Day 1 at Hannover Messe Highlights
Andrew Crowder, Commerce International Trade Specialist
Day one of this year’s edition of Hannover Messe, the world’s largest manufacturing trade show, is in the books. German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the event today, spending time in one of the three halls at the Messe devoted to energy technology.
Seven of the eight Washington companies in the delegation started their work at the Messe today; one client had business in Munich today and will join us tomorrow.
Kudos to OSI Consulting (www.osius.com) of Kirkland, for logging a full schedule that began with a 9 a.m. meeting with Microsoft, and concluded with a presentation about the Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project at the Messe’s Integrated Energy Forum.
Another company, Splitvane Engineers of Sumas (www.splitvane.com), was pleased to learn that a German foundry president was planning to drive 300 kilometers. to meet with them on Friday.
Our delegation is very interesting this year. Among our delegation executives, we have three who are foreign-born, (Egypt, Germany and Ukraine) and one who is a former professional race car driver. Two companies are rural, from Colfax and Sumas. Two of our companies are relatively new University of Washington spinouts, and another continues a business that has been in the same family for more than 50 years.
With companies that touch on aspects of industrial efficiency ranging from biomass equipment, to new technology to smelt steel to consulting on smart grid, Washington is well-prepared to build its reputation as a global leader in energy and related information technology applications.