LIGNA 2025 - Focus on Connectivity, Sustainable Production and Industrialised Wood

LIGNA, the world's leading event dedicated to the woodworking industry, marks its 50th anniversary year with a central promise: connecting people and driving innovation. In its 2025 edition, LIGNA will focus on three key themes under which the community will showcase its innovations, solutions, products and services: CONNECTIVITY, SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION and ENGINEERED WOOD. From digital connectivity to sustainable production and the use of engineered wood, this event looks to cover all key aspects of industrial and environmental developments.

From 26 to 30 May 2025, LIGNA Hannover will once again be the meeting place for an industry facing three major challenges, from craft businesses to industry clusters: the implementation of complete digital networks, the adoption of the circular economy and the development of smart products.

Main topics at LIGNA 2025: CONNECTIVITY, SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION, ENGINEERED WOOD

"LIGNA 2025 will bring together international solution providers for these three central challenges"says Stephanie Wagner, LIGNA project manager at Deutsche Messe AG. "Exhibiting companies will demonstrate their efforts to advance the full digitization pipeline across all components of the value chain, aiming to create pathways to an ethical economy that produces intelligently designed wood products. Together with the VDMA, we have created a close link between our topics of interest to simplify identifying our own needs in a complex industry"explains Wagner.

LIGNA.CONNECTIVITY - Automation and digitization of production processes is the key to economic and sustainable business. Connectivity is the key to the digital future.

Digital connectivity is essential in the modern age of business, and those who have successfully implemented digitisation of certain process steps now face the challenge of integrating digitisation across the entire value chain. However, addressing this challenge at LIGNA 2025, with a focus on finding solutions that allow different systems to interact in an efficient network, seems to be a significant step forward. The availability of connected services, products, processes, infrastructures and value chains directly correlates with higher productivity and efficiency. This, in turn, leads to increased profits, reduced costs, resource conservation and increased sustainability. With LIGNA.CONNECTIVITY, ideas, concepts, solutions and suppliers in the fields of digitisation and connectivity will be highlighted at LIGNA 2025. The aim is to offer solutions to all participants in the woodworking value chain, regardless of their level of digitisation.

"The concept of connectivity refers to the process of linking different systems in the wood trade and wood processing industry", explains Bernhard Dirr, Managing Director of the VDMA Woodworking Machinery Association, Frankfurt am Main. "LIGNA 2025, with a focus on LIGNA.CONNECTIVITY, aims to find solutions for seamlessly connecting different systems into a value-creating network, rather than forcing all participants to use the same system"adds Dirr.

LIGNA.SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION - An exploration of innovations and best practices to improve business sustainability

The subject of sustainable production demonstrates a real concern for the environmental and social impact of the woodworking industry. Solutions for end-to-end connectivity have been configured and integrated with disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. However it is clear that processes need to become more sustainable to be fit for the future. Prioritising environmental protection, resource conservation, processing and marketing, the woodworking industry makes a significant environmental and social contribution. Against this backdrop, the new focus area on SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION brings together economically viable strategies for the woodworking industry that prioritise environmental protection, resource conservation and improved working conditions for future generations. Particularly when it comes to timber construction, the industry is making the construction field more environmentally friendly with dedicated products and machinery, for example with production lines for the industrial construction of wooden houses in the factory.

"The theme of sustainability is in LIGNA's DNA thanks to its focus on wood as a renewable material. Our LIGNA exhibitors showcase their potential for sustainable production, from improved forest management to green building, all under the LIGNA central theme. SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION"says Stephanie Wagner

ENGINEERED WOOD - The development of industrialised wood opens up new possibilities in construction and other fields.

This innovation in composite materials can radically change the way we work with wood and how we use it in various applications. Developments in the green building industry, will be the third main topic at LIGNA 2025. LIGNA.ENGINEERED WOOD covers the full range of intelligently designed wood products, transformed into composite materials for a variety of uses. It is about building materials made from wood, processed and treated in a way that improves its properties and performance. They are usually made of layers of wood, fibre or other woody materials that are often bonded together under pressure and heat. This gives them superior strength and stability compared to natural wood. ENGINEERED WOOD's main focus ranges from CNC machines for processing wood panels and beams to automated production lines for manufacturing laminated timber (CLT) and other solid wood products, as well as robotic systems for assembling wooden elements, handling technologies for wood finishing and software for the design and production of solid wood structures.

"As the world's leading trade fair for woodworking, LIGNA has a responsibility to provide a platform where current industry challenges can be transformed into opportunities for sustainable growth"says Stephanie Wagner.