The Cebit has evolved strongly | NDR.de – News – Lower Saxony

Starting from: 28.11.2018 16h28

After the drop in the number of visitors, the Cebit computer show in Hanover is installed. Given the decrease in space reservations for the Cebit 2019, Cebit's "Digital Industry Themes" will be continued in the future at the Hanover Mbad. For other areas, special events were to be organized, targeting specific sectors. With the new announcement, Aus ends 33 years of Cebit's history.

It's a pity. Anyone who still had material for the "Center for Office Automation, Information Technology and Telecommunications" – that's what the Cebit is called to be – will regret the end of the show. For decades, the computer show has been a figurehead for Hanover, for Lower Saxony, for the north. Germany – as well as the message – can not only industrial machinery, but also information technology. And in all its variants: computers, screens, software, Internet, industrial solutions, mobile communications, automotive and much more …

More specialized competitors are ahead

In the end, the Cebit always wanted everything – and finally overcame it. What was happening at the turn of the millennium, the marriage of Cebit, while more than 800,000 people flocked to the fair, no longer worked. There were suddenly smaller and especially more specialized Cebit competitors hiding in front of them.

The mobile phone industry is coming together in Barcelona year after year, consumer electronics manufacturers are meeting in Las Vegas or IFA Berlin. And those looking for IT solutions for their companies prefer to go directly to Hannover Messe – right, not to the computer, the Cebit.

New concepts did not work

In the end, the creators of the information technology fair failed to make a turnaround. Almost desperately, they have been looking for their niche in recent years, their unique selling point, which could stem the constant loss of exhibitors and visitors. But neither the concentration on the professional visitors, on the so-called decision-makers, has brought the hoped-for success, nor on the conferences and conferences, or – as recently – on the entertainment and a new lightness.

In the end, all of these approaches came too late, were not sufficiently coherent or were followed better and longer elsewhere.

Exhibitors want to see success

In addition, many companies are now looking very closely at the fairs they visit in the course of a year: a presence – be it in Hanover, Las Vegas or Barcelona – is very expensive. If you invest hundreds of thousands, even millions of euros in a booth, you also want to see success. If possible, badignable in the contracts concluded. Maybe it's a fun and practical approach, as the last exhibition company sued him, but not enough.

The North has lost a lot

The regret of Cebit is unanimous. In fact, Lower Saxony, the north, has lost much with it. The Prime Minister of Lower Saxony, Stephan Weil (SPD), has produced a clear and relevant summary: The digital transformation, he said, now takes place everywhere, including in all other fairs. Cebit is a victim of his own success.