Young talent initiatives 850 students dive into engineering at EMO Hannover

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At EMO Hannover 2025, over 850 students will explore technology careers through hands-on workshops and the Techventure rally — an initiative to counter the looming skills shortage in mechanical engineering.

As of May of this year, the German machine tool industry employed a total of 64,925 people. This was two percent less than a year earlier. “The shortage of skilled workers is currently being masked by the weak economy,” says Andre Wilms, Managing Director of the Nachwuchsstiftung Maschinenbau (foundation for training in mechanical engineering). “I am convinced that the lack of skilled workers will catch up with us very quickly.” There should therefore be no let-up in efforts to recruit young talent in technical areas.

Mr. Wilms is responsible for the special education showcase at the EMO Hannover 2025, where the Nachwuchsstiftung Maschinenbau foundation will be welcoming over 850 secondary school students in Hall 7, Stand A30, from September 22 to 26. “That's a record,” says a delighted Mr. Wilms. He adds: “Young people seem to be increasingly interested in technical fields and they want access to good information before they start their careers. This is our chance to provide them with exactly that,” he says. Together with 16 partners from the industry, the special education showcase will once again offer an attractive program. Training providers such as WorldSkills Germany, which will host the final of the German CNC turning championship, and the Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Produktionstechnik (German Academic Association for Production Technology) (WGP) are also involved. Three interactive formats have been designed to inspire young visitors and awaken their enthusiasm for technology: Building a model Formula 1 car, a career and technology trail with stations to try things out and the Techventure rally organized by the WGP. “Following on from our amazing participation in the student rally at the EMO 2023, we are enthusiastic about taking part again this year,” says Anja Schuhmann, trainer at Traunreut-based company Heidenhain. “We are convinced that practical and playful learning formats make it easier for young people to access technology and motivate them in the long term."

Techventure on all five days of the fair

Professors at the WGP (German Academic Association for Production Technology) have long feared a serious shortage of skilled technical workers and engineering students. They have therefore set up a young talent initiative to show young people how exciting and wide-ranging technical professions can be and to highlight the diversity of STEM degree courses. The rally under the motto of Techventure – Technology is more than just math is taking place for the second time at the EMO. It is one of several undertakings backed by the WGP to recruit young talent and is aimed at secondary school students from all types of schools.

Experience to date has shown that everyone involved finds the concept exciting, from teachers and young people through to the participating exhibitors – with the result that more schools have registered for the EMO Hannover 2025 than ever before. The rally will therefore no longer be held on just two days, but on all five days of the trade fair, sometimes with two sessions per day. This means that at least five groups of ten students each will roam the halls every day. Each group follows its own route – directed via mobile phone – which takes them to visit participating exhibitors and research institutes.

Shaping society in technical professions

The companies Blohm, DMG Mori, Elha, Heidenhain, Horn, Profiroll, Spinner and Zoller as well as the research institutes IOT Aachen, IWF Berlin, IFW Hannover, FBK Kaiserslautern and the wbk Karlsruhe are taking part. The aim is to show the wide-ranging variety of the industry. “It is important for us to get pupils interested in technology. We want to show them that machine tools and, in our case, grinding machines are high-tech and require collaboration between many different technical disciplines,” emphasizes Ronny Müller, Head of Sales & Marketing at Blohm Jung in Hamburg.

The focus is on topics such as energy efficiency, climate-neutral production, new technologies for innovative products, the digitalization of factories and the transformation towards a circular economy. “The tasks of the rally show how production engineers in industry can influence society, people's daily lives and our joint future,” says Gerda Kneifel, the WGP spokesperson responsible for organizing Techventure.

Accordingly, the tasks are as diverse as the production technology itself: In past rallies, for example, AI was used to calculate maggot populations. Looking at a combustion engine, young people were asked to estimate how many components it contained compared to an electric motor. Some groups were able to mill a “Connect Four” game. It is a concept that has proven popular. In 2023, over 70 percent of young participants surveyed by the WGP stated that the EMO had increased their interest in technology and that they could see themselves taking up a technical profession.

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