The 2025 edition of the European Coatings Show and Conference welcomed 1,216 exhibiting companies and attracted 25,681 industry visitors.
Held from 25th to 27th March 2025 at the Exhibition Centre in Nuremberg (Germany), the European Coatings Show & Conference welcomed 1,216 exhibitors coming from around fifty countries, as well as attracted 25,681 industry visitors from 121 nations, proving once again its status as one of the most important trade fairs for the paint and coatings sector.
Around 70% of all participants was composed by international businesses: the five largest exhibiting countries were Germany, China, Italy, the Netherlands and India, while the top five visitor countries were Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey and Poland. The companies leveraged the event to showcase new laboratories and production technologies, testing and measuring systems, application equipment and solutions for environmental protection and occupational safety, as well as paint feedstocks, printing inks, adhesives, construction chemical precursors and associated services.
“The 2025 edition of the ECS demonstrated once again that it is the key gathering place for our industry and a hotspot for collaboration and innovation. The resulting strong partnerships and high level of innovation are driving the shift to more sustainability in the market. At Covestro, we are proud of the contribution we are making towards this,” has declared Martin Merkens, the vice-president of the Coatings and Adhesives division of Covestro.
European Coatings Show Conference
Starting on 24th March 2025, the high-calibre European Coatings Show Conference included 144 presentations that offered an intensive knowledge transfer and the latest insights from the research and development segments of several companies, associations and institutions that are shaping the innovations of the future – receiving positive feedback from the 660 delegates in attendance.
“The event provided us with an outstanding platform for face-to-face dialogue once again. The discussions we had focused on innovative and more sustainable additive solutions for PFAS-free formulations, which were of great interest to our visitors and reflect the growing global demand for environmentally friendly products. Our fully automated digital laboratory – the HTS system that cuts product development times substantially – also attracted a lot of attention,” has commented Stefan Mößmer, the managing director of Byk.
During the conference it was also presented the European Coatings Show Conference Award, consisting of a €2,000 prize awarded to the paper “Predicting Colour Changes in Coating Drying Process: An Innovative Approach Using Machine Learning Techniques” by Gaoyuan Zhang from the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences. In addition, Luis Heller from the Technical University of Denmark received the ECS Student Award.
World Paint and Coatings Week
From 24th to 28th March 2025, the World Coatings Council hosted the first World Paint and Coatings Week, that was co-located with the European Coatings Show + Conference. It helped to provide industry experts with a unique opportunity to discuss the latest developments, innovations and regulatory trends in-depth. Moreover, the event was not just geared towards professionals but was also aimed at the public to raise awareness about the essential role of paints and coatings in day-to-day lives.