Paris, 13. Dezember 2022 | In 2021, in Frankfurt JEC Forum DACH had inaugurated a new format of event enabling prequalified buyers to meet with suppliers of the DACH region. This second edition, in Augsburg, closed its doors after two very promising days: hosting hundreds of business meetings and highlighted by Awards ceremonies.

JEC Forum DACH was launched by JEC Group in partnership with AVK with a major goal to support the bustling composites industry of the region. Unique in its format, the event aimed to be rotating to different cities in Germany, Switzerland and Austria every year: it is in Augsburg that this second edition settled, at the heart of a composite’s “golden triangle” close to Munich and Ingolstadt.
“We are very proud to have been able to organize this hand in hand with AVK and we thank all the participants for their trust. Our objective is still to offer the local industry leaders the opportunity to build strong business connections with one-to-one meetings and get a full picture of the latest innovations in the area. With this in mind, JEC Forum DACH was a success, that would not have been possible without the buyers’ and suppliers’ will to gather, network and get inspired.” stated Anne-Carole Barbarin, regional Events Director at JEC Group.

Dr. Michael Effing, AVK chairman added: “Focussing on matchmaking, this event represents a very important platform, in this important geographical region DACH that represents almost 45% of the composites industry in Europe: networking and supporting the industry with new impulses is crucial, particularly in the key markets e-mobility, wind energy, building and infrastructure and also the next generation of aircraft. At this year’s forum, the topic of sustainability / recycling proved to be one of the current focal topics of our industry. The AVK is also dedicated to this in its currently offered working groups”.

Suppliers and buyers who meant business

To optimize company’s participations, JEC Forum DACH offered a customized program to match attendees needs and schedule meetings during the two days.
Many global companies joined the program: BIESSE GROUP, CMS SPA, ELANTAS EUROPE, HEXCEL, MITSUI CHEMICALS EUROPE, NIPPON ELECTRIC GLASS, SAERTEX, SOLVAY (…)

More than 440 business meetings were organized, whether during formal allocated time slots or informal gatherings such as the networking lunch or the evening networking event.

“Great show and awesome organization. Everything worked out well, some very interesting and promising talks. It was a pleasure to join.”
“The organization of JEC Forum Dach has been quite satisfactory from my point of view. This event helped us strengthen commercial contacts with our German customers.” Arnaud Frizon, Chief executive officer (CEO), Setemip (France)

“This is our first-time participation to JEC Forum Dach event but we already exhibited at JEC World in Paris. The fact that the event took place in Augsburg in Germany, which is only a two-hour drive away from our headquarters in the Czech Republic, was a big plus for us. The event is international and not focused only on Dach countries, although these markets are very strong in the machine tool business where we operate in addition to our other activities as technology providers (e.g.: filament winding) and development services for the machine tool industry. Another contributing factor is that we could also count on European funding to participate to these kinds of smaller shows. ” Dr. Humphrey Carter, head of business development, Compo Tech Plus, spol. s.r.o (Czech Republic)

“The first day of the event was busy. We appreciated the business meeting scheduling system, but people also came to see us without a previously arranged meeting. Our customers are everywhere (automotive, marine, aerospace, professional sport articles, leisure, etc.) but we sell around 50% of our products to countries belonging to the Dach regions so this geographical area is important to us. Our biggest end-market users are manufacturers of high-end products in sport, marine and vehicles such as Porsche, Lamborghini and Ferrari, for example.” Gert Laarakker, Senior Sales Manager, Vombaur (Germany)

“We have known JEC World in Paris for some time now but this is the first time we have participated to a forum. The German market has been opening up to us for some months now. Consequently, this event is a good opportunity for us to meet our local customers in the bicomponent sector, for instance. Being able to schedule business meetings ahead of the event is also a strong point.”Carine Delobeille, chief financial officer (CFO), Setemip (France)

“This event in Augsburg is a good complement to the annual JEC World show in Paris. The possibility to schedule business meetings well in advance has been very helpful for us.” Thomas Schwarz, chief commercial officer, Gunnar (Switzerland)

Market developments, sustainability and innovation as major topics

Mrs Eva Weber, Mayor of the city of Augsburg also joined and made an introduction speech, calling networking the key to future of business.
JEC Forum DACH offered a rich program of conferences with the participation of 25+ speakers from and across Europe, including experts from companies such as 9T Labs, Voith Composites, Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials, (…)

“First day was very promising at JEC Forum DACH in Augsburg. Good exchanges and interesting presentations. Looking forward to JEC World in Paris next year!”

Innovation and entrepreneurship rewarded

Sourcing and fostering innovation is JEC Group’s first ambition, the renowned JEC Composites Startup Booster competition held a “local” version to shine a light on innovative composites projects in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. 5 finalists were invited to pitch their project in front of experts and leading industry players.
Among them, Composite Recycling was designated as the winner, for developing a highly energy efficient and sustainable process to separate the resin from the fibres and make them reusable in new composites.

Later that day, the AVK Innovation Awards invited 9 companies and projects on stage for their outstanding work in science and research in all the categories, with a special focus on sustainability.
Mainly, promoting new products, components and applications made from fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP), it also highlights new processes and methods for manufacturing FRP products as well as research and science conducted by universities, colleges, and institutes.

List of award winners in the three categories:

Products & Applications category
1st place: LAMILUX Composites GmbH, Rehau, Germany: Lamilux Sunsation® – the new standard under the sun
2nd place: Carbo-Link AG, Fehraltorf, Switzerland: CL RESTRAP – Reinforcement of concrete girders using flexible, prestressed CRP tapes
3rd place: Borgers SE & Co. KGaA, Bocholt, Germany: blue label by Borgers®

Innovative Processes & Methods category
1st place: BaltiCo GmbH, Hohen Luckow, Germany: Rod laying technology as an additive manufacturing process
2nd place: Schmidt & Heinzmann GmbH & Co. KG, Bruchsal, Germany: Pole Position, a positioning system for polarisation imaging
3rd place: NETZSCH Process Intelligence GmbH, Selb, Germany: SensXPERT, process optimisation driven by material data to increase the efficiency of thermosets and fibre composites

Research & Science category
1st place: Institute for Textile Machinery and High Performance Textiles at the Technical University of Dresden: Spherically curved fibre-reinforced plastic composite components made from near-net-shape fabrics
2nd place: Leibniz-Institut für Verbundwerkstoffe GmbH, Kaiserslautern, Germany: HyKoPerm – a measurement system for an industry-specific characterisation of textile impregnation behaviour
3rd place: Technical University of Munich, Chair of Carbon Composites: Manufacturing processes for a tension-strut-supported pressure vessel that can be adapted to suit a given space

“Interesting lectures, networking with the whole industry, a convivial evening as a meeting place for good discussions and new contacts, and last but not leastthe award cer”emonies for the best innovations made this event very successful!”

In 2022, for its second edition JEC Forum DACH gathered the main actors of the composites industry for a dedicated networking and business meetings event: an opportunity for companies to develop in this thriving geographical region.

Press Contacts

JEC Gruppe
Alix Lenne
Tel. : +33 (0)1 58 36 43 99
lenne@jeccomposites.com

AVK
Birgit Förster
Tel.: +49 (0) 69 27107713
birgit.foerster@avk-tv.de

About JEC Group
JEC Group is the world’s leading company dedicated entirely to the development of information and business connections channels and platforms supporting the growth and promotion of the composite materials industry. Publisher of the JEC Composites Magazine – the industry’s reference magazine, JEC Group drives global innovation programs and organizes several events in the world, including JEC World (the foremost and world leading international exhibition dedicated to composite materials and their applications), which takes place in Paris.
www.jeccomposites.com

About AVK
AVK, the German Federation of Reinforced Plastics, is the professional German association for fibre-reinforced plastics and composites. It represents the interests of manufacturers and processors both in Germany and at the European level. Its range of services includes specialised workgroups, seminars and conferences as well as the provision of market-specific information (www.avk-tv.de). In Germany, AVK is one of four support organisations of GKV, the General Association of the Plastics Processing Industry. Within Europe, it is a member of the European umbrella association for composites, EuCIA (European Composites Industry Association). AVK is a founding member of Composites Germany.
www.avk-tv.de