A wide range of autonomous laboratory technologies driven by AI and robots will be unveiled at Analytica 2026, the world’s largest laboratory and analytical equipment exhibition, in Munich, Germany, in March. Messe Muenchen said on Wednesday the exhibition will be held at its biggest scale ever, with about 1,200 global companies participating. It will showcase intelligent infrastructure in which AI sets hypotheses and robots carry out analysis.

The most closely watched collaboration to be unveiled combines analytical equipment maker Thermo Fisher Scientific and OpenAI. Hardware and generative AI software have been integrated in earnest. Eighteen global companies including Liebherr, Mettler Toledo, Metrohm and Sigma will demonstrate integrated workflows in which hardware and software are organically connected despite being from different manufacturers.

Susanne Groedel (수잔 그뢰들), a director at Messe Muenchen, said, "Green labs are a process that is completed when the entire value chain works in sync." She said, "This exhibition will present specific solutions to cut costs and raise value across overall laboratory operations."

She added, "The conference, comprising about 190 sessions, will take an in-depth look at the potential for industrial applications of next-generation technologies such as autonomous laboratories." She said, "It will go beyond simply observing new technologies and become a forum for decisions where companies confirm their position in the global ecosystem and find strategic partners."

Universal Robots will demonstrate unmanned processes using collaborative robots. It is a case showing laboratory automation has moved beyond proof of concept and entered the commercialisation stage. Solution companies such as Qualitape and Splashlake will unveil data-standardisation technology. The industry assessed that competition centred on equipment performance has shifted to a platform war combining AI and data.

Green labs, a sustainable research environment, are also a key agenda item. The approach uses AI simulations to eliminate unnecessary experiments, cutting energy use and the cost of expensive consumables. Plasmion will unveil intelligent nose technology that shortens experiment time by skipping sample pre-treatment. It is assessed as a case that achieves efficiency and ESG management at the same time.

An official at Messe Muenchen’s Korea representative office said, "This exhibition will be a venue to demonstrate the reality of autonomous laboratories in which AI and robots go beyond digital transformation to set hypotheses and carry out experiments on their own." The official said, "In particular, a wide range of core technologies that will change the paradigm in R&D sites will be unveiled, including data platform competition through the OpenAI and Thermo Fisher collaboration and Universal Robots’ demonstration of unmanned processes."