Deutsche Messe is once again inviting entries for the HERMES AWARD – the world's most important industrial prize. It will be presented by Germany's Minister of Education and Research, Bettina Stark-Watzinger, at the opening ceremony of HANNOVER MESSE on 21 April. The deadline for companies and institutions participating in HANNOVER MESSE to submit their entries for this prestigious prize is 21 February. Besides the HERMES AWARD, submissions are also being invited again for the HERMES Startup Award.

Hannover. The independent jury will be chaired for the first time by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Holger Hanselka, President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. Under his chairmanship, the jury members will nominate three products each for the HERMES AWARD and for the HERMES Startup AWARD from among the submissions, and determine the respective winner from those nominees. The degree of technological innovation, benefits for industry, the environment and society, as well as cost-effectiveness and implementation maturity are key criteria in assessing which entry merits the award.

Every year, Deutsche Messe AG honors a company with the HERMES AWARD in recognition of a product or solution that demonstrates a particularly high degree of technological innovation. Only those technology solutions which have already been proven in industrial practice are considered.

The Bosch Rexroth company was presented with the HERMES AWARD 2023. The Smart Flex Effector project consists of a sensor-based compensation module (end effector) for robots, featuring independent, precise kinematics in six degrees of freedom. It can be used in handling or joining processes with tight tolerances in automation technology or robotics, with loads of up to 6 kg. The position of workpieces or handling objects can be sensed by robots which are outfitted with the Smart Flex Effector. The range of applications is diverse, since it is also suitable for human-robot collaboration as an add-on device for a variety of robots

The HERMES Startup AWARD 2023 went to the Netherlands. The young company MantiSpectra from Eindhoven was awarded for its ChipSense product. It is a fully integrated near-infrared sensor – the smallest of its kind on the market, with a footprint of 1 mm2. The sensor enables rapid, highly accurate analysis and is used directly on the production line, from where it delivers real-time data. This makes it possible for defects to be detected as soon as they occur and for savings to be made through immediate quality control on the spot, on the production line. The product is already in use in industry, agriculture and food processing.

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