Like a giant department store of innovation, Hannover Fair 2007 displayed aisle after aisle of automation products and technological advances. When this “world meeting place for industry and business” closed on April 20, it had hosted 230,000 visitors and given vendors of all sizes and nationalities a place to show off what they’ve been working on all year. North American buyers and browsers found much that was new in energy efficiency, system cooling, robotics and more, being offered by familiar names. The photo here shows German Chancellor Angela Merkel near the Phoenix Contact booth (www.phoenixcontact.com). She noted that the fair is older than the Federal Republic of Germany itself. The next fair is Monday, April 21, to Friday, April 25, 2008, in Hannover, Germany. For more coverage, search on Hannover atop www.controleng.com. www.hannovermesse.de Hannover Fair