CEBIT 2013 Kicks Off

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The first week of March 2013 means one thing-- we head to Hannover for the show we love to hate, CeBIT 2013, still one of the biggest trade shows of its kind in the world.

CeBITNow in its 27th edition, CeBIT houses nearly 4100 companies from 70 countries within 17 exhibition halls, 2 conference centres, 3 VIP lounges and a matchmaking area at the Hannover Exhibition Centre.

Poland is the Partner Country of the year, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk joined German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel at the official opening ceremony, before the actual floodgates are opened on 5 March.

The keyword for 2013 is "shareconomy" (following "cloud technology" in 2011 and "managing trust" in 2012)-- a trend of sorts the show organisers say "emphasizes sharing knowledge, resources and experience to create new forms of collaboration."

A second key point made at the opening keynote by BITKOM president Prof. Dieter Kempf is the shift from consumer to prosumer, described as a person who is “a user of the car but also is a developer of the car.”

Further keynote themes include mobile apps, big data, the Internet of Things and new internet-based business models.

Merkel also took the stage to present the winners of the CeBIT Innovation Awards-- the first prize winner is AILA, the "female" space exploration robot developed by the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence and the University of Bremen.

CeBIT goes on for nearly an entire week, from 5 to 9 March 2013. Expect more updates from us as the show really kicks off.

Go CeBIT