After the first half of this year´s CeBIT show there is good news reported by the Deutsche Messe AG in Hannover: over the first three days the exhibition has attracted more than 200.000 visitors which corresponds to a 10% increase as compared to 2006. The number of German visitors has even increased by 16%, whereas those from the USA and Canada have risen by 11%. The number of Asian guests is up by 6%. The “Forum CeBIT Mittelstand” (CeBIT forum for small and medium-sized entities) in hall 5 has even registered a visitor plus of more than 20% as compared to last year.
Particularly numerous is the presence of decision makers from abroad. The focal point of interest by visitors lies on pan European co-operation and sponsoring issues as well as on innovation management. Also very much sought-after are first class solutions for voice over IP (internet telephony), mobile communications and process management.
The German Association for Information Management, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM) talks about a good start of this year´s show and praises the strong commitment to investment. “At the show exhibitors feel the good economic environment”, underligned Mr. Heinz-Paul Bonn, BITKOM deputy director. “The will to invest of business clients is very strong.”
During the first days of the exhibition orders amounting to a total of five billion Euros were passed. “The high growth rates in terms of visitors and new orders even surpass the global growth rate of this line of industry and confirm the fact that the CeBIT plays in a league of its own”, says Mr. Ernst Raue, board member of the Deutsche Messe Hannover.
The organizers say that the business itself is changing. Conselling, know-how transfer and networking are becoming more and more important. For this reason this year´s CeBIT features more conferences and talks than ever before. In total there are more than 1000 discussion forums on the agenda. 