Facts and figures about the leading trade fair automatica
Overarching leadership
Growth in exhibitor or visitor numbers, quality of professional audience or supporting program, relevance to the industry, attainment of trade fair participant’s goals, media reach, and much more: The statistics on automatica 2025 once again confirm the event as the leading exhibition for smart automation and robotics.
Success figures 2025
Larger and more relevant than ever: automatica 2025
Both domestic and international attendance figures at automatica have seen continued growth in 2025 – despite economic headwinds. 97 % of exhibitors and 98 % of visitors feel that the leading exhibition will become even more significant or remain at current levels*.
Visitor development
20 % increase: Around 49,300 visitors, both domestic and international, set a new record in 2025. This is a significant increase over automatica’s pre-Covid turnout in 2018.
Exhibitor development
23 % increase: The share of international exhibitors saw disproportionate growth to a new record high. A total of around 800 exhibitors closed the gap to pre-Covid levels at automatica.
Not just visitors: highly qualified decision-makers*
The extensive expertise of visitors is a major pillar of automatica’s success. The fruitful exchange between industry, science, and politics leads to better orientation, well-informed investment decisions, and finalized deals. This is what makes the trade fair a source of guidance for companies from across the manufacturing sector – and the most popular platform for top decision-makers.
Proportion of decision-makers & professional position
The large 83 % share of decision-makers is based on an increase in visitors with leading roles (51 %), and we also registered more top-level management visitors (20 % in 2025 vs. 14 % in 2023).
Visitors by department
The largest share of visitors once again came from Research and Development (26 %) followed by Production, Design, Planning (24 %). Particularly encouraging: the increased share of visiting business executives(14 % as compared to 10 % in 2023). The fields of logistics and service/maintenance are also gaining prevalence again – they have doubled as compared to 2023.
Visitors by industry
Prominently represented: the automotive sector, electrical & electronics industry as well as the metal-working industry. These are traditionally considered the most important visitor groups for exhibitors and have led to goal attainment ratings between good and excellent (automotive: 78 %, metal: 78 %, electrical: 82 %). With that said, visitors from logistics, healthcare & medical technology as well as security and defense are important areas of application.
Visitors by country
The top ten visitor countries after Germany:
1. Austria
2. Italy
3. Switzerland
4. South Korea
5. China
6. Great Britain and Northern Ireland
7. Czechia
8. Poland
9. USA
10. Netherlands
automatica 2025 welcomed visitors from 97 countries. The share of international visitors increased to 38 %, with 26 % from Europe and 6 % each from Asia and America. The greatest absolute increase in visitors came from Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Turkey, South Korea, Finland, China, Japan, Switzerland, France, USA, and India.
Visitors by exhibition area
360° automation. The leading exhibition presents the entire spectrum of visionary technology: components, systems, services, and applications. The Robotics, Assembly and Handling Technology, Machine Vision, and Sensor Technology exhibition areas were once again among the biggest crowd-pullers in 2025.
Visitors by company size
Innovative technology has now paved the way for SMEs to easily benefit from robotics and automation. The great SME campaign at automatica 2025 with its offerings of fundamental knowledge and use cases impacted the visitor profile: 50 % of employed visiting professionals represented companies with a total staff count between 1 and 199 (2023: 40 %).
Visitors by trade fair day
The first (25 %) and last trade fair day (17 %) saw a significant increase in attendance while the second (30 %) and third (29 %) remained at high levels. The average visit duration has also increased to 1.8 days: 44 % invested more than one day to benefit from the wide range of offerings (2023: 33 %), which allowed long technical discussions that were explicitly praised by the exhibitors.
Top ratings for business and personal experience
automatica 2025 was more than a must-attend business event: The numerous lively discussions and satisfied faces indicated that attendees had a great time! Bottom line: 99 % of visitors and 95 % of exhibitors gave the exhibition a good, very good, or excellent rating. The likelihood of attendants recommending the exhibition is high, too: 98 % of exhibitors would recommend automatica to business partners and colleagues*.
Detailed survey
Exhibitors are particularly impressed with the overall atmosphere and the trade fair experience – they praise the exhibitor quality and the character of a leading trade fair. Among visitors, the internationality of exhibitors and the presence of market leaders ensures high levels of satisfaction.
The relevance of the supporting program has also increased significantly from the perspective of trade visitors: 45% rate it as very or extremely important (2023: 35%), and 63% took advantage of the supporting program at the trade fair (2023: 45%). This is because it provides an overview of global developments, topics, innovations, and solutions, thus ensuring the necessary orientation and investment security in a time of upheaval.
Top participation goals
The search for new products and innovations remains one of the top priorities for visitors. Exhibitors focus on establishing new business relationships . Automatica is particularly well suited to meeting this demand: 79% of exhibitors and 89% of visitors said they were very satisfied with the new business contacts they made.
*Participant survey conducted by the independent research institute GMM Gelszus Messe-Marktforschungs GmbH
Strong community – strong visibility
Whether industry, research, industry associations, politics, or press: automatica brings together all market players in its capacity as the most important international smart automation and robotics event, thus creating a framework for innovation and future business viability. Thanks to the unparalleled media reach of automatica, the presentations, discussions and developments taking place here have a real-time impact around the globe. That makes the leading exhibition the largest multiplier of industry topics and goals.
Media reach
Over 37,000 followers and around 39 million impressions on social media underscore automatica's strong digital visibility. A media reach of more than 340 million contacts in Germany alone and 287 accredited journalists ensure an exceptional presence among trade and general audiences. The media response was correspondingly high: in the German daily/business press alone, the aggregate reach was over 92 million – 28% more than at automatica 2023. Supplemented by over two million page views and 280,000 website visitors, this creates an overall picture of high attention and credibility, from which exhibitors in particular benefit.
Learn more about your opportunities as an exhibitor
Be there when automatica opens its doors again in 2027. We will support you with professional advice on all aspects of your trade show participation. Contact us for more information about your opportunities as an exhibitor.