LABVOLUTION showcases the laboratory of the future

- Fully networked smartLAB featuring live shows plus a forum

What will the lab of the future look like? The answer to this question can be found at LABVOLUTION in Hannover (6–8 October 2015). This new laboratory technology show will include the premiere of the special “smartLAB” display designed to give detailed insight into the intelligent laboratory of the future. Scientists and company representatives from all over Germany have formed a working group with the aim of developing a model of an intelligent laboratory. This model will make its debut at LABVOLUTION 2015 and illustrate various scenarios for laboratory operation in the era of digitization and Industry 4.0.

“At LABVOLUTION we will experience Laboratory 4.0 – a fully integrated lab concept which has never existed before in this form,” explains Dr. Jochen Köckler, a member of the Managing Board at Deutsche Messe. “The new trade fair LABVOLUTION sets out to showcase the entire spectrum of laboratory technology and to illustrate and discuss future perspectives.”

The goal of the smartLAB working party is to develop a realistic and plausible vision of the benefits derived from smart laboratories. Automation, information technology, human-machine interaction and big data play a key role in improving quality, cutting costs and minimizing the input of time and effort – in science as well as in industry.

“Despite the partial automation of certain areas, conventional laboratories are technologically obsolete,” says Dr. Sascha Beutel from the Institute of Technical Chemistry at Hannover University and spokesperson of the LABVOLUTION-smartLAB working party. “In future it will be important to define common networking standards, integrate laboratory procedures and create a laboratory environment which can be individually adapted to changing requirements.”

In preparation for the smartLAB model laboratory in Hannover a digital framework has been created which allows devices made by different manufacturers to communicate with each other. Alongside the integration of hardware and software, smartLAB will focus on robotics and wearables. Smart laboratory glasses, for example, support a wide range of additional functions – thanks to their built-in camera and sensors. These include the monitoring of lab procedures, information sharing and video-based documentation. The smartLAB consists of individual laboratory modules according to the ballroom principle. Thanks to their innovative honeycomb structure, the individual modules offer a high degree of flexibility.

During LABVOLUTION the smartLAB will demonstrate its capabilities – live and in action. Four different scientific applications will be featured several times on each day of the show: media preparation (biotechnology); spectroscopic analysis (chemistry); a polymerase chain reaction (biology); and a 3D printing process (process technology). Parallel to this around 400 square meters have been set aside for an accompanying forum program which examines the various aspects of Laboratory 4.0.

In addition, the members of the smartLAB working party will give an insight into their activities. These include Hannover University (with its Institute of Technical Chemistry and the Laser Center), various private enterprises (Eppendorf, iTiZZiMO, Köttermann, Labfolder, Merck, PreSens Precision Sensing, Sartorius, Stäubli Tec-Systems Robotics) as well as Deutsche Messe. It is planned to expand the working party into a national cluster.