HANOVER, Germany (AFP) - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger kicked off the world's biggest high-tech fair Tuesday, telling executives to seize the economic crisis as a moment to shape up and go "green". Schwarzenegger, this year's guest of honour at the sprawling CeBIT fair in this northern German city, toured stands with Chancellor Angela Merkel as the six-day event opened under a cloud of financial gloom. Dropping by IBM's giant space, Schwarzenegger said that as the information technology sector's carbon footprint grows larger by the year, now was the time to promote more energy efficiency to cut costs as well as reduce emissions. "The only way we can move forward is not just with the will but with the technology," the Austrian-born governor said, saying it was up to industry innovators to lead the way. California is the honorary guest at this year's CeBIT and Schwarzenegger has come to the fair with around 50 firms from his state, most from ailing Silicon Valley. The German press had hoped the "Governator" would give the event a shot in the arm. Some 4,300 firms from 69 countries are displaying the latest netbooks, handsets, navigators and software solutions at the fair - a quarter fewer than last year due to the global economic slump. That contrasts with the more than 8,000 exhibitors that attended in 2001 during the "new economy" heyday. Organisers said small hardware and telecommunications suppliers from China, Taiwan and South Korea had pulled out in droves. In a rollicking speech at a fair opening ceremony late Monday, Schwarzenegger drew on references from his career as a bodybuilder, actor and entrepreneur to pump up his recession-knocked audience. "We are gathering in challenging times. Some may say this is the wrong time for a big trade show like this but they are wrong," Schwarzenegger said. "Losers whine but winners move forward in a strong and powerful way and I know that everyone who is here at the CeBIT is a winner" His message fit with a key theme at this year's show: using the global economic meltdown as a chance to promote cost-saving energy-efficient products and harnessing technology for long-term business restructuring. Giant signs on the sides of the fairground buildings show the word "crisis" crossed out, replaced with the word "opportunity". Merkel joined Schwarzenegger in urging high-tech executives to develop more "green" technology. "I think there is such a thing as truly safe investments in the future," Merkel said. "For me they are in the area of information and communications technology, for example," noting that she had earmarked millions to ensure all of Germany had access to broadband Internet networks by the end of next year and to buy more computers for schools in two recent economic stimulus packages. While in Hanover, Schwarzenegger was due to pick up an award from the American Chamber of Commerce in Germany for "his exceptional commitment to the global issues of environment and energy". Germany's high-tech industry lobby, BITKOM, said Monday that it expected to weather the downturn relatively unscathed with turnover to hold steady at about 145 billion euros (183 billion dollars). Hot topics at this year's fair include "green" gadgets, "e-health" using the Internet to revolutionise health care, electronic books and "cloud computing", an efficiency tool in which applications or data are stored online instead of being installed and maintained on users' machines. The CeBIT runs until Sunday.