JEC Americas to Focus on Top Innovations in the Americas’ Vibrant Composites Sector

Composites industry leaders from around the globe will return this fall to the second edition of the JEC Americas Composites Show & Conferences at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Oct. 2 – 4, 2013. Convened by JEC Group, the world’s largest organization exclusively dedicated to the composites industry, this much-anticipated event provides the continent’s premiere venue for composites designers, manufacturers and suppliers to showcase their technologies, expand their expertise, network with a wide array of industry professionals and gain a competitive edge in this important market.

“The Americas are a critical strategic market for anyone hoping to compete in the global composites industry. The region represents 34 percent of the global composites industry in value and 32 percent in volume, and is a leading innovator in key composites end-markets, including transportation, aeronautics, automation and wind energy,” said Frédérique Mutel, JEC’s president and chief executive officer.

JEC Americas will highlight four key composites sectors:
• Automotive: Part of Transportation, which is by far the largest composites end-user sector in the Americas, Automotive is projected to see continued growth fueled by demand for lightweight materials.

• Automation: A small but rapidly growing sector, Automation is both an end-market and key enabler for composites technology. One-third of JEC’s portfolio is now composed of industrialists proposing new equipment, machines or software for accelerated composites production.

• Aeronautics: Representing 6 percent of the overall composites market, Aeronautics is a key end-market and support for composites innovation due to the drive for lightweight, high-strength materials.

• Building & Construction: Representing 15 percent of the overall composites market, building and construction continues to fuel growth and development of composites materials thanks to ongoing rehabilitation of existing structures in the Americas.

This year’s event will put forward the influence of two particular American regions on the global composites industry:

• Canada, named this year’s Country of Honor by JEC Americas, is home to an estimated 300 composites companies that employ around 50,000 people and serve the country’s internationally competitive aeronautics, automotive, wind, construction and industrial sectors.

• California, JEC America’s featured state, is a key supplier of raw materials and innovation for composites technology, as well as a manufacturing powerhouse for top global composites sectors, such as aeronautics, marine and automation.

JEC Americas 2013 will spotlight both Canada and California with dedicated pavilions on the exhibit floor, as well as targeted content in the technical conferences.

JEC Americas 2013 will fulfill one of the organization’s key missions of sharing leading-edge innovations within the composites community. Namely, it will provide a stage for the Ninth Innovative Composites Summit (I.C.S.), a program of strategic and technical conferences and forums with a proven record of delivering high-value industry intelligence. The preliminary program features sessions on Composites Design & Processing; Composites’ contribution to Civil Engineering, Automotive, Aeronautics and Security applications; and Advances in Materials Technologies, such as carbon and plastics. JEC Group will issue a finalized program this summer.

In view of North America’s educational and scientific landscape, the conference will include a large Education & Skills Village that will host around 30 universities, composites and advanced materials organizations, academic groups, market associations and scientific centers.

The JEC Americas Composites Show will also allow JEC to provide its expertise on value-added services, such as the Business Meetings Program – which arranges meetings with pre-selected companies – or the Job Center, where visitors and exhibitors can post job openings and résumés.

Innovation is the key to JEC’s activities, and the JEC Americas Innovation Awards program will honor the best new products, processes and applications in the composites industry. This highly acclaimed program has already rewarded more than 700 companies and their partners throughout the world at ceremonies in Paris, Shanghai, Mumbai, Singapore and Boston. The winners and the laureates will exhibit their best composites solution at the Innovation Showcase during JEC Americas 2013.

For more information on making booth reservations, submitting conference papers or nominating a product for the JEC Innovation Awards, please visit www.jeccomposites.com, and click on the link for Events.

JEC Group represents, promotes and helps to grow composites markets – such as transportation, automotive, building and construction, marine, consumer goods, aviation/aerospace and wind energy – by providing networking and world-class information services. Its globally renowned JEC Europe Composites Show & Conferences (48th session in 2013) is four times larger than any other composites exhibition in the world. In addition, the JEC Asia Composites Show & Conferences (6th edition in 2013) is the largest global composites conference targeting the Asia-Pacific market.

JEC is the largest composites industry organization in Europe and in the world with a network of 250,000 professionals. JEC represents, promotes and expands composites markets by providing global or local networking and information services. Through knowledge and networking, the JEC experts offer a comprehensive service package: the JEC publications – including strategic studies, technical books and the JEC Composites Magazine – the weekly international e-letter “World Market News” and the French e-letter JEC Info Composites. JEC also organizes JEC Europe Show in Paris – world and European leader, strongly supported by the industry and five times bigger than any other composites exhibition – JEC Asia in Singapore and JEC Americas in Boston, the Web Hub www.jeccomposites.com, the JEC Composites Conferences, Forums and Workshops (including I.C.S., the Innovative Composites Summit) in Paris, Singapore and Boston, and the JEC Innovation Awards program (Europe, Asia, America, India and China).

The composites industry employs 550,000 professionals worldwide and generates 83 billion euros worth of business in 2012