Hanover, 12 February 2025. Deutsche Messe's new care trade fair Pro Care celebrated its premiere in Hanover on 11 and 12 February 2025 and exceeded all expectations. 5,400 participants from all over Germany came to Exhibition Hall 7 over the two days - despite public transport strikes. They met around 190 exhibitors.

‘We are delighted with how positively the premiere of Pro Care was received. Our plan to create a joint platform for the entire care sector has paid off,’ said Heike Grosch, Project Manager of Pro Care. Numerous companies have already confirmed their participation for 2026.

Under the motto ‘So that care has a future’, Pro Care brought together inpatient, outpatient and home care for an interdisciplinary exchange between all areas of the care industry - from de The ‘Future Care’ congress, organised by the Federal Association of Private Social Service Providers (bpa), offered discussions on current topics such as the staffing and care crisis as well as insights into the future of the care industry.

Bpa President Bernd Meurer expressed his satisfaction: ‘The premiere of our specialist congress “Future Care” with more than 350 participants was embedded in an extremely successful premiere of the new trade fair Pro Care. Together, we have created a new hotspot for the care sector and initiated and advanced current debates.’

Hotspot for care

The trade fair focused on innovative AI and digitalisation solutions that make the day-to-day work of care staff easier. Exhibitors presented intelligent home emergency call systems, smart incontinence prevention, catering management as well as new training and further education offers, recruiting opportunities to combat the shortage of skilled workers and measures to reduce the number of sick days in care facilities. In particular, the small social robot Navel, which starts a personalised conversation with every person it meets - supported by artificial intelligence - was in constant conversation with trade fair visitors.

Extensive programme

Pro Care also offered many things for carers to discover. The ‘Charging Station’ hands-on area and the ‘Pop Up Area’ provided offers on work-life balance and burn-out prevention as well as technical gadgets for everyday care work.

And well-known faces from politics, the media and the care industry gave talks on the Spotlight stage. They included Lower Saxony's Minister of Health, Dr Andreas Philippi, and the physician and author Dr Eckart von Hirschhausen. In their keynote speeches, they emphasised the importance of care for our society.

Voices of the exhibitors

The exhibiting companies were consistently positive and some have already registered their stand for 2026.

Peter Kuhoff, Regional Head of Sales, opta data Care division: ‘The opta data Group's participation was completely worthwhile from the very first day of the Pro Care trade fair. Our products and services relating to external service billing, telematics and our IT industry solution ‘od|care’ were very well received by the trade fair participants. We look forward to 2026 and to participating again.’

Laura Willig, MEDIFOX DAN spokesperson: ‘We are delighted to have been part of the successful premiere of Pro Care in Hanover. We can already say that we had many interesting discussions and made promising contacts.’

Fabio Schmidberger, CEO of Voize: ‘Innovation becomes tangible at Pro Care - a perfect platform for inspiration and personal dialogue.’

Philip Francisc Czipczer, CEO of FLEXXI Care - a platform to simplify the concept of respite care: ‘Pro Care was a great experience for us! We met many committed carers who are actively looking for new ways to shape their professional future. The positive feedback on our flexible concept in particular has confirmed our decision: The opportunity to work in a self-determined way strikes a chord with the times.’ He continues: ‘We were also able to make valuable contacts in the B2B sector - especially with outpatient care services that need more flexibility in their personnel planning in order to reliably ensure the care of their clients. We are already looking forward to Pro Care 2026!’

Nils Stenzel, Sales Consultant Coffee Machines and Service: ‘As we are new to the industry, we had no idea what to expect and were pleasantly surprised. We received positive feedback from both other exhibitors and visitors, regardless of their position, and made valuable contacts. We would love to come back.’

Julia-Marie Meisenburg, Project Manager ASB-Wünschewagen Niedersachsen: ‘For us, the two days were a great opportunity to present our ASB volunteer project to an extremely interested and wide-ranging audience and to inspire them. We were able to meet great people, make contacts with future volunteer wish fulfilers and draw the attention of care facilities to us. The Pro Care premiere - more than a success for us!’

Rene Körber, Head of Nursing Services at Braunschweig Municipal Hospital: ‘In my opinion, this format is very well suited for both nursing professionals and companies to find out about current trends and the future of nursing and to present innovations in the nursing sector. The Pro Care trade fair offered the opportunity for a comprehensive professional exchange between the exhibitors and with the visitors. It was particularly exciting to see how the future of care can be shaped and optimised with the help of AI.’

Pro Care 2026

The next Pro Care will take place again in Hanover on 10 and 11 February 2026. ‘With Pro Care, we have created a new meeting place for the entire care sector. We look forward to building on this success and actively shaping the care of the future together with all participants,’ concludes Heike Grosch.