From fusion power plants to modular robotics and fully digitalized value chains: The Hannover Messe has shown how AI is reconnecting industry – from the factory floor to the cloud, and into orbit. Why manufacturers will be less likely to be caught off guard by the market in the future thanks to algorithms. And what Internet Exchanges and fusion power plants have in common for our future – an article by Ivo Ivanov, CEO at DE-CIX.
It looks like a human organ, twisted into an extremely unusual circular shape. Yet it originates neither from our bodies nor from an art catalog, but simply follows the laws of physics: Stellarators are the power plants of the future. Their twisted and asymmetrical ring shape is designed to harness the universe’s intrinsic forces on Earth. Nuclear fusion is considered a clean, safe, and sustainable energy alternative for humanity. To this end, the German startup Proxima Fusion has accelerated development cycles using algorithms and simulated highly complex interactions between magnetic fields and plasma physics. The design of the stellarator promises higher efficiency and eliminates the weaknesses of earlier symmetrical concepts. An example of AI-optimized processes that not only address key supply issues but also unlock potential in industry. Under the motto “Think tech forward,” the Hannover Messe recently showcased what AI, data, and computing power are already capable of.
Modular robotics and no-code AI for small and medium-sized businesses
Simply snap the articulated arm, gripper, and motor together, connect them via a frame, and screw them in place – done. RobCo develops intelligent robots based on a modular design principle. These modular all-rounders handle individual parts, transport workpieces, and are incredibly easy to train and operate. Users without any programming knowledge can digitalize their own processes to flexibly automate workflows. Drag-and-drop to a smart assistant for SME use cases – modular robotics, no-code platforms, and AI make it possible. ZEISS is no exception: The company applies decades of expertise in medical imaging, leveraging algorithms to industrial applications. Today, robots and AI inspect batteries using X-rays. To do this, the batteries are scanned fully automatically in a CT scanner and then analyzed by machine. While AI has typically been used to detect the finest differences in human tissue, it can now also identify signs of potential safety issues in energy cells.
Manufacturers surprise the market with AI
Securing their own success more effectively – with machine learning at its core, SAP is doing exactly that. Whether it’s fragile supply chains, short-term bottlenecks, or highly fluctuating demand: Instead of being caught off guard, manufacturers are surprising the market thanks to agent-based, interconnected IT landscapes. To this end, big data and algorithms are designed to identify uncertainties early enough that they transform from risks into opportunities. When suppliers, vendors, and partners allow their data to flow from one to the other as naturally as electricity, AI agents can optimize procurement more cost-effectively, manage logistics and goods movements more dynamically, and adjust production capacities flexibly – in real time and proactively. This creates a predictive economy that derives value from data and integrated systems.
AI transforms networks into the neural pathways of the central economic system
Automating workflows flexibly, transferring expertise to new domains, and identifying potential demand before it shows up in the market – examples like these not only demonstrate how AI has become central to industrial value creation. They also illustrate how digital technologies and infrastructures hold today’s world together. An economy that redefines business models through software and IT, while increasingly making AI the nucleus of its own offerings, simultaneously transforms networks into the neural pathways of a central economic system. A system in which physical assets are increasingly merging with digital services, and the success of services must be measured by the speed at which data can be transferred between clouds, data centers, factories, machines, and applications around the globe. Because wherever data transfers come to a standstill, so too do smart applications. If AI in industry is forced to wait for data, inefficient network architectures slow down intelligent value creation.
Making data streams economically viable, just like plasma flows
Internet Exchanges play a key role in the global digital economy. Just as stellarators stabilize plasma flows to harness them as the energy of tomorrow, Internet Exchanges (IXs) hold the world’s data streams together, making them controllable and, at the same time, faster: IXs optimize latency by transporting digital packets directly, bypassing the public Internet. An established concept that, unlike fusion, doesn’t need to be enkindled – in the age of the forward-looking economy, it has already on fire: IXs hold networks together across the cloud-edge continuum, minimizing latency and maximizing the benefits of autonomous AI agents in digital services, smart products, and connected business models. After all, according to Gartner, 40 percent of all enterprise applications are expected to have task-specific agents by the end of 2026 – in 2025, the figure was less than 5 percent.
Solutions from Earth for data in space
One thing is also certain: The path of algorithms and agents no longer leads solely through factories, data centers, and laboratories, but also into space. Data is increasingly being generated, processed, and distributed in orbit. Within a dynamic geopolitical environment, the entire world faces new challenges in space. The opportunities of the space economy therefore also took center stage in Hannover.
Optical laser links, satellite-based edge systems, and hybrid architectures connect Earth and space – but they bring new challenges for stability, latency, and availability. Challenges that DE-CIX and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) are solving with AI in the European Space Agency project OFELIAS. Algorithms are designed to ensure that information can be transmitted more reliably between Earth and space. Just as Internet Exchanges aggregate information flows on the ground, they can also connect networks in orbit. With Space-IX, DE-CIX is now transferring this principle into the stratosphere. The goal: to intelligently interconnect LEO satellites with each other and across the board with clouds, platforms, and ground-based infrastructures, so that AI from orbit can be just as naturally used on Earth for industrial purposes in the future.
From mobile backhauls and edge connectivity to new possibilities for broadband coverage – what is already within reach in today’s data cosmos will have to wait a little longer when it comes to energy: Proxima Fusion’s first stellarator is scheduled to ignite in the early 2030s.
Read other recent instrumentation news: https://instrumentation.co.uk/category/news/
