At the world's largest industrial trade fair, new technologies are front and center. But while companies embrace AI, they also worry about global trade and access to their largest export markets: the US.
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00:00Here you can explore projects, let me know if you like details.
00:08This cute little robot goes by the name of Pepper, and he pretty much embodies what this
00:12year's Hanover Fair is all about.
00:16Artificial intelligence.
00:18Pepper doesn't go through a pre-programmed script, but he's answering more or less any
00:22question he might be asked.
00:26Artificial intelligence is playing a role at nearly every booth at the world's largest
00:31industrial trade fair.
00:34Software giant Microsoft has production machines and robots exchange information autonomously
00:40in an effort to work more efficiently.
00:43Siemens has separated the development of new medicines into different steps, starting with
00:49the initial idea and the search for the best active ingredient, all the way to mass production.
00:55The process takes 10 years, with AI promising to cut down on that time.
01:02We want to cut the time of the development of a product significantly, let's say by half,
01:08and we want to reduce the time of the scaling by half, so there's a significant reduction
01:14of the overall time that we would need in order to bring an idea to the process.
01:19This year the trade fair's partner country is Canada.
01:22The timing is peculiar.
01:23Representatives see Hanover as a new chance.
01:27No other country has been hit as hard as Canada by US President Trump's tariffs.
01:32Now 250 Canadian companies are here, 60 have signed up on very short notice.
01:39They're trying to move closer to Europe, become less dependent on their US business.
01:45The threat of tariffs have really damaged a lot of the economic relationships between
01:50Canada and the United States.
01:52Now Canadian companies really have to find, on a very urgent basis, new business opportunities
01:58elsewhere, but especially from here in Europe.
02:00It's going to be a high-tech trade relationship, an innovation trade relationship, and I think
02:06that's what is really important.
02:09Tariffs and other trade barriers are affecting other exhibitors too, including German machine
02:15builders, a sector that exports 80% of its goods.
02:19For the sector's association president, there is just one key to overcome the current problems
02:25and not get sidelined – innovation.
02:29For much of what we see here in Hanover, there are no suppliers in the US.
02:33Those goods have been imported for a long time.
02:36This now means that American customers and buyers have to pay import duties without being
02:41able to source elsewhere.
02:44This means that the president has punished those who are his own constituency.
02:48Perhaps this will lead to a bit of a rethink.
02:53For German and other European countries, from start-up all the way to giant corporations,
02:59research and development will definitely become more important.