Highlights from Hannover Messe

This year’s HMI 2026 focused heavily on the topic of AI. The German Industry 4.0 platform is now also fully committed to ‘Industrial AI’. The planned IPCEI-AI was frequently mentioned in statements and presentations, with the focus shifting to the application side. Germany is set to invest 1.5 billion euros in the IPCEI. Austria will not participate directly in the IPCEI-AI, but an associated partnership is possible.

Various Manufacturing-X projects presented their results at the event. International Manufacturing-X set up a showcase demonstrating connected production. Many different countries were involved in its creation – one use case example comes from the Austrian PASSAT project, involving Atomic, Wintersteiger and Salzburg Research, centred on the digital product passport.

Open Data Spaces (Japanese Initiative)

In Japan, the focus is on ‘AI-ready data’ – Open Data Spaces are seen as the solution to this. Japan invests 12–14 million euros a year in this initiative. The IPA, a Japanese government agency, is responsible for implementing the Open Data Spaces initiative. Open-source software forms the foundation, with ontologies at the heart of the initiative.

Three focus areas are being implemented as part of the Open Data Spaces initiative. Most companies are involved in the ‘Battery & Automotive’ sector (>690 companies, including 14 OEMs), whilst many companies (>565) are already participating in the chemical industry and its circular economy aspects. The third focus area is the aviation industry, where >20 companies are already on board.

The Open Data Spaces initiative links various technologies. On the one hand, it relies on the Eclipse Dataspace Components, which are already widely used in the context of Data Spaces and related technologies. On the other hand, these are combined with privacy-enhancing technologies such as confidential computing and federated learning.

The vision is for AI agents to use Open Data Spaces to access ontologies and data products. In this model, information and data are kept separate. Initial use cases include a battery passport and the product carbon footprint in the automotive industry, as well as reducing compliance costs in the chemical industry.

I3X (US Initiative)

I3X is an American initiative aimed at achieving interoperability in the industrial software sector. The project is driven by CESMII, the US counterpart to the European Industry 4.0 platforms.

I3X is intended to serve as an interface for production data. The aim is to connect a wide range of different applications via a common interface. The intention is to integrate as many protocols and related technologies as possible and make them accessible for various use cases. The API is available as open-source software under the MIT licence.

The I3X API can be used by various software solutions. MonsterMQ, developed by the Austrian developer Andreas Vogler, is an example of software that is already integrated. I3X focuses less on data sharing and the like than on industrial interoperability. The emphasis is on cross-company collaboration.