HEITEC at embedded world: Exchange as a driver of innovation

Customer stories – where connections shape the future: Trade shows are more than just places where products are displayed. They are moments of connection. Here, conversations take shape that spark new ideas, partnerships that grow, and perspectives that endure. In the “Customer Stories” series, exhibitors explain why NürnbergMesse is exactly that kind of place for them – each trade fair with its own focus, each story with its own perspective.

Written by Stefan Jablonka

A man with short gray hair wearing a black suit and white shirt in front of the HEITEC booth at embedded world.

When Matthias Rühr talks about NürnbergMesse, personal experience resonates. His first encounter with the exhibition venue dates back many years. “That’s where the fascination began for me,” he recalls, reflecting on his first impressions as a young visitor. Even then, he was captivated by the special atmosphere – a place where people, ideas, and technologies come together. Today, Rühr is Head of Business Unit Electronics at HEITEC AG and regularly exhibits in Nuremberg.

embedded world as a focal point for the industry

The embedded world Exhibition & Conference is one of the world’s most important meeting points for the embedded community. At the 2025 edition, around 1,200 exhibitors from 46 countries presented their solutions. Approximately 32,000 trade visitors from more than 80 nations used the event in Nuremberg as a central platform. The exhibition is complemented by accompanying conferences with participants from around 47 countries.

For Matthias Rühr’s business area, embedded world is “the trade fair.” This is where the international electronics industry meets, where customers from around the globe come together. “You meet international customers,” says Rühr, “to whom we can present our developments – and who, in turn, engage in direct dialogue with us.” For HEITEC, embedded world is the key meeting place for maintaining existing contacts and initiating new conversations. NürnbergMesse is far more than a venue: it provides an international platform for exchange, networking, and collaboration.

Three men in business attire talking at the HEITEC booth. — Direct exchange at embedded world serves as the starting point for new ideas at HEITEC.

Dialogue as the starting point for innovation

For Rühr, direct dialogue is central. “In conversation, we develop ideas, the customer develops ideas – and that is actually the most important thing.” The trade fair provides exactly this space: different perspectives come together and evolve into concrete solution approaches. Rühr therefore understands innovation primarily as the result of encounter and exchange.

The trade fair as a social space

Especially in an increasingly digital working world, Rühr assigns particular importance to personal exchange at trade fairs. Digital formats can facilitate many processes, but they cannot replace direct, person to person conversation. At the trade fair, it is about building trust and truly getting to know one another. Only through personal contact does it become clear who stands behind a company and how resilient a collaboration really is.

Inspiration from technology and encounter

HEITEC has a broad footprint in electronics development. The company designs circuit boards and special purpose machines and operates under the principle of “low volume, high mix.” embedded world provides valuable impulses for this work. “The trade fair gives us new ideas,” says Rühr. “We are inspired – by the technologies we see here.” For him, inspiration is an immediate trade fair experience, shaped by conversations, impressions, and looking beyond one’s own horizons.

Man holding circuit board in front of screen in electronics workspace. — Practical technological insights inspire HEITEC to develop new solution approaches.

Innovation needs encounter

This personal dimension is closely linked to innovation. The trade fair offers a unique framework: many conversations in a short time, spontaneous encounters, and direct exposure to new technologies. “Something always develops from a trade fair,” Rühr sums up.

HEITEC also benefits from a long standing, trust based collaboration with NürnbergMesse. “You have your fixed contacts,” Rühr explains. This continuity creates planning reliability – especially in an international environment where personal relationships are crucial.

Internationally open, globally connected

HEITEC sees itself as a globally operating company. All the more important, then, is the international orientation of embedded world: once a year, the key players come together in one place – a density of contacts and impressions that is difficult to replicate digitally.

What drives Matthias Rühr personally can be distilled into a simple statement: “I love people, I love communication, I love the exchange of information.” All of this is present at the trade fair in concentrated form. For him, NürnbergMesse is therefore more than an exhibition. It is a place where relationships are formed – and from which something new continuously emerges.

Three men in business attire talking in front of presentation screen. — Personal encounters build trust and lay the foundation for long term collaboration.

Author

Stefan Jablonka

Freelance journalist