ZVO Surface Days 2024 in Leipzig with 550 participants
The ZVO Surface Days 2024 attracted around 550 visitors and 70 participants to the Leipzig Congress Center from September 12 to 13. Visitors from the electroplating and surface treatment industry were offered almost 100 presentations, as well as an industry exhibition and a festive opening evening.
The ZVO Surface Days 2024 in Leipzig focused on important trend topics and developments in electroplating and surface technology such as digitalization, automation, AI, sustainability, hydrogen and plasma technologies. In his opening speech, ZVO Chairman Jörg Püttbach emphasized the importance of sustainability, transformation and innovation for the industry. The keynote speech, which was given this year by Prof. Dr. Michael Hüther, Director and Member of the Executive Board at the German Economic Institute, under the motto "Social and economic resilience in times of transformation", was also in line with this. Prof. Dr. Hüther addressed the many challenges that the German economy is currently facing, which is why he considers structural changes to be necessary, but also highlighted the associated opportunities for development and progress.
Despite the difficult economic environment, the mood at the ZVO Surface Technology Days was good. However, as the German Surface Technology Association (ZVO) emphasizes, this does not reflect the current poor economic situation in the industry. According to the association, the generally poor economic situation in Germany, energy costs that continue to be too high and the lack of planning certainty due to the wrong political framework conditions continue to place a heavy burden on small and medium-sized companies in the sector. Nevertheless, the programme of #OTLeipzig24 with thematic focuses such as hydrogen, digitalization and sustainability was well received by the participants, which was also reflected in a slight increase in the number of participants compared to 2023. There was praise not only for the quality, but also for the mix of technical and business presentations. The Entrepreneur Forum - covering topics such as HR, finance and corporate management - is becoming increasingly popular. The ZVO women's network Female (Sur)Faces also presented itself for the first time and received a pleasingly large response. The next ZVO Surface Days will take place from September 24-26, 2025 in Berlin and the following year on September 23-25, 2026 for the first time in Karlsruhe.