The “50 Years of Composites” exhibition will be located at the entrance of hall 6 in the main gallery. The display will chart the evolution of the composites industry from its very beginning right up to present time, through a variety of engaging formats, including real-world products, pictures and samples of materials and processes. Visitors to the exhibition will be able to journey through different eras of the composites industry, gaining a deeper appreciation of the market trends and technological advances which have brought us to this point.

JEC Group commissioned Ignaas Verpoest, Emeritus Professor, Composite Materials Group, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, to document “50 years of composites” and its key milestones and achievements.

Verpoest was assisted by an international advisory board consisting of Frédéric Reux, Editor in Chief, JEC Composites Magazine; Franck Glowacz, Innovation Content Leader, JEC Group; Dale Brosius, Chief Commercialisation Officer of the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI); Kenichi Yoshioka, General Manager Composite Materials Research Laboratories at Toray Composites; and Christophe Binetruy Professor, Ecole Centrale de Nantes.

Attendees will also be able to attend a conference on Thursday, March 5 at 11:30am at the Forum (hall 6), where Verpoest will present the major milestones of the composites industry over the past 50 years, and the progress of composites across 14 groups of application sectors. The potential evolution will also be discussed, from Industry 4.0 approaches, from additive manufacturing, intelligent structures, multiscale modelling and simulation, nanotechnologies and hybrids, to bio-based materials and reuse and recycling initiatives. Continual innovation is advancing performance, efficiency and sustainability in the drive for solutions to the challenges posed by megatrends that are transforming our world.

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