BAUMA 2025 PROMISES TO DEFY TOUGH TIMES

The world’s biggest trade show, Bauma Munich, returns next year. It is set to be one of the largest ever editions of the show, Nicole Schmitt, exhibition group director at Messe München tells Neil Gerrard

When construction professionals descend on Bauma 2025 in Munich, Germany, in April next year, the world’s largest construction equipment show will have roared back to full strength.

That’s the message from trade fair organiser Messe München, which is in charge of the show.

Event director Nicole Schmitt told International Construction that she expects Bauma to be on a par with the size of the 2019 event. That year was a record for Bauma, with a total of 620,000 visitors from over 200 countries.

When you consider everything that has come since – the Covid-19 pandemic that put several other shows on hold and impacted the size of Bauma’s 2022 offering, plus the first land war in Europe since WWII that has sent a chill through Germany’s economy – returning to such a scale would be no mean feat.

“Many of the customers who skipped 2022 due to the pandemic will be coming back,” says Schmitt.

Demand for construction strong

While certain European economies – Germany’s in particular – may be grappling with headwinds at the moment, Schmitt says that underlying demand for new construction machinery means that both exhibitors and attendees will be out in force.

“Recently, I took part in a VDMA session (Germany’s Machinery and Equipment Manufacturers Association), and I also talked to the visitor side – the big construction companies – and they are all really eager to see Bauma,” she says.

The challenge of interpreting and meeting new regulations governing the construction industry, particularly when it comes to limiting carbon emissions, is one of the drivers behind that eagerness, Schmitt asserts.

“There is still the need there to meet each other and Bauma is the only chance to get the entire family gathered together in one place,” she says.

Some of the major exhibitors have already started groundworks for their outdoor demonstration areas and Schmitt expects all of the areas that Messe München has to offer, both inside the halls and outside, to be fully occupied.

Familiar format

Meanwhile, adhering to the ‘if it ain’t broke…’ philosophy, Schmitt expects the formula for the show to remain similar to previous years.

“We are really happy to have an Innovation Hall like we did in 2022,” she says. That will include the return of the Machines In Construction (MiC) 4.0 working group’s stand, which aims to develop a uniform, crossmanufacturer and machinery-independent communications form for the entire construction process.

Also returning will be the Science Hub in the International Congress Centre (ICM). This is where universities and scientific institutions can showcase their very latest research, as well as the Start-Up area, where promising young companies can present themselves to a specialist audience.

As far as the key themes that exhibitors and attendees alike will be most interested in, Schmitt expects sustainability and digitalisation to be at the forefront. “We have five key topics for Bauma 2025, which are: climate neutrality, alternative drive concepts, networked construction, sustainable construction, and mining challenges,” she says.

And with the carbon footprint of the show itself in mind, Bauma 2025 will once again offer public transportation within the cost of a ticket price.

“In order to master challenges such as climate protection and sustainability, you have to get the entire industry to talk to each other and form new solutions,” she concludes.

With six months to run until the show, however, Schmitt expects more announcements on the format to come.

“We are also working on getting politicians on board too so that they can talk to our exhibitors and visitors and really get to know their needs so that we can ensure our bridges do not collapse, for example.

“Or, if you think about setting up a construction site on a highway and you want to operate electric machines, you need electricity to recharge them. So, all these challenges can be discussed in a constructive way at Bauma.”