German ICT exhibition CeBIT closes its doors

You might remember it, ten to fifteen years ago CeBIT was the place to go and renown worldwide being the biggest computer exhibition from Europe. pretty much what Computex is these days. In roughly 2010 things slowly started to change though. 

Exhibitors where complaining about high prices and over the years the exhibition became a business channel only.  The demand declined and while the organization for Cebit 2019 was already in full effect, the preparations have been canceled. HAZ writes that for the next year only 6,000 square meters of stand space was booked, whereas in November last year it was three times higher. The board stated that "unfortunately no other step is possible to guarantee the economic stability of the company".  In 2018 Cebit took place with a fundamentally new concept and a new date in June. And although this attracted only 2,800 exhibitors and 120,000 visitors to the fairgrounds in Hanover, it was considered by many to be a successful repositioning. 

Messe AG has announced the following:

Because of the declining number of bookings for exhibition space for Cebit 2019, Messe AG has adjusted its event portfolio. The industry-related digital topics of Cebit will be continued at the Hannover Messe, while the content of the other Cebit topics will be developed for specialized top-level events, specifically targeting decision makers from selected industries.