With the help of Aachen, Hanover will once again become the linchpin for future technologies with the new “Twenty2x” digital trade fair: (from left) BITMi President Oliver Grün, trade fair director Andreas Gruchow and Alexander Rabe, managing director of the eco association. Photo: Messe / Messe hannover
The Aachen newspaper reported in its May 20th issue about the start of the new digital trade fair Twenty2x. Dr. Oliver Grün, Board Member and CEO of GRÜN Software AG, is a co-initiator of the fair.
Here is the press release:
In 830.000, 2001 visitors flocked to the Cebit computer fair in Hanover. In 2018 there was hardly a quarter, then it was over. Now the Aachen software entrepreneur Oliver Grün, board member and CEO of GRÜN Software AG, with partners and Deutsche Messe AG, surprisingly organized a newly designed follow-up trade fair on the subject of digitization in Hanover: the "Twenty2x".
With the help of powerful partners, including the Aachen software entrepreneur Oliver Grün as President of the Bundesverband IT-Mittelstand (BITMi), the fair is now starting its surprising comeback: next year, under the name "Twenty2x", on three days - from Tuesday, 17 ., until Thursday, March 19 - in Halls 7 and 8 as well as in the Convention Center, the topic of digitization is realigned in a practical way. The partners of the trade fair with the accompanying congress are BITMi, the association of the Internet industry “eco”, the IT user association “VOICE” and the Federal Association of German Startups (BVDS).
The makers are targeting the pent-up demand of medium-sized companies, and especially smaller companies. At the "Twenty2x", solutions for handling sensitive customer data and protecting against cyberattacks will be presented, announced the Deutsche Messe AG on Monday. "Our goal is to support small and medium-sized companies in particular with digitization in order to make them fit for the future and to strengthen them in the respective competitive environment", said Andreas Gruchow, board member of Messe AG.
Efficient tool
Smaller companies run the risk of being left behind when developing new digital business models, it said. According to figures from the state development bank KfW, only 30 percent of the around 3,8 million SMEs invested in the use of corresponding technologies between 2015 and 2017. Further investments are overdue. “As the largest trade association for exclusively medium-sized IT companies in Germany, we welcome the new digital trade fair, as it offers our member companies an optimal sales platform. For medium-sized companies in particular, 'Twenty2x' is an efficient instrument for generating new customer contacts, ”said Grün.
The fair wants to address managing directors and decision-makers for the IT sector in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. "It is not about a 'mini-Cebit', but rather about building on the origins of the Cebit as a pure trade fair," he explained. In addition to the two subject areas “public administration” and “financial services”, the trade fair focuses on “mobility of the future”. "There are numerous points of contact for technologies from the Aachen region: such as autonomous driving or electromobility," said Grün, citing examples.
In the Lower Saxony state capital, companies should find out about changed working conditions and new operational processes. Dealing with new technologies such as the 5G mobile communications standard is also on the agenda of the three-day event. It was said that they wanted to set exclamation marks again in Hanover, but without looking at old visitor records in the first year.