With the Hermes Award, Deutsche Messe AG annually recognizes a company whose product or solution has a particularly high degree of technological innovation. Only industrially proven technology solutions are considered. Originally, the prize was to be announced at Hannover Messe 2020 in April, which was cancelled due to the developments surrounding COVID-19. As a result, Deutsche Messe, together with the jury, decided to announce the winner during the Hannover Messe digital event on July 14. "Unfortunately we had to cancel Hannover Messe this year because of the Corona pandemic, but the innovations of our exhibitors remain. We are all the more pleased that with our digital event we can offer a suitable framework for the world's most important industrial prize," says Dr. Jochen Köckler, chairman of the executive board, Deutsche Messe AG. 

Jury Chairman and Fraunhofer President Prof. Dr. Reimund Neugebauer explains the selection of this year's nominees: "The excellent applications underline the great reputation and the outstanding importance of the Hermes Award, which does not lose its global appeal even in times of crisis. As chairman of the jury, which consists of independent, internationally renowned market and technology experts, I am convinced that the nominees ideally represent the innovative power and creativity of industry." 

Friedhelm Loh Group, Hessen, Germany: The nominated complete solution ONCITE makes data available quickly, securely and easily in networked factories so that it can be used for digital value creation. ONCITE is a complete solution for the processing and analysis of industrial data at its own production site. Through Edge technology, ONCITE collects, stores and processes locally, but is compatible with cloud solutions. New is the continuous use of digital data in real time and the secure environment for digital value creation. This allows companies to harmonize their production data and perform AI-based analyses. ONCITE is a "germ cell" of Gaia-X, the project to build a powerful, competitive, secure, and trustworthy data infrastructure for Europe. 

Schneider Electric, Rueil-Malmaison, France: An SF6-free medium voltage switch was nominated. SF6 (sulfur hexafluoride) is one of the most intense greenhouse gases and expensive to recycle. For the new SF6-free medium voltage switch, a new interruption technology was developed. When the switch is opened, the current initially changes from the air-insulated contact connection via a swivel lever to a vacuum switch, and then is safely interrupted by the vacuum switch at the current's zero-crossing and the open air-insulated contact path is safely separated. The main contact then swings to the grounding position. By increasing the air pressure to 2.5 bar absolute in the switch, the insulation properties of air and SF6 are comparable and the dimensions of the switches are similar. 

Trumpf Werkzeugmaschinen, Ditzinigen, Germany: The nominated omlox project is the first open standard for location services. This standard combines all location services available on the market, such as UWB, WLAN, BLE, GPS, and 5G. These are transferred to a uniform coordinate reference system and can be made available for internal use on edge platforms or for global use in a cloud. With omlox, for the first time information from all location technologies can be used. With this bundled position data, process flows can be optimized in a targeted manner. The omlox standard creates an interoperable ecosystem that harmonizes heterogeneous technical infrastructures, making IIoT and Industrie 4.0 accessible for SMEs.