Vitrum 2025, the international trade show dedicated to glass technologies for flat and hollow glass, returns to Fiera Milano in Milan, Italy, from September 16 to 19.
200 exhibitors, 30% from abroad, together with a training program alternating market insights with technical masterclasses, will highlight the industry’s innovative capacity, technological trends and growth potential. The key drivers include innovation, education, sustainability, and internationalization.
What Vitrum leadership says
“With this edition, the show is opening a new chapter: not only a business meeting place, but also a laboratory of ideas where emerging trends are identified, new market opportunities assessed, and, above all, training is enhanced. Our goal is to help develop the skills and new professional profiles demanded by a transforming industry, creating connections between companies, institutions, research centers, and startups," says Lucia Masutti, General Manager of Vitrum.
Vitrum event details
The participation of major industrial groups alongside processing companies, institutions and research organizations makes Vitrum 2025 the convergence point of a supply chain worth in Italy more than $7 billion globally. Italy’s glass technology sector, represented by GIMAV, continues to demonstrate its strength, with exports exceeding 70% of production and a 2024 turnover of around $3.5 billion. Meanwhile, the Italian glass manufacturing industry, according to Assovetro, confirmed its European leadership with a value of about $4 billion, over 16,500 employees, and 3% growth compared to the previous year.
Vitrum 2025 integrates exhibition, training, innovation and internationalization. Its mission is to represent the entire glass manufacturing value chain, strengthening connections between technology producers, processors, research centers and universities, and national and international institutions.
To better respond to the industry’s concrete needs, the 2025 edition will feature the active participation of leading stakeholders, including Assovetro, Glass Group, Pilkington, Saint-Gobain and the Stazione Sperimentale del Vetro.
Alongside its established focus on flat glass, Vitrum 2025 is also confirming its commitment to hollow glass, with dedicated content, training sessions and networking initiatives to fully integrate this fundamental segment of the supply chain.
Vitrum 2025 will feature a comprehensive program of meetings, workshops and in-depth sessions, divided into thematic areas designed to provide practical tools for professional growth and business development. The key topics include technical training, ecological and regulatory transition, innovation and digitalization, and internationalization.
Introductory courses on flat and hollow glass technologies, promoted by the Stazione Sperimentale del Vetro, will complement industrial masterclasses on screen printing, tempering, and lamination.
The ecological and regulatory transition - a critical development challenge for the industry - will be the focus of several targeted events. A central highlight will be the conference on glass industry decarbonization, featuring experts, institutions, and companies. Additional sessions will cover CAM (Minimum Environmental Criteria) in construction and energy audits in the glass supply chain.
To foster growth in foreign markets, Vitrum 2025, in partnership with ITA (Italian Trade Agency), will offer special sessions focused on priority markets for the Italian industry, with a spotlight on Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. The U.S. session will feature the new President of National Glass Association Lakisha A. Woods providing a perspective on opportunities across the Atlantic.
Internationalization will also take center stage in a session with SACE (the Italian export Credit Agency) and SIMEST (the CDP Group company supporting Italian companies’ internationalization) dedicated to financial instruments and measures for supporting companies’ global growth.
Vitrum 2025 will inaugurate the Vitrum Technology District, a dedicated area for scientific and technological excellence, featuring top Italian universities, IUAV and Ca’ Foscari Venice, University of Trento, Politecnico di Torino, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, University of Padua, alongside MA.DE. (the Politecnico di Milano’s Competence Center), as well as startups and technology companies. The District will be a meeting point to explore the potential and applications of artificial intelligence, automation, augmented reality, and digitalization in glass manufacturing.
