The Basque Industry open for business in Hannover

• The Basque Industry 4.0 stand opened today where private and public stakeholders will exhibit the latest technological trends for the future
  
  
• The fusion of Basque culture and industry created interest during the opening where the  Basque Country was showcased as a small country
  
  
• Minister Tapia gave credit to Industry 4.0's "leading players" and encouraged SMEs to join this revolution

The Basque Country today stressed that its industry was open for business at the sector's main fair in Europe - the Hannover Messe -, whose official opening last night was attended by the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.

This is the first time that the Basque Country is present with its own stand where it will showcase the potential of the Basque Industry 4.0 strategy from today until Friday 28 April. The spotlight will be on the new technology trends by using different media, including screens, virtual reality and augmented reality, along with 15 specific talks on 4.0 initiatives designed by different Basque stakeholders.

Furthermore, 26 Basque companies are attending this trade fair with their own space in order to showcase new products, look for partners and attract customers.

A small country ready to embrace large challenges

Representatives of the Basque Government, SPRI, Innobasque, clusters, technological partnerships and companies of the Basque Country were at the stand's opening ceremony where the fusion of Basque culture and industry attracted the interest of professionals from other countries who were in and around Pavilion 8, which is totally dedicated to advanced industry.

The ceremony was presided by the Basque Government's Minister for Economic Development and Infrastructures, Arantxa Tapia.  She gave a short speech when she defined the Basque Country as "a small country in size, but which likes a challenge". "Aware of the limitations of our size, we are committed to team work," referring to Basque Industry 4.0's private-public management model.

Given that representatives of the Federal Government of Germany's strategy 4.0 were present, the Minister stressed that the important aspect in the Basque Country is for private stakeholders and public institutions overall to share diagnosis, tools and solutions to progress collaboratively towards a new scenario where industry is rather more than manufacturing products.

The stand was visited by the Hannover Messe Vice-President, Marc Siemering, who expressed particular interest in BIND 4.0, the startup accelerator initiative, along with the Basque Digital Innovation Hub headed by Tecnalia and the gamification zone of the GAIA cluster and the VirtualWare company.

Leading players in the extension of Industry 4.0

Arantxa Tapia took the opportunity to stress the role that certain stakeholders are playing in driving Industry 4.0 and asked them to remain as key players in order for the Basque industrial fabric to advance together and ensure that nobody is left behind.

The entities that make up the Basque Industry 4.0 Steering Group are the ACICAE, AFM, GAIA and Energy clusters, the Tecnalia and IK4 technology platforms, Mondragón Unibertsitatea, the Basque Government, SPRI, Provincial Councils and INNOBASQUE. Along with the Steering Group members, the University of the Basque Country and the University of Deusto, along with numerous companies, have contributed contents. In total, over 40 organisations have been involved in providing attractive contents for the stand.

"We have pinpointed the best placed players to lead this industrial revolution.  The administration and SPRI is seeking to drive and encourage those players in order to implement a new way of designing, producing and serving our industry. It is our obligation to help the SMEs to sign up to the revolution and make sure no one is left behind," she concluded.

Basque Industry 4.0 information material

The visitors to the stand run by the Basque Country to showcase its industry will be able to collect information on the Basque strategy thanks to a newspaper in German and English and the screening of a video with testimonials by experts from leading business companies.

All that materials are already available from the new www.basqueindustry.eus platform which was set up in order to be an information and training benchmark for all the SMEs who need help to implement Industry 4.0.

More information on the presence of the Basque Country at Hannover Messe and on the programme for the coming days

The stand

The Basque Industry 4.0 stand is located at A36 in Pavilion 8 at Hannover Messe.  The stand space is 108 square metres, where there is a reception desk, an area for meetings and presentations and a virtual room.

*real photos attached

Apart from the Basque Advanced Manufacturing strategy, this space is being used to showcase the most important and most significant projects that the universities, vocational training institutions, technology centres, cluster associations and companies are developing in the 4.0 field, using different media: screens, virtual reality, augmented reality, talks, etc.

As regards the graphic design of the stand, three iconic places from each of the Basque territories to merge them with 4.0 project technical drawings and create a bridge between tradition and the most advanced technologies.

 PROGRAMME - Basque Industry 4.0

As part of the fair's general programme, the Basque delegation will give two talks:

.- 4.30 p.m. on 24 April, Pavilion 8 D19: as part of the Industry 4.0 meets the Industrial Internet Forum cycle, the  SPRI General Manager, Alexander Arriola, will talk about the Basque Country, a digital innovation hub.

.- 26 April, 09:30 a.m., Pavilion 3: SPRI, Danobat and Innovae will present the BIND 4.0 initiative at the Young Tech Enterprises forum.

The stand programme from Monday 24th to Friday 28th will be as follows:

 Monday 24 April

Opening of the stand

Tuesday 25 April

10:00 a.m. Big Data – IK4-Ikerlan & Tecnalia

10:30 a.m. Cybersecurity – Mondragon Unibertsitatea & IK4-Ikerlan

11:00 a.m. CFAA:  Aeronautics Advanced Manufacturing Centre - UPV/EHU

3.00 p.m. MDI4.0: Industry 4.0 Assessment Models for SMEs – Tecnalia

3.30 p.m. HARS & WINDBOX Wind Power Advanced Manufacturing Centre – Energy Cluster

Wednesday 26 April

10:00 a.m. MANTIS  – Mondragon Unibertsitatea

10:30 a.m. Visual Computing – Vicomtech-IK4

11:00 a.m. Digitalization Cases – Innovae-AgLa4D

2.00 p.m. Zero Defect Manufacturing – Vicomtech-IK4

Thursday 27 April

10:00 a.m. Advanced Materials – UPV/EHU

10:30 a.m. Serious Games applied in Industry 4.0 – Ludus & Binary Soul

2:00 p.m. Petroloc – Tecnalia

Friday 28 April

10:00 a.m. Gamification – Virtualware Group

Invest in the Basque Country sessionTuesday 25 April

The Basque Government and Spri are taking the opportunity of being at Hannover Messe to hold a session aimed at German companies.

Minister Arantxa Tapia will get the session underway and will give a talk entitled The Basque Country, an Attractive Place to Invest, and will be followed by Emilio Titos, Director of Mercedes-Benz Spain who will outline the experience of Mercedes, Germany's largest investor in the Basque Country. A discussion panel to share experiences of German investors in the Basque Country will then be set up, with the participation of  Ulrich Mehlmann (PMG Holding ­ Polmetasa), Valentín Guisasola (Shaeffler Group) and Thays Zapatero (Siemens).

Basque companies

 Hannover Messe is a leading fair for Basque companies that attend the German event year after year, some with their own stand and others grouped in their respective clusters. Twenty-six Basque companies will be taking part this year: Betico Compressors, Xubi Engranajes, Jaure, Goizper, Grindel, NBI Bearings Europe, Iraundi, Stern Hidráulica, Desarrollos de Proyectos Hidráulicos, Niasa Neff y Asociados, Merytronic 2012, Pronutec, Fanox Electronics, Uriarte Safybox, Electrotécnica Arteche, Bilboko Merkataritza Ganbara, Lesol, Gurelan, Fundigex, Fundiciones Aizpurua, Lazpiur, Laminados Losal, Forging Products Trading, Fastenex and Egondo. 

Hannover Messe

Hannover Messe is the leading industrial fair worldwide and has been held in Germany for 60 years and it is the main market for cutting-edge technology, materials and ideas. The exhibition brings together eight leading fairs in a single venue and therefore enables interaction and integration between different industries and areas of application. Hannover Messe offers: automation of industrial processes, production and building automation, a wide range of energy technologies, service and industrial software, which makes it the sector's main European showcase. Hannover Messe has 6,500 exhibitors this year.