The CeBIT Story

CeBIT has its origins in "Hannover Fair", an industrial technology exhibition established in Hannover, Germany in 1947 to showcase German products to the export market.

By the late 1950s the "office equipment industry", as it was then called, was the third largest exhibitor group at the Hannover Fair, and it continued to grow in importance during the 1960s.

In 1970, the organisers, Deutsche Messe, created a new name specifically for this exhibit category, and the "CeBIT" name was born. "CeBIT" is the German acronym for "Centre for Office and Information Technology", and the use of the syllable "BIT" alluded to the growing importance of electronic data processing in the 70s, and even more so in the 80's, when PC manufacturers flocked to the Hannover Fair.

During the 70s and 80s, more and more exhibition space was devoted to the CeBIT exhibit category, but with its increasing dominance, demand still exceeded supply and the waiting list for exhibitors continued to grow. So, in 1986, CeBIT separated from the Hannover Fair and became its own event.

The first independent CeBIT got off to a very good start. 2,142 exhibitors occupied a total exhibition space of 202,885 square metres and attracted a visitor audience of 334,427.

Since that time, CeBIT has continued to grow at an impressive rate. Among its would-be competitors, CeBIT is the only trade fair that has recorded sustained growth.

CeBIT 2001 set a new record of 8,156 exhibiting companies, occupying a total exhibition space of 431,875 square metres, attracting a visitor audience of 849,252. As a seven-day event, that's well over 100,000 people per day!

In just one and a half decades, CeBIT has established itself as the unchallenged world's leading showplace for information and communications technology.