On April 21, the Honourable Victor Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation, and Trade (MEDJCT) stood center stage in the Canada Pavilion at Hannover Messe 2026. Speaking at the Canada–Germany networking reception hosted by MEDJCT, NGen Canada, and York Region, Minister Fedeli highlighted Ontario’s business support and investment attraction efforts and recognized the work of York Region Economic Development before a capacity crowd of international stakeholders.
York Region had joined Team Canada for a second straight year at Hannover Messe (HM), with more than 110,000 attendees walking the floor of the world’s largest industrial tradeshow, after a highly successful Team Canada presence at HM in 2025.
After opening remarks from Minister Fedeli, Mayor David West from the City of Richmond Hill, and Yvonne Denz, President of the Canadian German Chamber of Industry and Commerce, there was an industry-led panel discussion in front of the capacity crowd.
The conversations focused on working together locally and internationally in areas of opportunity including artificial intelligence, energy, and research. The panel included representatives from National Research Council of Canada, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, NGen Canada and companies, Masterly and DraftAid.
The importance of multi-level collaboration with partners such as MEDJCT, NGen, Invest Ontario, Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN), the Ontario Trade and Investment Office in Munich, York University, local municipal economic development teams from Richmond Hill and Vaughan, and other organizations cannot be overstated.
Collaboration enabled our team to deliver a highly impactful and beneficial week for York Region–based businesses at Hannover Messe, including a two-day program in Regensburg, Bavaria with activities for German and Canadian companies focused on autotech, mobility, and smart cities initiatives.
Direct B2B Opportunities and relationship building focus of activities in Regensburg
After Hannover Messe, York Region, its partners and a collection of York Region and Ontario-based businesses traveled to Regensburg, Bavaria – an impressive city near Munich. The two-day programming was delivered in partnership with OVIN, the Ontario TIO Munich Office, Vaughan Economic Development, York University, and German sensor industry organization, Strategische Partnerschaft Sensorik.
The activities gave German and Ontario companies the opportunity to learn about Bavaria’s support for innovation in automotive, sensor, and smart city technologies, pitch directly to one another, and tour the AVL Software facility, one of only three worldwide capable of testing autonomous vehicles in simulated weather conditions.
Additionally, companies learned how Ontario’s complete mobility ecosystem, supported by the nine Regional Technology Development Sites (RTDS) and OVIN Demonstration Zones (DZ) – including the York Region RTDS and Vaughan DZ – can help companies go from ideation right through to real world testing. Local companies and international companies that soft-land in Ontario can leverage OVIN-linked research facilities, testing areas, and other beneficial partnerships to help them bring their products to market faster.
Creating Two Way Opportunity
One clear message came through during our time in Hannover and Bavaria, collaboration is the key to driving opportunity forward. Working together led to opportunities including opening doors for cities and regions to collaborate with academia on integrating new technologies and research, setting up the environment for businesses to create meaningful partnerships that will drive growth for both sides, and more.
At HM26, our focus was on forging connections that drive real outcomes for local companies while demonstrating Ontario’s end-to-end ecosystem and York Region’s value as a soft-landing location for German businesses.
This was a highly impactful week or as Masterly CEO, Dr. Majid Janidarmian eloquently stated, “we achieved what would typically take months of international business development, in just one week.”
Thank you to all of the partners we collaborated with, the Canadian and German companies that we met with, and all of the other organizations that helped to deliver two-way opportunity for everyone involved moving forward.
View more Hannover Messe and Regensburg highlights on our LinkedIN: