German Chancellor Angela Merkel has kicked off the world's biggest digital business fair in Hanover with a speech urging developers not to leave their fellow humans behind.
At the opening ceremony for the CeBIT expo, Merkel appealed to tech firms to include the "millions of people who in some ways don't know what awaits them" in the digital revolution, adding that politicians could not achieve such inclusion without help from the industry.
Merkel is set to peruse the latest trends at the trade fair in detail on Monday, when it opens to the public, together with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
"We cannot let a situation arise in which only certain people generate wealth," Abe said on Sunday, reinforcing the theme of shared benefits.
Merkel admitted that Europe was all too often lagging behind in digital technology. "But we feel the rising tempo globally and in Japan we have a friend who is taking advantage of this increased tempo," she said.
Abe added that his country, a world leader in electronics and robotics, is not afraid of new technology such as articificial intelligence: "That machines could replace humans - this kind of fear is not present in Japan."
The five-day event aims this year to show practical uses for new technology such as robotics, artificial intelligence and drones. Over 3,000 exhibitors from 70 different countries will appear at the fair, with around 200,000 visitors expected.
