MaTec: a project looking to the future

A cross-sector format proposing new ways of meeting and dialogue between different areas of the manufacturing industry: a project that today brings together wood and furniture, plastics and rubber, and composite materials, but which in future could extend its reach even further. This is the calling card of MaTec-Materials and Technologies, the major spring event dedicated to the manufacturing industry, taking place alongside Plast 2026 at Fiera Milano to chart a new course, creating fresh opportunities, relationships and connections between industries that are growing ever closer.

Trade fairs need new formulas now more than ever. The rapid growth of new ways of connecting supply and demand - accelerated dramatically by the Covid-19 pandemic - demands different choices that can breathe new life, content and purpose into sector-specific events. The organisers of Xylexpo, the international biennial of technologies for the wood and furniture industry, and Plast, the exhibition dedicated to plastics and rubber, have chosen to offer a fresh perspective that can serve as a new point of reference for the processing industry - a project that has also brought in composite materials, which can now count on Composites Future, a Made-in-Italy exhibition and conference making its debut at MaTec 2026.

"The convergence of different materials in a single product is a well-established practice both in design and in manufacturing methods," said Dario Corbetta, Director of Xylexpo. "Machinery and equipment for the wood sector and its derivatives have, for several decades now, found growing application in other industries as well, effectively responding to a demand for solutions in which multi-material approaches are an absolute priority. Together with our colleagues at Plast and Assocompositi - the association representing companies in this specific sector - we have chosen to try and travel part of this road together. A choice that opens the door to new opportunities, collaborations and synergies that have become essential".

"We have chosen to offer a new kind of experience, placing visitor satisfaction at the forefront and involving them - perhaps for the first time anywhere in the world - in a context that no longer wants to be single-theme, but truly open to new experiences and cross-pollination," added Mario Maggiani, Director of Plast. "A single ticket will allow professionals from very different sectors to meet suppliers of technologies and materials for the wood and furniture, plastics and rubber, marine, aerospace, automotive and construction industries - to name but a few of the sectors that will be represented during MaTec. A web of possibilities from which we expect new and exciting prospects to emerge".