For Messe Frankfurt, artificial intelligence is more than just a technological trend. It is a strategic lever that can be used to further develop our core business, streamline processes and open up new avenues for customers to access industry expertise, services and international contacts.
The focus, as always, is on personal encounters. As a partner to the industries in which it operates, Messe Frankfurt builds platforms where people, markets and ideas come together. To achieve this added value, the company makes targeted and strategic use of AI tools.
A structured approach to integrating AI
Messe Frankfurt’s aim is to approach AI as a group-wide task and shared responsibility. Adopting a structured framework for integrating AI into day-to-day operations requires a number of key steps to identify, define and develop use cases. Pilot projects can be helpful here as a means to test new technologies and identify scalable solutions.
The AI working group plays a central part in this, functioning as an in-house enabler, sparring partner and networker – with the aim of empowering employees and maximising knowledge sharing.
Using AI responsibly and transparently
Messe Frankfurt has a clear focus regarding the use of AI that places people at the forefront of the events business. It is Messe Frankfurt’s employees who bear professional responsibility, have the requisite expertise and foster personal relationships with our customers. AI is just one tool that supports our employees in their decision-making.
AI initiatives are implemented where they produce tangible results, for example improved services, more efficient processes, enhanced quality or new offerings. This relies on data quality, transparency and responsible data management. Clear guidelines, active risk management and governance structures provide orientation – especially in matters relating to data security, copyright and personal rights, as well as ethical issues. Like this, Messe Frankfurt combines innovation with reliability.
AI creates value throughout the customer journey
Selected applications from 2025 illustrate how AI delivers tangible improvements in the trade fair sector. They come into play at various stages in the customer journey – from the research phase and international media communications to the multilingual processing of digital content.
AI-powered chatbots on event websites
Messe Frankfurt uses AI-powered chatbots on the websites of its own group events in Germany, as well as on the Festhalle and Fairconstruction websites and the stand construction contractor portal to provide quick answers to FAQs for visitors, exhibitors and other target audiences.
The demand for information is particularly high in the run-up to and during an event. Opening times, tickets, travel information, hall plans and programme highlights must be easy to find, clear and up to date. This is precisely where the chatbot comes into play, making it easier to find your way around, improving response times and enhancing existing service and support processes.
Messe Frankfurt provides technical, content-related and conceptual support to accompany the introduction and further development of the chatbots, for example by defining relevant use cases, maintaining the knowledge base and continuously optimising user guidance and the response quality. One major advancement is multiple language support for in the meantime almost 100 languages, making information more readily accessible to an international audience.
AI-based live translation
An AI-assisted solution was used to make the German-language live stream of the Light + Building press talk accessible to an international media audience. Live translation into seven target languages made the content available in an easy-to-understand, synchronised and user-friendly manner – via voice-over and real-time subtitling directly in the end user’s media player.
Technical terms, names and organisations could be pre-defined with the help of an AI vocabulary tool. During the live stream, an AI live correction tool further enhanced the quality.
“With the live translation of the Light + Building online press talk, we demonstrated how international communication in the exhibition environment can become more accessible, scalable and cost-effective. The key factor is not to use AI in isolation, but to combine it with professional preparation and clearly defined quality criteria.”
AI in the Media Package Manager
An AI-powered translation feature is also used in the Media Package Manager digital product, meeting a key requirement of international exhibitors to make content for digital communication and marketing materials available quickly, consistently and in multiple languages.
Integrating the AI-powered translation feature enables exhibiting companies to translate their content quickly and free of charge into English and other event languages, thus greatly facilitating profile management whilst also increasing their international exposure. At the same time, it improves the quality and consistency of how digital content is presented – for example in exhibitor searches, apps, international group portals and content hubs.
The feature is currently live and in use at subsidiaries in Germany, Japan and Argentina.
Learning as the foundation for future-proofing
These examples clearly demonstrate that AI delivers the maximum benefit where it addresses specific needs, for example faster orientation, better international understanding, streamlined processes and new digital services. For Messe Frankfurt, this is a learning-based approach. Solutions are tested, assessed and scaled up in a number of steps. The crucial point to remember is that AI is not an end in and of itself, but that it makes a measurable contribution: for our customers, our industries and the future development of our company.
