Just one year on from its debut, LABVOLUTION’s smartLAB showcase has already established its credentials as a leading window on the high-tech future of laboratory technology. It has also spawned a Germany-wide cluster of companies – the smartLAB Innovation Network. Part of the German government’s SME Central Innovation Program (ZIM), the cluster already comprises over 20 companies and research institutions. This level of uptake is further testimony to smartLAB’s outstanding success as a recognized innovation hub. Next year’s LABVOLUTION, which is co-staged with the BIOTECHNICA life sciences show from 16 to 18 May in Hannover, Germany, will once again feature the special smartLAB display of future-defining digital laboratory technologies. smartLAB 2017 will be developed jointly by a high-power group of organizations from industry, science and research and will include a fully functional next-generation "Laboratory 4.0" lab, complete with augmented reality, robotics and intelligent surface solutions.

The list of partners for smartLAB 2017 has now been finalized. It comprises the following companies and institutions: Eppendorf, the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (Fraunhofer IPA), Herr M, iTiZZiMO, Köttermann, labfolder, Lorenscheit, LUPYLED, PreSens Precision Sensing, Sartorius, Schmidt + Haensch and Zühlke Engineering. The Institute of Technical Chemistry at the Leibniz University of Hannover will once again head the joint initiative. The showcase will also receive funding support from the Lower Saxony Economic Affairs and Science ministries. Next year’s "smartLAB – the intelligent lab of the future" showcase will feature live demonstrations of a fully functional high-tech laboratory, a supporting forum program and plenty of networking events.