#193 Highlights from International Composites Summit 2025 – Shaping the Future of Composites
09.01.2026 15 min Staffel 5 Episode 151
Zusammenfassung & Show Notes
What an absolute belter of an event at the International Composites Summit 2025 in Wembley!
Two days packed with innovation, networking, and big ideas that will shape the composites industry for years to come.
The vibes? Electric.
The venue at The Drum Wembley was spot-on – modern, accessible, and perfect for creating a hub of collaboration. We had OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, SMEs, academics, and global thought leaders all under one roof. And yes, the pub night at the White Horse was the cherry on top – because great conversations often start over a pint, don’t they? 🍻
Speakers & Highlights:
✅ Marcy Offner announced that Women in Composites is now a fully accredited association – a huge milestone for diversity and inclusion in our industry.
✅ Chris Skinner (Owens Corning) delivered a powerful keynote on sustainability, reminding us that burying wind blades isn’t a solution – it’s just hiding the problem.
✅ Ginger Gardiner from CompositesWorld and Magid from Neom brought global perspectives that sparked fresh thinking.
And yes, my own panel – “Are We Automating People Out of Their Composite Jobs?” – was a lively, slightly provocative discussion that got people talking. The full session is now available on LinkedIn Live (on tape) – check the link in the comments.
Looking Ahead – JEC World 2026
Gemma Hardy and her brilliant team at The Fluency Business Group are taking things up a notch with the Innovation Hub Pavilion at JEC World in Paris (March 2026). This is your chance to showcase your innovations at the world’s biggest composites marketplace – without the usual headaches of exhibiting.
Here’s what you get:
✔ Affordable entry (starting at €3,750 – yes, really!)
✔ Full support: pod design, PR, social media, and on-site assistance
✔ Freedom to explore the show while your presence is managed professionally
👉 My recommendation: If you want global exposure and meaningful connections, have a chinwag with Gemma and her crew at JEC World 2026. They’ll sort you out and make sure you shine.
Massive thanks to all speakers, visitors, and the organizing team for making ICS 2025 such a cracking success. The energy was contagious, the networking top-notch, and the ideas game-changing.
(For my international friends: “cracking,” “chinwag,” and “belter” are bits of British slang – just my way of adding a sprinkle of UK flavor to this global conversation!)
YouTube Episode: https://youtu.be/hnMvH76vl_Y?si=LPbcKVACwzMEtspn
Two days packed with innovation, networking, and big ideas that will shape the composites industry for years to come.
The vibes? Electric.
The venue at The Drum Wembley was spot-on – modern, accessible, and perfect for creating a hub of collaboration. We had OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, SMEs, academics, and global thought leaders all under one roof. And yes, the pub night at the White Horse was the cherry on top – because great conversations often start over a pint, don’t they? 🍻
Speakers & Highlights:
✅ Marcy Offner announced that Women in Composites is now a fully accredited association – a huge milestone for diversity and inclusion in our industry.
✅ Chris Skinner (Owens Corning) delivered a powerful keynote on sustainability, reminding us that burying wind blades isn’t a solution – it’s just hiding the problem.
✅ Ginger Gardiner from CompositesWorld and Magid from Neom brought global perspectives that sparked fresh thinking.
And yes, my own panel – “Are We Automating People Out of Their Composite Jobs?” – was a lively, slightly provocative discussion that got people talking. The full session is now available on LinkedIn Live (on tape) – check the link in the comments.
Looking Ahead – JEC World 2026
Gemma Hardy and her brilliant team at The Fluency Business Group are taking things up a notch with the Innovation Hub Pavilion at JEC World in Paris (March 2026). This is your chance to showcase your innovations at the world’s biggest composites marketplace – without the usual headaches of exhibiting.
Here’s what you get:
✔ Affordable entry (starting at €3,750 – yes, really!)
✔ Full support: pod design, PR, social media, and on-site assistance
✔ Freedom to explore the show while your presence is managed professionally
👉 My recommendation: If you want global exposure and meaningful connections, have a chinwag with Gemma and her crew at JEC World 2026. They’ll sort you out and make sure you shine.
Massive thanks to all speakers, visitors, and the organizing team for making ICS 2025 such a cracking success. The energy was contagious, the networking top-notch, and the ideas game-changing.
(For my international friends: “cracking,” “chinwag,” and “belter” are bits of British slang – just my way of adding a sprinkle of UK flavor to this global conversation!)
YouTube Episode: https://youtu.be/hnMvH76vl_Y?si=LPbcKVACwzMEtspn
Transkript
So wonderful.
Good afternoon dear LinkedIn community
Composites Lounge members, exhibitors,
visitors and sponsors
of International Composites Summit.
We are here on day two
and together with me is Gemma.
She's the organiser
of this wonderful event.
Gemma, nice to have you on my show.
Thank you.
-So I spoke with Gemma just last month
at the Advanced Engineering
on her innovation hub,
and today we are on her event
here in Wembley, London.
This is called The Drum.
And The Drum is in the Brand Civic Centre,
a very modern place.
I have to say that the location
that you selected is so wonderful.
We are staying here just opposite
in the Hilton.
We are here in the conference,
just only two minutes walk
and we had our fantastic pub night
yesterday in the White Horse
which is also only one minute,
so the location is wonderful.
How has it gone so far for you
from an organiser's perspective?
We're here.
We're here.
And you know,
we've had such a great event.
We've had so many wonderful people
come and attend.
I think, you know,
the big thing for me was,
just the quality of attendance
that we've had,
you know, some real top OEMs, tier ones.
Right through to our kind
of academic followers or SMEs,
we've had a real broad range
of just high quality visitors
and from all over the globe, you know?
Yes. I mean, in the background,
we can hear Marci Offner speaking,
who's come across from Chicago.
And, you know, she's always been kind of
a hero of mine in Composites one of the,
you know, one of the the real kind
of champions of the industry.
She got me excited about, you know,
when I first came into the industry.
About what the future held in Composites.
And to hear her speaking now
is just just wonderful. Amazing.
So for our community, Marcy, Marcy Offner,
I think is her name.
She has been a marketing director
with a big company in the United States.
And five years ago,
she created this Women in Composites.
And today she announced
that this Women in Composites
is now a fully
accredited association even.
And she is herself surprised
about the positive resonance
that comes back to this.
So if you are a female in this industry,
join Woman in Composites we need females
in the composites industry.
Thank you for highlighting
this gender topic also
during a Composites event.
-It's a great time
for her to come and speak. So, you know,
they're talking about skills,
they're talking about development.
They're talking about all sorts
of good things.
And I'm, you know, we will get a write up
of the show in the different talks.
So, it just highlights kind of
we've got people now. We've chose a venue
that is a real enabler
for this conference. And you know it's
everything is on our doorstep, you know.
So we we are able to put
on the networking.
We are able to house people.
We are able to get people in
and out easily.
You know, whether they're flying
into Heathrow or Gatwick
or coming by car or coming by train,
you know, it's a really,
really easily accessible place.
So it's been good.
-Okay. Let's talk about the name
is International Composites Summit.
Let's talk about the aspect
of being international.
So we are seeing here
an international audience.
Speakers from Spain like from Bilbao,
then we have the professors
from Italy here.
I have seen Turkish lecturers and
and even visitors.
So it's really
an international atmosphere here.
And then if you look at the people
speaking, obviously I mean,
we're absolutely honoured
to have the support of Composites World
as well. And Ginger put on
a really good keynote earlier.
You know, so we've got Ginger and Marci
from the USA and others,
of course, in, you know. Later on today,
we'll be hearing from Magid,
who works for Neom in Saudi Arabia.
You know, it's an absolute honour
to have such esteemed speakers
coming and being part of the conference.
And I think this year was about kind of
finding our feet
and the rebirth
of the International Composite Summit.
And I think, you know,
we've really achieved that.
We've made this show international.
And from here we can only grow.
And, you know, I will be going out
to people and looking
for feedback and feedback,
but ideas and ways
that we can keep this going,
make it as international as it can be.
But the most important thing for me
is making sure that when people come,
you know, they're
in a real hub of activity.
They can talk to people,
they can create new business,
create new collaborations,
you know, learn new things.
And I think we've got the start
of something really big here.
Your team is already walking around
and collecting the feedback.
Absolutely. My team have been out
and spoken to the people
with the exhibition pods.
I've spoken to the speakers.
But also next week, it's my aim.
I'm going to be getting on the phone
to as many people
that have attended as possible,
because I want to know what people have,
um, have got from the show,
but also what more they can get.
What else we can do to help. So. So yeah.
This is the last one missing.
-It's easy. So it's our missing speaker.
Yeah. So traffic has delayed.
-So so the international part
has always of course
to do also with investments.
Yes. So coming to London
may be an investment but it's easy access.
So the investment stays within a range.
But investment is also a topic
with International Campuses Summit.
and how far are you going
on the investment side?
Foreign direct investment.
Are you looking
for foreign direct investment
here in the UK,
or do you encourage also people
from the UK to invest outside the country?
Trailer: Ilkay Özkisaoglu -
Today at The Drum in Wembley, London.
Creating sustainable value
with Composites Lounge.
The future of Composites
is no longer coming. It's already here
at The Drum, Wembley, London
a stage built for breakthroughs December
2026 in London,
250 plus global leaders
and decision makers,
big ideas and real talk.
Innovation, collaboration, transformation.
This is where change begins.
From aerospace to automotive,
marine to energy,
every sector, every solution engineers,
designers, manufacturers and researchers,
OEMs, Tier
1 suppliers and industry leaders.
All under one roof.
The Composites Lounge is in the house
engaging the voices
during the #Composites360ontour.
Free to attend.
Impossible to miss ICS 2026.
Where the industry connects,
collaborates and accelerates.
-So it's an interesting question,
but to me, you know,
we have to think about this
as a global platform,
as a global industry.
So whether we're talking investment,
inward investment,
you know, outward investment,
whether we're talking to import export,
you know, we have to really think about it
as a whole.
We have to be global.
We have to help grow our innovations.
We have to put our innovations in front
of the kind of big OEMs
to enable their technologies
to move faster.
So really it's looking at things
from a global perspective.
So Gemma, thanks for the introduction.
Then on the investment side,
let's move now to back
to the International Composites Summit
regarding the conference
and the conference,
you had several categories.
Let's go through the categories.
Why did you choose those categories?
For example,
you had this circular
and sustainability part.
How important
is that in an international context?
Sustainability is obviously
a massive topic in our industry.
And I think, you know, Chris Skinner
(Owens Corning)
came and did a keynote yesterday
and just putting the picture up of,
as you know,
burying wind blades to get rid of them
as a problem, you know, and actually,
we're not we're not getting
rid of the problem.
We're just putting a mask on it.
So I think it's a huge industry problem.
And there are so many opportunities
within that. So many people are working
on different, different opportunities.
So of course we had the panel,
we had sustainability or spin
and we asked people about their solutions
and where they fit
within the supply chain.
I think we need to really focus
on what we can do,
whether it's reuse, recycle, etc.,
and come up with real solutions
to avoid landfill
and to help the industry move forwards
and do the kind
of responsible thing.
We had the panel, we've had sessions on it
and we had Chris obviously
do the keynote yesterday as well.
And I think if we can do our bit
to kind of help progress the industry
and help come up
with solutions to those real,
you know, I keep saying challenges,
but they're not challenges.
They're problems,
they're more than a challenge
and we need solutions and we need to act.
So, yeah, just doing our bit
to kind of help that really.
-So thank you, Gemma,
for highlighting
also the conference programme.
Now after ICS,
there is of course before ICS,
but before ICS 2026
we will be meeting in Paris
at JEC World 2026. Now I understand
you are organising an innovation hub.
Is it even the first time
maybe on the JEC World?
So that would be my first question.
What's your motivation?
Why you do that? And I've seen literature
here laid out on the tables
and on the chairs
that you have a Black Friday offer.
Now Black Friday is over,
but I guess still for our guests here
and the participants, it's still valid.
So please give us some insights on it.
Yeah of course.
So I'm sure people have heard us talking
about our innovation hubs.
So the idea is that we take companies,
we put together a pavilion,
and we help them get access to some
of the bigger shows.
So this year we had one at CAMX,
we had one
at the Advanced Engineering Show.
And of course, next year in March 2026,
we're going to JEC for the first time.
Now JEC is of course
one of the biggest global marketplaces
for Composites.
So anything we can do to help people
get that exposure
and help grow the industry.
And you know, what we're going to do.
So March, we have a pavilion
on the show floor at JEC 2026.
And what we really wanted to do
was make that super accessible.
And so we've done a completely crazy thing
for Black Friday deal.
And I'm still not sure.
You know, I'm entirely sane
having done this.
We are running it
up to the end of the year,
and the idea is that it makes,
um, you know,
it gives people the opportunity,
companies, the opportunity
to get on the show floor.
So it will be a pavilion as per, you know,
the innovation hubs
at both CAMX and Advanced Engineering.
And we are doing it at the crazy price
of 3,750 or 3,950 if you want a TV screen.
The nice thing also about coming
and being part of the pavilion
is you have our team on hand.
So, you know,
if you do need to go for meetings,
there's someone there to support you.
You know, in the run up to the event,
we can help you with all the prep.
You know, we really want to take
the headache out of exhibiting.
We want to make sure
that you have that place
on the show floor,
but you're not tied to it
for the whole time
because, you want to get out
and see other things on the show as well.
And that's really important
when you go somewhere like JEC,
and I just encourage people to come in
and try out JEC,
because it really is a global marketplace
and there is nothing like it.
And you know, we will help you get there.
We'll help you.
Do you know if you need pod design-
We'll help you do that.
We'll help you with your PR,
we'll help you with your social media,
and we'll make sure
you get the most
out of being at that show.
So come and join us.
-So that's about it.
Day two is over.
Now I need to rush to my panel.
I'm chairing a panel right now.
Are we automating people
out of their composite jobs?
Is the title.
Slightly provocative?
Very engaging.
So you will see this panel
as a separate video soon.
Thank you Gemma,
one more time for the opportunity.
Thank you for joining us.
Honestly, we're so,
so happy to have you here. Thank you.
-It's a pleasure.
And see you at JEC World
and next year at ICS 2026 here in Wembley.
Yep. See you next year.
-Outro: Ilkay Özkisaoglu
Creating Sustainable Value
with #Composites360ontour
at the International Composite Summit.
Now available on LinkedIn, YouTube
and your preferred audio podcast app.