Kongsberg Digital and Yara recognized with Microsoft Intelligent Manufacturing Award at Hannover Messe

HANNOVER, Germany — April 2026
Kongsberg Digital and Yara International have been awarded a Microsoft Intelligent Manufacturing Award (MIMA) at Hannover Messe 2026 for their joint deployment of the flagship Industrial Work Surface solution, Kognitwin®, an Azure-native platform that provides a unified environment where operational and enterprise data are contextualized across the lifecycle of complex industrial assets.

The technology is deployed at Yara Porsgrunn, one of the company’s largest production sites. Yara International employs around 17,000 people globally and operates major fertilizer and industrial chemical facilities around the world.

The award recognizes how the solution improves the way large industrial facilities access and use information. Chemical plants generate vast volumes of data across historians, maintenance systems, engineering documents and control platforms. In practice, this information often remains fragmented, slowing analysis and forcing teams to rely heavily on manual expertise.

By combining operational data, engineering knowledge and AI reasoning in one workspace, we help industrial teams move from reactive problem-solving to more informed and consistent decision-making.This is increasingly important for sectors like chemicals where reliability, safety and efficiency are critical. From engineers to operators and maintenance teams, Yara’s employees can now access the information they need to make better decisions across the plant.

Shane McArdle, CEO of Kongsberg Digital.

The platform brings together 3D models, maintenance data, and engineering documentation within a single workspace, allowing teams to search, analyze and collaborate more effectively across operations, engineering and maintenance.

Keeping a large chemical plant like Porsgrunn running is a continuous challenge. Our operations, maintenance, and engineering teams depend on having the right data at the right time to keep the plant operating safely, reliably, and efficiently. The Industrial Work Surface enables our workers to do just that.

Roar Nilsen, Program Manager, Digital Engineering, Yara International.

The Industrial Work Surface runs on Microsoft Azure and leverages Azure-native services for data integration, AI reasoning and secure cloud deployment. The platform’s architecture allows operational data, documents and simulation models to interact continuously, supporting a shift from reactive troubleshooting toward more predictive and consistent performance.

The recognition at Hannover Messe reflects the increasing role of collaboration between industrial operators, software developers and cloud providers in enabling more consistent, data-driven operations across energy-intensive industries.