Germany S Chancellor Merkel on Cebit

Press Release 24 February 2016 CeBIT 2016 (14–18 March, Mon.–Fri.):

Germany’s Chancellor Merkel on CeBIT: Economies, administrations and societies changing “bit for bit”

Hannover/Berlin. The Chancellor of Germany, Dr. Angela Merkel, is expecting CeBIT 2016 to generate “major input for movers and shakers keen to succeed”. In her official message on the occasion of the upcoming CeBIT, Chancellor Merkel underscored the significance of the event: “Bit for bit, our economies, administrations and societies are changing. There is hardly a better place to experience the digital revolution than at the most important market of the digital world: at CeBIT.”

Chancellor Merkel also emphasized that “success is becoming more and more dependent on the ability to embrace new digital opportunities”, and that CeBIT’s chosen motto for 2016 “puts [this] in a nutshell: ‘d!conomy: join – create – succeed’.”

On the Tuesday of CeBIT 2016 (15 March), Chancellor Merkel will be touring the show for a first-hand look at the current state of the digital transformation and the myrid opportunites arising from it. She will be accompanied by the President of the Swiss Confederation, Johann Schneider-Ammann, who is attending in connection with Switzerland’s role as the official Partner Country of CeBIT 2016. As Merkel remarked: “Our neighbouring country knows how to

Deutsche Messe AG Messegelände 30521 Hannover Germany Tel. +49 511 89-0 Fax +49 511 89-36694 [email protected] www.messe.de No. 090/2016 – 101-HvS/BG 1/3 impress with precision technologies, and that also holds true for digital solutions.”

The Chancellor’s message (as officially translated by the Chancellor’s Federal Office) can be read in full here. www.cebit.de/en/news/message-from-angela- merkel.xhtml

About CeBIT CeBIT is the world’s foremost event for everything of key importance to digitalization. This combined exhibition and conference – staged annually in Hannover, Germany – features global corporations, SMEs, startups and myriad other businesses and organizations intent on providing answers to the challenges of today’s digital economy in fields such as Big Data & Analytics, Cloud Applications, Mobile Solutions, Social Business, IT Security and the Internet of Things. The high-tech nation to be featured as the official Partner Country at CeBIT 2016 is Switzerland. In a series of keynotes and forums, the parallel CeBIT Global Conferences explore the hottest topics and trends shaping the industry. The lead theme chosen for the upcoming show is “d!conomy: join – create – succeed”. Numerous special events are to be staged in collaboration with the Salesforce World Tour as the official partner of CeBIT 2016. For more about CeBIT, visit www.cebit.de.

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Your contact for further information:

Deutsche Messe AG Messegelände 30521 Hannover Germany Tel. +49 511 89-0 Fax +49 511 89-36694 [email protected] www.messe.de No. 090/2016 – 101-HvS/BG 2/3 Hartwig von Saß Tel.: +49 511 89-31155 E-mail: [email protected]

Further press releases as well as photos are available for downloading at: www.cebit.de/en/press-service/

Deutsche Messe AG Messegelände 30521 Hannover Germany Tel. +49 511 89-0 Fax +49 511 89-36694 [email protected] www.messe.de No. 090/2016 – 101-HvS/BG 3/3