About the biggest glass fair in the world
World´s leading trade fair glasstec –
The key meeting place for the glass industry
The hotspot for trends, engineering, and markets
glasstec sets new standards in every respect. Experience the innovation strength of made of glass, with a focus on the top growth markets in the industry. Be inspired by the offers and developments of the leading companies worldwide. Here, trends are set that will move the future of glass. For decades, glasstec has been the industry´s leading meeting place and showcase for technical developments. The unique presentation, paired with the new, groundbreaking conference concept at the glasstec conference, makes the trade fair to an absolute hot spot.
Hot topics 2026 – what’s on the mind of the glass sector
glasstec 2026 presents and discusses solutions to current challenges within the glass sector. The main focus is on the issues “Circular economy”, “Digital technologies” and “Decarbonisation”. What options for change must the glass industry explore to unearth significant potentials for the future?
New approaches to solutions
Leading representatives as well as many top level talks at the glasstec conference and the innovation exhibit glass technology live demonstrate new approaches to solutions from research, science and industry.
AI & Digital technologies
Digitalisation, “machine languages” and AI
How to successfully connect standardised digital processes to a network that reaches beyond individual companies, so that self-learning machines can use unified data platforms as a basis for communication?
Digitization is a topic that almost no one in the glass industry can avoid. For many companies that want to complete the digital transformation, however, the first question is where to start the digitization process. And what benefits will result from it?
The challenges facing the industry exist in many areas: whether it´s a shortage of skilled workers, processes that don´t interlock optimally, a high need for internal coordination, or increasing deadline and cost pressure. A holistic view of automated processes, machines, employees and products offers solutions for using existing resources more effectively and achieving a smoother flow of materials.
Artificial intelligence is also an important design approach for the future of automation in the glass industry. In the future, scalable solutions will be possible that can be flexibly adapted as required with regard to their environment and their application target.
Decarbonisation
New key technologies and sustainable resource
How can the energy intensive glass industry that is also highly dependent on natural gas achieve carbon neutrality by 2045? Focus on: The switch to new key technologies and sustainable resources to avoid process-dependent emissions.
The rigorous shift away from fossil fuels is a global challenge that cuts across all industries. Not only the advancing climate change and the target of CO2 neutrality by 2045, but also the import dependency on fossil fuels reveal that there is no alternative to switching to renewable energies and new technologies.
Production processes in the glass industry are already highly optimized to produce glass with consistent quality and low emissions. CO2 neutrality can only be achieved by switching to new key technologies for avoiding process-related emissions.
The focus is primarily on solutions such as all-electric furnaces, which, however, cannot be operated solely with renewable electricity due to their high energy requirements. Hydrogen hybrid furnaces could achieve about 80% of the required energy electrically and the rest through hydrogen combustion. The next challenge is then to build an infrastructure for renewable electricity and hydrogen.
Circular economy
Energy, resources and recycling in the glass industry
How can the use of energy and resources be reduced while the reuse rates along the glass value creation chain are increased? In focus: the topics of recycling and upcycling.
Glass as a packaging material can be used infinitely. Nevertheless, the glass industry is not yet fully circular. There is still potential to be leveraged along the glass value chain to reduce energy and resource use and increase recycling rates.
The advantages are obvious: more circular economy means less raw material use, fewer greenhouse gas emissions and thus more climate and resource protection. Not only can the energy-intensive processes in glass production be optimized, but the consumption of glass packaging can also be reduced through new reusable models.
Decisive approaches to solving this problem could be the reduction of quartz sand versus the increased use of cullet and recyclate. The melting process accounts for up to 85 percent of the energy required in glass production. The use of around ten percent cullet already reduces the required melting energy by around three percent.
