4th Lightweighting Summit at Hannover Messe

4. Lightweighting Summit shines Lightweighting 2.0 in Circular Economy

The Lightweighting Summit, organized by the German Economics Ministry (BMWK) in cooperation with the Deutsche Messe group of companies, is the fourth top-level conference on lightweight construction to be held at HANNOVER MESSE.

Leading experts from business, research and government will discuss how sustainable lightweight construction technologies can contribute to a circular economy and the challenges that still need to be overcome. This year’s event will focus on a holistic view of lightweight construction over the entire product lifecycle.

Following a welcome address by Dr. Jochen Köckler, Managing Board Chairman of Deutsche Messe, Federal Minister Dr. Robert Habeck will open the Lightweighting Summit with a keynote address. In another keynote, Dr. Sven Jantzen, Director of Government Affairs at Umicore AG & Co. KG, will address the subject of the circular economy as a key element of resource efficiency from the perspective of a globally active recycling and materials technology group.

The subsequent panel discussion will highlight challenges and solution approaches to recycling in lightweight construction. The panel will include Dr. Barbara Güttler, Competence Field Manager Material Cycles at the Leibniz Institute for Composite Materials, Dr. Gunnar Merz, CEO of Composites United e.V., Tim Rademacker, General Manager of Carbon Fiber Recycling at the Mitsubishi Chemicals Group and Jörg Radanitsch, founder and CEO of Carbon Cleanup GmbH.

Another exciting keynote address will be given by Prof. Dr. Ulrich Panne, President of the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), who will explore the potential of innovative approaches to circular value creation in lightweight construction.

This will be followed by a panel discussion on the contribution that lifecycle assessments and lifecycle analyses can make to the sustainable development of lightweight products. The panel discussion will be conducted by Prof. Dr. Thilo Bein, Head of Science Management at Fraunhofer LBF, Dr. Alexander Janz, Head of Department for Sustainable Products and Sustainable Consumption and Circular Economy at the Federal Environment Agency, Lisa Reehten, Managing Director of Bosch Climate Solutions GmbH, and Dr. Martin Vogt, Managing Director of the VDI Center for Resource Efficiency.

A political highlight of the 4th Lightweighting Summit will be the participation of Director General Dr. Florika Fink-Hooijer, who heads the European Commission’s Directorate General for the Environment and will outline the EU’s path towards the circular economy in a video message.

The closing panel will address the necessary framework conditions for Lightweight Construction 2.0 in the Circular Economy, featuring Dr. Susanne Kadner, co-founder of CIRCULAR REPUBLIC, Bernhard Kluttig, Head of the Industrial Policy Department at BMWK, Silke Küstner, Circular Economy Project Manager at WWF and Holger Lösch, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of BDI.

The closing words will be delivered by Olaf Lies, Minister of Economics, Transport, Construction and Digitization of the German state of Lower Saxony.