The 65th Dornbirn Global Fiber Congress will feature 100 presentations, a new Innovation Day & Forum, and various awards.
The 65th Dornbirn Global Fiber Congress, to be held September 16-18 in Dornbirn, Austria, is gearing up to bring together around 600 international experts for three days of high‑level technical exchange, with 100 presentations across parallel tracks and a sharpened focus on innovation, sustainability and global industry collaboration.
A major program update is the launch of the Dornbirn GFC Innovation Day & Forum on September 17. The new compact format will consolidate all innovation‑focused activities into a single day, including company touchpoints, on‑stage pitches and a jury‑voted innovation award.
Participants will address the core questions — What? Why? How? — to clearly position the novelty, value and commercial readiness of their technologies. A jury of fiber industry experts, together with the audience, will evaluate the presentations and vote for the most innovative idea, with the winner receiving the Dornbirn GFC Innovation Day & Forum Award 2026.
Companies pitching their latest developments include Teijin Aramid, the Netherlands; AeoniQ, Switzerland; CeNTI, Portugal; the University of Leeds, England; Innovo Fiber/Fibre52™, Houston; Senbis Polymer Innovations, the Netherlands; re.solution, Germany; FibreCoat, Germany; BB Engineering, Germany; and Evoralis, England.
The opening morning of the congress will feature high-level keynote perspectives from across the fiber value chain, including Lenzing’s Christian Skilich on reinventing man‑made cellulosics through new technologies, resource efficiency and circularity; Elke Hortmeyer, Bremen Cotton Exchange, on how the European Union Green Deal and Product Environmental Footprint methodologies are reshaping fiber assessment and market access; EDANA’s Marines Lagemaat on the success factors and challenges defining the nonwovens sector; and Barmag’s Georg Stausberg on the systemic transformation required for circular and low‑impact textile production.
Dedicated sessions during the event will highlight ReHubs on textile‑to‑textile recycling, with a focus on workwear and circular systems; and Natural Fibers, curated by the Bremen Cotton Exchange, featuring the Discover Natural Fibres Initiative, Polyvlies, Wilhelm G. Clasen and RWTH Aachen.
RWTH Aachen will also host an industry session outlining joint research with Barmag, Technofibres and Solid Air Dynamics, showcasing applied fiber‑technology development.
The congress will award the 2026 winners of the Paul Schlack Prize, which supports visionary and exceptional researchers in the field of man-made fibers, and the Lenzing Young Scientist Award, which this year focuses on high‑performance cellulosics for next‑generation applications.
Following a successful event in Seoul in May, attended by more than 250 fiber industry experts, the Dornbirn GFC Asia platform continues to expand, with South Korean delegates to participate at the Dornbirn event in September. With an additional knowledge platform already established in India, discussions are now underway for a one‑day event in China later this year.
Founded in 1961 by Professor Wilhelm Albrecht and Kommerzialrat Seidl of Lenzing, with just 13 presentations and 130 participants from six countries, the Dornbirn GFC has grown into one of the fiber sector’s most influential global forums, with its Asian platforms now extending its reach further.
For more information, please visit www.dornbirn-gfc.com.
