26
May
The smart manufacturing world’s big event of the year, Hannover Messe, saw 130,000 visitors descend on the German city of Hannover last week. Numbers were reported as very similar to last year and still much lower than before the pandemic: Might this be the new normal for trade shows, as casual freebie-trawlers stay at home while more serious commercial prospects still value the opportunity to supplement their online research and webinar-watching with some intense face-to-face conversation? My immediate impressions were: China remains important to this European event. Chinese exhibitors were everywhere, running the gamut from tiny booths offering cheap industrial…