Spring in February – what a HUMAINE Spring Fair 2026. What an exhibition route PEOPLE. WORK. AI.. We are not only looking back on five years of interdisciplinary project work, but also looking ahead to what lies in store for the HUMAINE Competence Centre.
For the fifth time, we invited guests to experience the latest solutions for the human-centred integration of AI into operational work processes in industry and medicine – and over 200 guests attended. WDR reported on the event in its ‘Lokalzeit Ruhr’ programme on 26 February 2026 (excerpt from 07:57 – link). State Secretary Matthias Hauer from the BMFTR thanked us in his welcoming address for our successful project work and made it clear that work research will continue to play an important role in the Federal Government’s high-tech agenda in the future. The Rector of Ruhr University, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Martin Paul, sees our approach as providing important impetus for the Excellence Strategy in the UA Ruhr; the Mayor of Bochum, Jörg Lukat, acknowledges our contribution to urban society; and the cooperation with the Regionalverband Ruhr provides us with the backing for the exhibition concept of the exhibition route ‘PEOPLE. WORK. AI.’, whilst the artist Emil Schult crowns it all with his distinctive style.
The RUB Makerspace, led by Florian Welsandt, is the ideal place for new discoveries. The newly opened exhibition has a fresh, youthful feel – just like the target audience it aims to reach. School groups, students and, indeed, people from all walks of life are warmly welcome to experience the exhibition and have their say. In the spirit of artist Emil Schult’s ‘Update the Future’ – we are ready.
Most importantly: HUMAINE is here to stay, and HUMAINE Network e.V. will continue to organise the spring fairs in future. This year’s HUMAINE Award went to the companies Eickhoff (Transformation category) and MotionMiners GmbH (Innovation category). Congratulations – to all of us together.