April 23, 2024 sees the 5th edition of the Lightweighting Summit, organized by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), at HANNOVER MESSE. This year's congress focuses on the topic of lightweight construction as a transformation technology for the resource transition, and will highlight the key role of lightweight construction concepts in the transition to a resource-efficient economy. A successful resource turnaround aims to sustainably extract and utilize raw materials, and then return them to the cycle. Besides lightweight construction, the circular economy is also of crucial importance to this end. Six experts will discuss this topic in a panel discussion.

The two keynote addresses will be given by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Holger Hanselka, President of the Fraunhofer Society, and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Markus Milwich, spokesman for the Baden-Württemberg Lightweight Construction Alliance. New to the program are five promotional presentations on lightweight construction, in which various companies and research institutions will present innovative R&D projects from the field of lightweight construction.

Dr. Anna Kleissner, Managing Director of Econmove GmbH, is currently creating a "lightweight construction satellite account" for Germany, commissioned by the BMWK and aimed making the gross value added and job opportunities offered by lightweight construction more visible and tangible for policymakers, businesspeople and society in general. She will give a motivational speech with a report on the current state of progress.