With new locations in China and South Africa, the Deutsche Messe Technology Academy aims to contribute to positioning German production technology in the world’s local markets. The company has succeeded in winning the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation (IFF), Christiani and other industrial enterprises as partners for developing the program content at all academies.

Digital Reality Academy: Key technologies for production

In the coming years, the Deutsche Messe Technology Academy will be presenting systems and applications from the fields of virtual reality and augmented reality live, all year round at the Hannover Exhibition Center. “Our aim is to facilitate more intensive networking between suppliers and users of these key technologies with the goal of optimizing production processes,” says Thomas Rilke, General Manager of the Deutsche Messe Technology Academy Co., which has founded the Digital Reality Academy in cooperation with the Volkswagen Group Academy.

The new academy complements the Robotation Academy and the Additive Manufacturing Academy, where users can get to know and experience new technologies from the fields of automation, Industry 4.0 and 3-D printing. The Volkswagen Group Academy has long supported the concept of the Deutsche Messe Technology Academy, having served as a co-partner from the very beginning. Through its Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Digitization Campus, the automotive group is permanently represented at the Academy location in Hannover.

The Volkswagen Group Academy is actively involved in developing the concept of, and equipping the Digital Reality Academy, motivated by the manufacturer’s long years of experience with numerous virtual reality and augmented reality system applications – applications ranging from design, technical development and factory planning to staff training, both in the production field as well as the company’s dealer network.

“As one of the main users of production technology, we see the Academy as a unique network of equally qualified partners who enable us to jointly understand and implement innovations,” says Olaf Katzer, Head of Continuing Education Digital Learning at the Volkswagen Group Academy and General Manager of the Deutsche Messe Technology Academy Co. (GmbH).

Global network: New locations in China and South Africa

In the future, the Deutsche Messe Technology Academy will also be represented in the Chinese industrial metropolises of Nanjing and Ningbo, as well as at the planned new location in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The contract for the establishment and construction of a “Smart Industry Academy” in the Chinese industrial metropolis of Nanjing was formally signed at HANNOVER MESSE on Tuesday. The partner is the Nanjing Robot Research Institute (NRRI). The first events are already scheduled to take place in Nanjing at the end of the year.

“We are currently negotiating long-term agreements with other partners concerning the construction and setting up of academies,” reports Thomas Rilke. During HANNOVER MESSE, the Deutsche Messe Technology Academy signed preliminary agreements for the Chinese location of Ningbo and the South African location of Port Elizabeth. From its Ningbo location, the Smart Industry Academy will also collaborate with two new vocational training centers. . “The Vocational Training Academy in Tongxiang will contribute to an increase of the availability of highly qualified specialist workers for the digitalized and automated production in the region”, says contract partner Ziyun Wang, heading the Business Development Asia of BankM in Hannover.

Thomas Rilke and Reinhold Umminger, the new Global Business Director of the Deutsche Messe Technology Academy, are also currently holding talks in the ASEAN countries and North America.

The new international academies will all bear the same name – the “Smart Industry Academy”. “In unison with our German network and our local partners in the industrial metropolises, our approach involves the promotion of cross-industry knowledge transfer in numerous areas of state-of-the-art production technologies,” reports Rilke.

The Deutsche Messe Technology Academy Co. has built up a comprehensive international, unique network of production technology across its academies in a short period of time, with the world’s leading industrial production technology suppliers at the core of its ecosystem. Research institutions, industrial policy initiatives and specialist publishers also contribute to the current activities and programs at all academies worldwide. The jumping off point for internationalization was the Robotation Academy, founded in 2017 in the southern Chinese industrial metropolis of Foshan. At this smart production hub located in the Pearl River delta, 8,000 participants have already been exposed to applications in the fields of automation and robotics. Companies like Phoenix Contact, Lenze, igus, Harting, Schunk, Weidmüller, Kuka, Universal Robots, Stäubli and Christiani have already made long-term commitments to the Foshan location.

The ability to team up with leading industrial partners and local co-operators to define win-win situations is characteristic of the latest step in the internationalization of the Deutsche Messe Technology Academy Co. As General Manager Thomas Rilke puts it: “We are creating the conditions at all new locations for small and medium-sized production technology suppliers to position their system solutions jointly and successfully in local markets.”

Dynamic partners for program development – worldwide

The Deutsche Messe Technology Academy has succeeded in winning important partners to help qualitatively develop the content of all academy programs. The Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation (IFF), one of Germany's leading research institutes in the field of efficient, sustainable and connected industrial production, is cooperating with the academies. From its base in Magdeburg, Germany, Fraunhofer IFF operates internationally, contributing as a knowledge partner for the successful localization of system solutions in production technologies, especially at the Foshan location.

The Dr.-Ing. Paul Christiani Co. is one of the world's leading suppliers of teaching systems for industry. Based in the German city of Constance, the company has agreed to supply modern technical teaching aids at all international academies run by the Deutsche Messe Technology Academy, in particular with the goal of imparting knowledge and skills in the field of digital automation technology.

Deutsche Messe Technology Academy GmbH

Robotation Academy, Additive Manufacturing Academy, Digital Reality Academy: Those are the three brands with which the Deutsche Messe Technology Academy Co. (GmbH) is driving global knowledge transfer in the areas of automation, robotation, Industry 4.0, additive manufacturing und digital reality. Since 2017 the company has built up a network of industrial suppliers, research institutions, industrial policy initiatives and specialist publishers. In 2018 some 15,000 participants attended events and live demonstrations put on by the academies at the Hannover Exhibition Center as well as in Foshan, China. The Deutsche Messe Technology Academy Co. is a joint venture of the Deutsche Messe Group of Companies and the Volkswagen Group Academy.