Who would have thought that an IT expo could be this much fun? At least that’s the question you’ll be asking yourself after reading the final report on this year’s CeBIT put together by the company that organized the expo. "Successful relaunch ... New concept a complete success ... Exhibitors and visitors are enthusiastic ... newly optimistic ... euphoric mood regarding technologies and solutions ... setting new standards ... impressive opening ..." Even the first lines of the final report read like hymn of praise.

Enough of the fluff, though. If you’re interested in the raw facts, read on.

This year, CeBIT drew 5,4845 exhibitors from 77 countries. Although the expo was one day shorter this year, the number of visitors grew by three percent for a total of 495,000. Every fifth visitor - roughly 100,000 - came from abroad. In the US, interest in the CeBIT was especially pronounced.

According to the organizers, "more than 10 million meetings were held, investments arranged and contracts signed" during the six days of the expo. On average, each visitor got information from 29 companies. Compared to the previous year, the visits to the exhibitors’ stands grew disproportionately. Also, the number of visitors up to the age of 30 increased by 14 percent, year over year.

Women seem to have discovered CeBIT as well. The campaign "Women@CeBIT", which was held in the context of the International Women’s Day, was considered a success. The goal had been to inform more women about the newest technologies and applications. More than 100,000 women had signed up for a visit to the campaign that took part that Saturday. Thus, a quarter of the expo’s visitors on Saturday were women.

This year, France was the CeBIT partner country. The French IT and telecommunications industry was very pleased with the expo. German and French IT companies plan to work together even more closely in the future.

The partner country for 2009 has not yet been chosen. CeBIT 2009 will take place from Tuesday, March 3 until Sunday, March 8.