From 17-21 April 2023, around 130,000 visitors in Hannover could see first-hand just how well Gaia-X has taken off. During the trade fair, a large number of interested visitors came to the joint “Plattform Industrie 4.0” stand to learn how the Gaia-X Federation Services (GXFS) and many other Gaia-X projects work in practice. Using practical use cases, the various teams demonstrated the options Gaia-X offers for new digital ecosystems.
![](https://www.gxfs.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/52842979135_fcf4ccd6f3_c-1.jpg)
As the world’s leading industrial trade fair, Hannover Messe 2023 focused on the theme “Industrial Transformation – Making the Difference”. Just how well Gaia-X contributes to the industry’s digital transformation was demonstrated by the various sub-exhibitors at the joint stand of the Industry 4.0 platform of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK). Alongside the Gaia-X Hub Deutschland and the Gaia-X European Association for Data and Cloud (AISBL), GXFS presented demonstrations of the service components developed as part of the GXFS-DE project. Specifically, the GXFS-DE team presented a so-called workflow engine that enables the automated mapping of onboarding processes in the Gaia-X ecosystem. Visitors were also able to experience a benchmark implementation of identity management based on self-sovereign identities (SSI).
![](https://www.gxfs.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/52843017653_0a266b0ffa_w.jpg)
“After our last year’s successful appearance at Hannover Messe 2022, what we noticed this year is that almost everyone has a good basic understanding of Gaia-X and is familiar with its concepts. There are many questions out there about the current development status, functions and possible applications of Gaia-X and GXFS. Our demos clearly showed how GXFS can be applied in practice – for example, in authenticating identities,” says Emma Wehrwein, GXFS-DE Project Manager at eco – Association of the Internet Industry.
Vivien Witt, GXFS-DE Project Manager and head of the dissemination sector, goes on to say: “Smaller IT providers in particular approached us at the trade fair and showed great interest in Gaia-X. We are very pleased to see that GXFS-DE is being availed of in practice. What’s very positive to observe is that small and medium-sized companies in particular want to get involved in Gaia-X and can pick up on the business potential in this field. This will be essential in order to bring Gaia-X to the wider market.”
Robert Habeck and international business representatives at the stand
The most high-profile visitor at the stand was Robert Habeck, German Federal Minister of Economics, who was welcomed by the GXFS-DE team. Andreas Weiss, GXFS Project Manager and Managing Director at eco, guided the Federal Minister of Economics around the GXFS stand and explained how the Gaia-X Federation Services can be used to establish data-based business models. A number of ministry representatives were also in attendance, including Ernst Stöckl-Pukall, Head of the Department for Digitalisation and Industry 4.0. High-ranking international delegations – for example, from Taiwan, South Korea and Japan – also followed the lead of the Minister of Economics and got to learn about GXFS.
![](https://www.gxfs.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/52843016863_4b5326aff9_w.jpg)
As a representative of GXFS, Andreas Weiss was also present at the Leaders’ Dialogue 2023. At the high-level event, he met with leaders from politics and business to discuss relevant developments and trends in Industry 4.0.
GXFS presented as a kickstarter for the Gaia-X ecosystem
Know-how on Gaia-X and GXFS were also at the heart of the very well attended panel discussions. With Emma Wehrwein, GXFS was represented on Wednesday on the panel “Towards a federated industry data ecosystem”, which took place on the Conference Stage Industry 4.0.
![](https://www.gxfs.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/52842000037_6a75cbe00e_w.jpg)
On Friday, Emma Wehrwein, Peter Kraemer and Klaus Ottradovetz responded to questions from the modetor, Vivien Witt, and the visitors at the panel “Gaia-X: Federated data infrastructures as a lever for the digitalisation of European industry”. Andreas Weiss wraps up to say that,“Hannover Messe 2023 was a complete success from my point of view. We made many new contacts, held important discussions and are now planning a further roll-out with Manufacturing-X for interconnected industrial production.”