Afera Annual Conference 2023
GO TO THE 2024 EVENT WEBSITE | Day 1 | Day 2 | Photos
Our 67th Annual Conference will be held 25-27 September 2024 at the Hyatt Regency in Thessaloniki, Greece
66th Afera Annual Conference brought tape industry leaders and innovators to Malta
120 participants from 15 countries attended the 66th Afera Annual Conference, which focussed on “Taping our future: redefining value – reinventing industry collaboration”. From 4 to 6 October, we were exclusively face-to-face at the Westin Dragonara Resort in St. Julian’s, Malta, for networking and deep diving into hottest tape business issues. The Conference Working Programme was preceded by Afera’s biannual Committee and Flagship Sustainability Project Meetings.
5 October: Day 1 Wrap-Up
The first day of our working programme of Afera’s “Taping Our Future” Conference in Malta offered insights on how to learn to collaborate to reach sustainability and in particular, circularity ‘next level’, and how to deal with the (perceived) barriers. Strategist moderator Bert van Loon and Afera President Evert Smit discussed the value of bringing the shakers and movers of the Industry together. This exercise in itself is contributing to future-proofing the Industry.
This event is more than the content of a programme in itself; it is about the business magic that comes out of collaboration and co-creation. Mr. Smit also highlighted Afera’s top accomplishments and activities presently running, including the development of a sector-wide web-based PCF calculation tool for adhesive tape manufacturers, this backed up by supplier data and third-party validation. Afera will also participate and contribute to the 7th Global Tape Forum and Global Test Methods Committee Meetings organised in Shanghai in April 2024. Read more
6 October: Day 2 Wrap-Up
Day 2 of Afera’s Malta Conference Working Programme was about the art of thinking in various value propositions and the potential it can offer both individual companies and the adhesive tapes industry as a whole. The morning was dominated by another lively interactive session on collaboratively creating VPs for various industry segments and profiles (which will be very useful for everyone at the company-level and all the way down the value chain). Read more
The premier European adhesive tape industry event: who attends
Organised in a different European city each year, Afera’s Annual Conference is the premier European adhesive tape industry event. Open to Members and, on a limited basis, non-Members, Afera’s Conference is attended by more than 150 company delegates representing businesses along the adhesive tape industry value chain: manufacturers, raw materials, packaging and machine suppliers, converters, distributers, end users, research institutions, national tape organisations, and other international counterparts.
Every year Afera Committee Members, with the support of the Secretary General, formulate a completely new Working
Programme which, according to valuable Member feedback, delivers useful, cutting-edge Industry information and many opportunities to spend time with your adhesive tape contemporaries. In addition to Afera’s Committee and Working Group Meetings, the Conference lineup features presentations on economic trends, market data and segments, product development, sustainability and regulatory issues, content marketing and strategy/company management. By popular demand, panel discussions and hackathons on topics formulated by Afera Members have been organised during the last few events.
Field expert organisers
Afera’s event is formulated by a dedicated working group including Anne-Marie Klink (technical manager of R&D of industrial tapes and adhesives at 3M Europe), Jean-Loup Masson (director of innovation, R&D and products, as well as a senior vice president, at Novacel), Evert Smit (director of technology and innovation scouting at Lohmann), Gert-Jan van Ruler (manager of technical support and business development at DRT), Cesare Muraro (manager of sales at NAR), Bert van Loon (strategist at Afera) and Astrid Lejeune (secretary general of Afera). Mr. Van Loon serves as Afera energetic moderators.
Programme details, slide presentations and event content
For more information, visit https://www.aferatapeconference.com/. The proceedings and additional content of the 66th Annual Conference are made exclusively available to attendees.
This year’s Conference
Afera’s 67th Annual Conference will be held 25-27 September 2024 at the Hyatt Regency in Thessaloniki, Greece. Be the first to learn about updates in programme and registration information by signing up for our newsletter at the bottom of this page.
Afera’s recent Annual Conferences
2022 – Valencia – “The shape of tape in 2030”
2021 – Valencia – “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 50th anniversary celebratory conference press release
2007 – Barcelona, Spain
2006 – Nice, France