The mechanical engineering industry in Niedersachsen comprises approx. 480 enterprises that in total employ more than 55,000 people. According to figures of the Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau (German Engineering Federation) and the former Niedersächsisches Landesamt für Statistik (State Statistics Agency for Niedersachsen) revenue in 2008 increased by about ten percent year-on-year. Around half of the total revenue of approx. 12,000 million EUR was generated abroad. Also emerging industrial nations such as China, Russia and India request our local know-how. The huge economic growth in those countries in combination with the competitiveness of the Niedersachsen-based companies keeps the order books full here.

Its innovative strength is clearly one of the assets of the mechanical engineering sector in Niedersachsen as compared with the international competition. The global trends toward special-purpose machines, services and system solutions as well as the technological leadership work in favour of customer-specific solutions by engineers in Niedersachsen. It is usual for German companies to take the top positions on the world markets. It is not for nothing that high-tech solutions from the most diverse industries are presented in the capital of Niedersachsen every year: The HANNOVER MESSE is the world’s largest trade fair for innovations, technology and automation.

Companies, universities and research institutions engage in close cooperation in order to find new technologies and solutions and develop them until they are ready for the market. For example a number of industrial and technology enterprises work together under one roof in the Produktionstechnisches Zentrum Hannover (PZH) in an area of more than 20,000 square metres.