electricity and
data, that provide more detailed
information.
The Hanover Exhibition Centre in
Germany has long stood out on the
international market - and not only
because its 131 hectares make it the
largest exhibition centre in the world.
In recent months, Hanover has been
making a name for itself with a new
approach: the exhibition centre is to
develop into a smart venue.
Deutsche Messe AG, the owner
of the complex, is focusing on
expansion with super-fast 5G mobile
connectivity. By the summer of
2020, the majority of the site is to be
equipped with the new technology.
The company wants to be the first
site operator in the world to ensure
a complete 5G supply on its open-air
site, and in the 26 exhibition halls.
The expansion of the site with
the 5G standard is part of a larger
strategy, based on several pillars.
Above:
The
Hanover
Exhibition
Centre
“The Hanover Exhibition Centre
wants to be the first venue in the
world to ensure a complete 5G
supply on its open-air site.”
w w w.exhibitionworld.co.uk
Firstly, the tradefair organisers in
Hanover want to be able to offer
exhibitors at their own shows the
new technological standard from an
early stage. By equipping Hanover
Exhibition Centre with 5G, Deutsche
Messe expects to gain advantages in
the competition for lucrative events
that are looking for technically
efficient tradefair grounds.
At the same time, a team is working
on a new tradefair at the venue: The
5G CMM Expo, which is to take place
in December 2020. CMM stands for
Connected Mobile Machines, and
will showcase a future in which
the internet will be used more by
autonomous machines than by
humans. The new 5G standard will
make it possible for the Internet of
Things to finally become mobile.
The site will be opened to different
uses, such as open-air concerts with
up to 80,000 guests. It can also be used
as a testing ground for autonomous
vehicles, with more than 10km of
road inside the site fences, and plenty
of road junctions, pedestrian paths,
zebra crossings and green spaces.
Together with the German Aerospace
Center, the site managers plan to
digitise the entire venue grounds, so
that special traffic situations can be
created using a mix of data.
The combination of the real and
virtual in Hanover will create a new
kind of smart venue, which can
serve as a laboratory for the future of
networking.
Issue 5 2019
45