#Composites

2023-11-16

The curtain lifts on JEC World 2024, the unmissable event for composites professionals

Less than 4 months to go before JEC World opens the doors to the 2024 edition. Well known globally as the main composites festival, a place where business meets inspiration and innovation, the show expects to gather the whole composites community and more. Appointment is settled from March 5th to 7th, 2024 in Paris Nord Villepinte.

The conferences program unveils

Historically, composite parts have already shown their value in making many end sectors more sustainable thanks to their intrinsic properties. But the challenges that the composites industry needs to tackle to reach its sustainability goals are still high and will be at the centre of the conferences and panels this year. They will explore material solutions, such as natural fibres or recycled products, as well as processes, among which the use of automation and digitalization.

At JEC World 2023, end-users’ applications focuses attracted hundreds of participants looking to learn about the lastest trends of their industry sector of interest. Gathering research reports, real industry case studies and forecasts, these JEC conferences will star Wind, Aerospace and Transportation as main topics.

Also in 2024, three Country on Stage are confirmed to take place on the Agora stage giving attendees the opportunity to get to know characteristics, trends and strategies in Italy, Michigan and in France.

Celebrating breakthrough projects

The JEC Composites Innovation Awards

For more than 25 years, these Awards have celebrated cutting-edge collaborative projects of the composites industry. All year long, they aim to identify, promote, and reward the most innovative solutions worldwide and enhance their public exposure while contributing, as one, to the evolution of the composite industry.

All companies, R&D centres and their partners can apply before November 26th. For the third year, the winners will be revealed during a ceremony a month prior to JEC World, on February 8th in Paris.

The jury of this year Innovation Awards:

• Hüseyin ATES, CTO & Compounding BU Leader, Kordsa

• Pr. Alan BANKS, Innovation & Industrial Engagement Supervisor, Ford Motor Company

• Pr. Christophe BINETRUY, Professor, Centrale Nantes / Nantes Université

• Tamara BLANCO, Composite Materials & Processes Engineer & Expert, Airbus

• Dale BROSIUS, Executive VP/Chief Commercialization Officer, IACMI – The Composite Institute

• Michel COGNET, Chairman of the Board, JEC

• Dr. Karl-Heinz FÜLLER, Manager Future Exterior and Materials, Mercedes-Benz

• Dr. Sung HA, Professor, Hanyang University

• Guy LARNAC, Technical Domain Coordinator for Materials, Structures and Industrialization JTFR, Ariane Group

• Pr. Véronique MICHAUD, Head of Laboratory for Processing of Advanced Composites (LPAC), EPFL

• Pr. Kiyoshi UZAWA, Professor/Director, Innovative Composite Center, Kanazawa Institute of Technology

The JEC Composites Startup Booster

The leading startup competition in the world of composites and advanced materials gathers each year the boldest entrepreneurs, SMEs, startups and academic spinoffs working on avant-garde projects. At stake: international visibility and a chance to bring their business to the next level.

The call for entries is open until December 3rd. Following this, 20 startups will be selected by JEC and its partners Airbus, Owens Corning and Mercedes-Benz. Out of the 20 finalists, 3 winners will be selected during the pitching sessions of the show: one in a “Materials & Products” category, one in a “Process, Manufacturing & Equipment” category and a special “Sustainability” award.

The jury of this year Startup Booster contest:

• Jelle Bloemhof, Head of Composites Manufacturing Technologies, Airbus

• Dr. Karl-Heinz FÜLLER, Manager Future Exterior and Materials, Mercedes-Benz

• Raphaele LEYENDECKER, Managing Director, Techstars

• Chris Skinner, VP Strategic Marketing, Composite, Owens Corning

Industry focuses on the floorplan

With 8 out of 10 participants visiting these highly inspiring areas in 2023, participants are now well aware of the JEC Innovation Planets where the most innovative applications are displayed “in the flesh”. In 2024, the Mobility planet will be back featuring ground transportation, aerospace or railway solutions, while the Building & Infrastructure Planet will make its debut, bringing insight into a growing composites market.?Other dedicated areas will be shedding a light on particular aspect of our industry with the Natural Fibres Village, the Campus Village , the Startup Booster Village, the SME Village and, as a novelty, the Live Demonstration Area. The Discover Composites area, will cover the history of composites in the sports industry. A nod at this year main event in Paris …

JEC WORLD 2023 KEY FIGURES

• 1,200+ exhibitors • 26 Pavilions • 40,200 professional visits • 7,100 business meetings

• 99% visitors’ satisfaction • 11 Innovation Awards winners • 3 Startup Booster winners

JEC World 2024

March 5-7 – Paris Nord Villepinte

Launch of the first JEC Forum Middle East

JEC is proud to announce the signature of a strategic collaboration agreement with the OSP and IFC Promosalons, the representative of JEC in the region. The major agreement aims to organize a series of events dedicated to Composite Materials held in Saudi Arabia for the first time in the Middle East starting in June 2025. The events will facilitate the creation of opportunities for local and international companies and accelerate the adoption of sustainable materials across multiple industries in the region.

JEC World 2025: a record-breaking 60th edition driven by innovation and circularity

After 3 dynamic days of intense business interactions, expertise sharing, and knowledge exchange, the 60th edition of JEC World 2025 has reaffirmed the pivotal role of the composites industry in building a more sustainable future. Under the unifying theme “Pushing the Limits,” the event showcased the extraordinary versatility and innovation of composite materials that continue to redefine lightweighting, performance, and design possibilities for an increasing number of applications.

JEC Composites Startup Booster 2025 winners

In just eight years, JEC Composites Startup Booster has established itself as a global reference for entrepreneurship in the composites industry in 2025. Over a hundred entrepreneurs, startups, and university spin-offs submitted their applications, with 20 selected as finalists. From March 4 to 6, these finalists have the opportunity to present their projects before an expert jury on the JEC World stage.

MEL Composites and Carrocerías Ayats collaborate on lightweight composite window frames

MEL Composites is proud to announce its ongoing collaboration with Spanish bus and coach manufacturer Carrocerías Ayats, showcasing the benefits of advanced composite technologies and scalable manufacturing processes originally developed for the sporting goods sector. The joint development of lightweight composite window frame covers demonstrates how MEL’s process innovation can be successfully transferred to the transportation industry to meet new regulatory and performance goals.

TEXTILCOLOR AG launches strategic collaboration with Alpex, Majocchi, and Trans-Textil in the field of Pyroshell™ flame protection

TEXTILCOLOR AG, a leading provider of innovative solutions in textile chemistry, today announces the start of a strategic collaboration with Alpex Protection, Majocchi, and Trans-Textil. Starting November 1, 2025, the partners will jointly advance the flame-retardant finishing of textiles using the patented Pyroshell™ technology at production sites in Germany, France, and Italy.

Huntsman and Steitz Secura deliver breakthrough in sustainable safety footwear

Huntsman, in collaboration with Steitz Secura, has developed a breakthrough polyurethane (PU) solution that can help improve the circularity of safety footwear. Together, the two companies have created a DALTOPED® polyurethane midsole system that can incorporate recycled content without compromising performance – setting a new benchmark in protective footwear production.

T-CAN – Revolutionizing can transport

In virtually all spinning mills, transporting sliver cans is still done manually. Rising labor costs, lack of operators and increasing quality requirements make this a growing challenge. With T-CAN, Trützschler introduces a practical solution: a fully automated can transport system that will be presented live at ITMA ASIA 2025 in Singapore.

Francois Guetat joins Suominen as COO

Francois Guetat brings over two decades of global experience in operations, supply chain, and manufacturing excellence. Most recently, he served as SVP of Integrated Supply Chain at Kalmar, where he led business across sourcing, manufacturing, logistics and strategy. His leadership has been shaped by 22 years at Volvo, where he held key roles in Sweden, USA, and Poland.