LIGNA.Stage 2025 Set to Spotlight Circular Economy, Innovation, and Collaboration

Hanover, Germany. In LIGNA’s 50^th anniversary year, LIGNA.Stage will once again be located in Hall 12. All presentation slots are already fully booked from Monday to Thursday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and on Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.. Various LIGNA exhibitors are participating, including the European Organisation of the Sawmill Industry (EOS), the Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e. V. (FNR), the Fachschule Holztechnik Melle (FHM), ForestX AB, Henkel, Leuco, Valmet as well as Weinig. The full stage program will go live on 14 April 2024 with all presentation slots, topics, and speakers available at www.ligna.de.

The LIGNA.Stage program splits into a morning session (10 a.m. to 3 p.m., including lunch break) and an afternoon session (3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.). From Monday to Thursday, the presentation slots will feature both LIGNA.Circular topics and LIGNA.focus presentations. On Friday, the focus topics will take center stage.

Parallel to the LIGNA.Stage presentations, a total of six “theme islands” will be set up around the stage on all days of the trade fair, where various partners will provide information, present best practices, and offer advice on individual aspects of the large field of the circular economy.

“With LIGNA.Stage, we want to offer all trade fair visitors a thematically relevant stage in the middle of the show’s action. It is important to us that the presentations are designed as a clear transfer of knowledge. Every visitor should take away concrete added value from each slot. With their contributions, the speakers fulfill precisely this requirement. These are topics from the industry, for the industry. Everyone who works in the woodworking and wood processing industry, and even across industries, can and should benefit from the content of the LIGNA.Stage presentations,” says Stephanie Wagner, Head of LIGNA at Deutsche Messe AG.

LIGNA.Stage: Highlights of the LIGNA.Circular Program

The circular economy is key to securing the long-term competitiveness of the woodworking and wood processing industry. It enhances efficiency and resilience in the use of resources and enables the diversification of business models. LIGNA.Circular brings together pioneers of the circular economy to identify potential and develop innovative cooperation models for a sustainable industry.

From Monday to Thursday, LIGNA.Stage will address pressing questions on the topic of circularity: How can in-house production processes be made more circular? And how can systems and services actively contribute to establishing value creation cycles? In addition to exploring new business and service models, such as refurbishment and “pay-per-use” concepts, the focus will also be on new machine developments and the optimization of existing processes, particularly in the processing of recycled and reusable materials.

Monday will offer a comprehensive introduction with a focus on “Transformation”. Axel Berger from the “Enkelfähigkeit and Haniel initiative” will kick things off with a cross-industry look at the circular economy. Heiner Strack from the German Furniture Industry Association and Dr. Jan Lüdtke from the Thünen Institute will examine the role and future of the wood processing industry. In the afternoon, the focus will shift to “Transformation meets Innovation”, with Michael Rupp from Dieffenbacher and Dr. Steffen Eggers from Continental providing practical insights into the implementation of the circular economy within their companies. Additionally, Anja Stolte from the Fachschule für Holztechnik Melle will showcase how sustainable skills for the circular economy are taught during training.

On Tuesday, following the presentation of the German Timber Construction Award, the focus will shift to recyclable timber construction. In cooperation with the Association of the Wood-Based Panel Industry (VHI), a high-caliber panel will discuss the current state and future prospects of timber construction. Anemon Strohmeyer (VHI), Prof. Dr. Anette Hafner (Ruhr University Bochum), and Simon Wimmer (Tegel Projekt GmbH) will do a deep-dive innovative building concepts and the structural challenges of sustainable timber construction.

Wednesday will be dedicated to the topic of service innovation. Linda Dierke from Effizienz-Agentur NRW will present the innovation workshop program ‘CIRCO’, which helps companies develop circular business models. Weinig and Fraunhofer IPA will provide practical insights into innovative service models, such as pay-per-use concepts and maintenance programs. Another highlight will be the ‘Wind of Change’ panel, in cooperation with Fraunhofer WKI, which will explore the future of wind power. The panel will discuss how disused wind turbines can be recycled and how new, cycle-optimized wind turbines can be designed.

On Thursday, LIGNA.Circular will focus on cooperation as the key to successful circular transformation. Anja Stolte will present a successful collaboration between Fachschule für Holztechnik Melle and Richter Akustik. Another example of successful cooperation between industry, research, and service providers is the ‘Recycling for ReUse’ project by TU Braunschweig, in collaboration with partners from the field, which focuses on evaluating and processing waste wood for reintegration into the circular economy. A panel featuring FESTOOL, HILTI, and STIHL, together with Weinig, will showcase another cooperative approach, highlighting the potential and challenges of collaboration between leading tool and machine manufacturers.

Six themed islands for additional knowledge transfer

In the immediate vicinity of the LIGNA.Stage, various partners will present individual aspects of circular value creation in the different visitor industries across six themed islands. The focus will be on sustainable innovations in processes, materials, and products.

The first themed island, ‘Mechanical and Plant Engineering’, will showcase best practices from Festool, Dieffenbacher, Shaper Tools, Tanos systainer, and Weinig. They will highlight the potential of the circular economy for mechanical engineering. On the ‘Material Flows of Wood’ island, FNR – Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e. V. will provide a comprehensive insight into the material flows of wood and its sustainable use, focusing on cascade utilization and the circular economy. At the third theme island, ‘Wood-Based Materials and Recycling’, the Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research (WKI) will present approaches for ensuring the best possible recyclability when developing new materials. In the ‘Circular Economy in Timber Construction’ island, the Institute of Building Construction and Timber Engineering at TU Braunschweig (iBHolz) will present two research projects: The first aims to develop wooden panels that are easier to recycle by type by the end of 2026. The second project explores how waste wood can be processed for the renewed production of components. The German Furniture Industry Associations will showcase two projects in the ‘Circular Furniture’ area. The pilot project, ‘Furniture – Material Re:Turn’, from North-Rhine Westphalia, aims to establish a new take-back system for old furniture. The second project, ‘FURNITURE X’, seeks to introduce the Digital Product Passport in the furniture and furnishing industry in a practical and comprehensive manner. The sixth themed island, ‘Trade and Crafts: Sustainable Together’, will focus on hagebau Holzhandel (a prominent hardware store in Germany), which is committed to sustainable products, future-oriented action, and the clear communication of the added value of wood as a building material.

LIGNA.Stage: Highlights of the Focus Topic Programme

From Monday to Thursday, the LIGNA.Stage will feature exhibitor presentations on the LIGNA focus topics from 3:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., and on Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Various speakers will present content specifically tailored to the needs of the woodworking and wood processing industry.

On Monday, for example, Paul Götz from Leuco will present on ‘Increasing Efficiency through Digital Tool Management – Scanning, Producing, Sharpening’, and Cornelia Dietz from Leica Geosystems AG will speak on ‘Digitalisation of Measuring Processes – From the Construction Site to Production – Yes, it’s that simple.’ On Tuesday, LIGNA.Stage will focus on the German Timber Construction Award from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The afternoon program will exceptionally highlight LIGNA.Circular topics. On Wednesday, VDMA Holzbearbeitungsmaschinen e. V. will present ‘Startups@LIGNA for the Future – Manufacturing the Possibilities with New Solutions’ at 3:00 p.m. At 4:00 p.m., the Innovation Pitch by the FNR – Agency for Renewable Resources will take place. The theme: ‘It’s a Match! – Matchmaking of Application Research & Start-ups.’ On Thursday, the EOS – European Organisation of the Sawmill Industry will present its ‘Horizon EU Funded Project – SINTETIC’, and Microtec will contribute to the ‘CONNECTIVITY’ focus topic. On Friday, Carl Barok from ForestX AB will speak on ‘Optimised Glulam Production with Smart Planning’, and Christoph Schweizer from Palette CAD AG will discuss ‘Everyone Talks About Efficiency, We Make It Tangible – The Potential of Digital Consistency.’

About LIGNA

The world’s leading trade fair for the woodworking and wood processing industry is jointly organized by Deutsche Messe and VDMA Woodworking Machinery in Hannover, and is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2025. It showcases the entire range of products and services for the primary and secondary industries – tools, machines and systems for custom and mass production, surface technology, wood-based panel production, sawmill technology, energy from wood, machine components and automation technology, as well as machines and systems for forestry. Further information on LIGNA is available at www.ligna.de