Ligna organisers remain optimistic

16 July 2021


Deutsche Messe and Germany’s VDMA organise the biennial Ligna woodworking technology show. Ligna show director Christian Pfeifer and VDMA research analyst Dominik Wolfschuetz explained to conference delegates how they are dealing with the impact of Covid-19

Ligna show director Christian Pfeifer used the Beyond Covid Conference to outline the shape of the world’s leading woodworking technology show in 2021.

The biennial event attracts 1,500 exhibitors and more than 90,000 visitors from over 100 countries to see the latest innovations in technology across the wood products spectrum, including primary and secondary wood-based panels manufacture and processing.

“We are very sad to say we had to cancel the physical part of Ligna after an initial postponement from May to the end of September 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic situation,” said Mr Pfeifer.

“The cancellation of the physical part of Ligna was based on market feedback from exhibitors over the last couple of months. They were preparing and needing to invest in machine building and logistics for the show, but the speed of vaccination all round Germany and in Europe is not going on at the pace we would have wished for.

“So, we took the responsible decision not to have the physical show but instead create an online platform and gather the network virtually.

“The digital format will be able to represent the innovation and cover our focus topics – such as transformation in woodworking, digitalisation, prefabrication processes in wood construction and the bio-economy.

“The platform will be like Spotify for woodworking, tailored for each visitor’s needs and filtered into the right profiles.”

Mr Pfeifer said 70% of 93,000 visitors so far signed up are completely new to the Ligna database, making the digital event a huge new source of contacts and networking.

The virtual event is on September 27-29.

Ligna show director Christian Pfeifer