Afera Annual Conference

Afera’s Annual Conference is our longest-running industry event and principal yearly forum for business insight, strategic discussion and relationship-building across the European adhesive tape value chain. It brings the sector together to assess the developments shaping its future and strengthens the professional connections that support Afera’s work throughout the year.

First held in Paris in 1958, the Conference has traditionally moved to a different European city each year. Since then, it has travelled to destinations including Florence, Barcelona, Stockholm, Berlin, Madrid, Dubrovnik, Hamburg, Turin, Athens, Lisbon, Valencia, Malta, Thessaloniki and Porto. Since 2025, it has formed the senior business and strategy component of Afera European Tape Week, bringing its established Conference format into a broader week of technical learning, Association work, industry visibility and networking.

A completely new programme is developed for each edition by Afera Members and the Association’s management team, guided by the issues of greatest importance to the sector. Market and economic intelligence, regulation, sustainability, technology, applications, company strategy and leadership are explored through presentations, panel discussions and audience exchange.

For the industry, the Conference provides a neutral setting in which companies can follow changes in the operating environment, compare experience, strengthen relationships and contribute to Afera’s collective work. It connects established industry leaders, SMEs, technical and commercial specialists and the wider network surrounding adhesive tapes. Its concentrated format—plenary sessions combined with shared meals, exhibitions and social activities—allows professional contacts to develop into trusted, long-standing relationships. Many participants regard this close dynamic as a distinctive Afera experience and an important part of the Association’s family-like atmosphere. All activity takes place under Afera’s strict policy of compliance with European competition law.

Participants include senior decision-makers, business owners, managers and specialists from tape manufacturers, materials and equipment suppliers, release-liner and film producers, converters, distributors, end users, research institutions, universities, national industry associations and international counterparts. The Conference is primarily for Afera Members. Non-Members may attend once, by prior agreement, to experience Afera Membership and the value of its network.

The Annual Conference within European Tape Week

In 2025, the 68th Annual Conference became a central element of the first Afera European Tape Week in Thessaloniki. Bringing it together with Afera’s technical event and Committee Meetings created a more connected format while retaining the Conference’s distinct role as the senior business and strategy forum. The inaugural week attracted 185 participants from 20 countries and more than 100 companies.

The format moved to a new level in Porto in 2026. Afera’s 69th Annual Conference attracted a record 193 delegates as part of a European Tape Week attended by 244 individual participants from 102 organisations and 21 countries. More than 20 CEOs, presidents, managing directors, general managers, owners and board-level leaders attended the Conference, alongside senior technical, commercial and functional decision-makers from across the adhesive tape value chain. Tape manufacturers formed the largest single participant group across ETW, accompanied by strong representation from raw-material, backing, film, paper, release-liner, machinery and equipment suppliers, converters, distributors, research organisations and industry associations.

The Conference programme reflected the pressures facing European tape businesses under the theme “Resilience and competitiveness in the global tape business.” Regulation, sustainability and circularity led into manufacturing transformation, AI-ready R&D, market intelligence, supply-chain resilience, trade and global competition. FABO CEO Maria Sofia Fagni addressed competitiveness through people, data and manufacturing transformation; Giovanni Scognamiglio, General Manager of Alimac Group, examined SME resilience and long-term global competitiveness; and Loparex CEO Rich Holder focused on partnership, supply chains and competition. Their industry perspectives were complemented by Prof. Andrea Boltho of the University of Oxford on Europe’s economic outlook and a closing keynote from Alex Chausovsky on geopolitics, tariffs and business complexity.

The closing Captains of Industry panel brought Prof. Boltho, Mr. Scognamiglio, Mr. Holder and FABO Sales Director Daniela Giusti together to examine where risks are rising and growth is emerging for tape makers. Across the programme, recurring priorities included faster decision-making, stronger use of data, investment in people, regulatory preparedness, resilient supply chains and closer co-operation across the value chain.

Delegates rated the 2026 Annual Conference 4.4 out of 5 overall, while the wider ETW programme generated 244 audience questions through Slido. The new Tabletop Exhibition also sold out all 17 spaces, and event sponsorship reached its highest level in Afera’s history with 16 sponsors. In a post-event poll of 100 respondents, 68% supported continuing European Tape Week as one combined September event rather than returning to separate events.

Looking ahead to the 70th Annual Conference

The Annual Conference will reach its 70th edition in 2027 as part of the 3rd Afera European Tape Week, taking place from 20–24 September 2027 at the Pestana Douro Riverside in Porto, Portugal. It will again sit alongside Afera Committee Meetings and the Tabletop Exhibition, while the technical programme will feature the 12th Afera Technical Seminar, Afera’s biennial forum for the latest scientific, technological and operational developments affecting adhesive tapes and their manufacture.

Programme development for the 70th Annual Conference will again be Member-led, with content shaped around the business, market, regulatory, sustainability and strategic issues most important to the industry.

Save the date: 22–24 September 2027 │ Porto, Portugal

Afera European Tape Week 2027 website
Read more about our last Annual Conference during ETW 2026 
Photos 2026

Afera’s recent Annual Conferences

2025 – Thessaloniki – “Navigating the future of adhesive tapes: transforming challenges into opportunities”
2024 – Thessaloniki – “Taping out future”  
2023 – Malta - " Taping our future: redefining value – reinventing industry collaboration"
2022 – Valencia, Spain - " The shape of tape in 2030"
2021 – Valencia, Spain - "Full circle: how the tape industry stays relevant in a circular economy"
2020 – Online – “Sustainability and circularity”
2019 – Lisbon, Portugal – “Making the tape business future-proof”
2018 – Athens, Greece – "Innovation and digitisation in adhesive tape technology"
2017 – Turin, Italy – "The next Generation of Tape Makers and Users"
2016 – Hamburg, Germany – "Managing at the speed of change"
2015 – Marseille, France – “What is our next frontier?”
2014 – Dubrovnik, Croatia – “The future of the European adhesive tape industry: technology, trends, and markets”
2013 – Taormina, Sicily, Italy – “Moving from survival to growth in the post-crisis tape market”
2012 – Madrid, Spain – “Sustainability: hype or your chance now?”
2011 – Berlin, Germany
2010 – Stockholm, Sweden
2009 – Cracow, Poland
2008 – Florence, Italy – Afera’s 50^th anniversary celebratory conference press release 
2007 – Barcelona, Spain
2006 – Nice, France