Chancellor tour at the start of the trade fair

After Olaf Scholz opened the trade fair on Sunday evening as part of a ceremonial event, the traditional tour of the world's largest industrial show began at the partner country's stand. After being welcomed by the representatives of the Canadian delegation and Prime Minister Stephan Weil, a symbolic ice hockey kick-off and the presentation of a jersey with "Scholz 25" printed on it to the Executive Federal Chancellor underscored the close ties between the two countries: Olaf Scholz had already celebrated at the opening ceremony the previous evening with "We stand by your side!" and "Canada has friends all over the world - and especially many of them here in Germany and Europe" to express his solidarity with the partner country, which has been increasingly confronted with tariffs since Trump took office. Together with Stephan Weil and Stéphane Dion, Scholz then informed himself about the partner country's products and projects. Around 4,000 exhibitors from more than 60 countries will be showcasing their innovations at the exhibition grounds from Monday, including 260 from Canada.

Drive technology and automation

At the Flender stand, Andreas Evertz, CEO of the company, provided insights into drive technology and its areas of application. The politicians then visited the Schaeffler and IBG stands. A fully automated wheel assembly process using robotics was presented to the politicians at the IBG Automation stand. Other stops on the tour of the trade fair in Hall 6 were SEW-Eurodrive and Bosch Rexroth. At the SEW-Eurodrive stand, drive technologies for automated guided vehicles were one of the topics discussed, while Bosch Rexroth's stand focused on technologies for the production of batteries.

The German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Minister President Stephan Weil and Stéphane Dion visited Festo's stand in Hall 7. To mark its 100th anniversary, on which Olaf Scholz congratulated the company, the company designed the so-called Incredible Machine. This application is intended to depict the history of automation technology from the past to the present. One particularly interactive station in Hall 7 was the Robo Goalie: Olaf Scholz competed against a robot goalkeeper at the Canada Hockey stand. The SPD politician narrowly missed the goal when he put the puck just a few centimeters wide with a powerful shot.

Artificial intelligence in the industry

In Hall 9, the focus was on artificial intelligence. Hans Beckhoff, managing owner of Beckhoff Automation, presented a chatbot function for PLC technology that acts as a programming assistant. At Siemens, the politicians learned about the opportunities that artificial intelligence opens up in pharmaceutical research.

At the end of the tour, Olaf Scholz was impressed by the innovative technologies on display and the increasing importance of artificial intelligence. He also underlined the importance of the further development of globalization for economic and technological progress.