Strong innovation transfer and digital solutions for practical application: At the joint Lower Saxony Digitalization stand, ZDIN presented practical transfer projects and demonstrated the range of digital innovations from smart sensor technology to AI-supported water management.

The Center for Digital Innovations Lower Saxony (ZDIN) has drawn a positive conclusion after a successful participation in the Hannover Messe 2026. From April 20 to 24, 2026, ZDIN was represented for the first time under the umbrella of Niedersachsen.next GmbH at the joint Lower Saxony Digitalization stand. Numerous visitors from business, science, and politics took the opportunity to learn about current ZDIN transfer projects and research results from the Water Future Lab, and to engage in discussions. The stand was consistently well-attended throughout the entire week of the trade fair.

The focus of ZDIN's presence at the trade fair was on concrete digital solutions for industries undergoing transformation. Right at the start of the event, Minister-President Olaf Lies visited the booth, underscoring the importance of digital innovation transfer for Lower Saxony as a business location. The showcases presented made tangible how the research results from the future labs are translated into concrete solutions for industry. The intelligent sensor shirt "rectify" from MinkTec GmbH in Braunschweig raised awareness of ergonomic movement patterns in healthcare and industry, while the irrigation app "DIRRIGENT" demonstrated how data-driven systems can conserve resources in agriculture.

Another highlight was the visit of a political delegation to the joint digitalization stand on Thursday. In a discussion with Minister of Economic Affairs Grant Hendrik Tonne, the focus was on the breadth of Lower Saxony's innovation spectrum. It became clear that for research results to translate into marketable innovations, not only scientific excellence is needed, but also suitable framework conditions and transfer structures. The State Secretary for Digitalization, Anke Pörksen, was particularly interested in a digitalization project by the Future Lab Water, which deals with locating private smartphone photos of flood events. The project aims to use AI to utilize these private images for flood protection, as there are too few public measuring stations. Pörksen spontaneously expressed her willingness to mobilize the public and actively support the researchers' work by launching a photo appeal.

As part of Niedersachsen.next GmbH, ZDIN was able to strategically expand its network and tap into new collaboration opportunities at this year's trade fair. Its participation in the joint booth provided an opportunity to showcase the work of its future labs and transfer projects within a broad, cross-cutting context and to highlight the close interrelationship between digitalization, sustainability, and industrial transformation. ZDIN was also represented at the joint booth of the Ministry of Science and Culture (MWK) with its Circular Economy future lab. Researchers presented various facets of product recycling loops and, as a special highlight, a demonstrator in action: The robotic system from the Institute for Software and Systems Engineering at Clausthal University of Technology illustrated how the recognition and classification of building blocks using cameras works.

ZDIN thanks all visitors, discussion partners, and collaborators for an intensive and productive week at the trade fair. The positive response has once again confirmed the strong interest in practical digital solutions from Lower Saxony and the continued importance of close collaboration between science, industry, and politics in actively shaping the digital transformation.



Contact person for editorial inquiries: Katharina Reichert, Overall Coordinator, ZDIN Niedersachsen.next GmbH, Office | Center for Digital Innovations Lower Saxony (ZDIN) | Escherweg 2 | 26121 Oldenburg – Germany, Tel: +49 511 5709273, Email:  k.reichert@nds.de   www.zdin.de