5 Key Takeaways from the Industrial AI Conference by Hannover Messe
Artificial Intelligence is transforming machine building — but where and how is it being applied to create a competitive edge?
That was the key question I wanted to find out at the Industrial AI Conference by Hannover Messe on Jan, 21st 2025 in Frankfurt, Germany.
I walked away with five major insights:
- Explainable AI: Building Trust through Transparency
An AI system that makes decisions but can’t explain them won’t be accepted in industrial environments. Tom Cadera and David Sauer from CaderaDesign demonstrated how AI chatbots can be integrated into HMIs and why making AI-driven suggestions transparent is critical.
- Scaling AI—The Right Way
In large companies, AI projects often fail due to organizational barriers. Dubravko Dolic from Continental Tires emphasized that AI should be driven by business units, not the IT department. This ensures that AI initiatives create real business value.
- Europe’s Untapped AI Talent
Industrial AI needs skilled experts—and Europe has them! But according to Thomas Hurd from Zeki Data, awareness is lacking, and more efforts are needed to attract talent to the machine-building industry.
- AI Models for Embedded Systems
AI doesn’t always require high-end cloud solutions. Korbinian Poeppel from NXAI presented the xLSTM model, which is powerful enough to run directly on industrial controllers. A real game-changer for decentralized Industrial AI applications.
- AI is More than Vision: The Power of Audio
AI is not just about image recognition or GenAI with LLMs. Kathrin Hoesli from Rocket Science AG showed how machines can be analyzed through audio fingerprints—from robots to drilling machines and mining equipment.
This conference made one thing clear: AI is becoming a true competitive advantage in machine building—but only when applied strategically!
I had great discussions with many industry leaders, including partners from the ctrlX OS Ecosystem!