Hannover Messe
The Hannover Messe (HM; "Hanover Fair") is one of the world's largest trade fairs, dedicated to the topic of industry development. It is organized by Deutsche Messe AG and held on the Hanover Fairground in Hanover, Germany. Typically, there are about 6,500 exhibitors and 250,000 visitors. The "Hannover Messe" started in 1947 in an undamaged factory building in Laatzen, south of Hanover, by an arrangement of the British military government in order to boost the economic advancement of post-war Germany. The first fair was colloquially known as "Fischbrötchenmesse" (Fischbrötchen fair) due to the exemptions in food  rationing for the fair at this time. It proved hugely successful and was thence repeated on a yearly basis, contributing largely to the success of the Hanover fairground in replacing the then-East German city of Leipzig as the new major fair city for West Germany. The product portfolio includes building automation and technology, coating materials, air compressors, gas compressors, environmental technology, factory equipment, compressed air technology, micro-actuator systems, motors, scheduling software, refrigeration technology, robotics and additive manufacturing systems. In the 1980s, the growing information and telecommunication industry demanded the organizer "Deutsche Messe AG" to split the fair. CeBIT  was a successful spin-off of the Hannover Messe. The Hanover Fair now covers all areas of industrial technology. The next Hanover Fair is scheduled for May 30th to June 02, 2022, with Portugal as the partner country. Hermes Award. The "Hermes Award" has been presented as a technology innovation prize at the Hanover Fair since 2004. It is considered to be the most prestigious award in industrial R&D. The prize promotes the innovative ideas in the market-ready products and services for industry. The patrons of the award are the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the  German State of Lower Saxony. Renowned German Professor Wolfgang Wahlster was one of the initiators of the award and for many years was the Chairman of the Hermes Award Jury.