Over the last years, ISTMA Europe has directed its activity towards drawing attention, increasing visibility and importance of the sector among public opinion, in particular of official bodies at national and international level, with special focus on the development of contacts with the European Commission.
Targeting the maintenance of the sector's competitiveness and sustainable development vis-á-vis the challenges of an ever increasingly global and aggressive market, ISTMA has been a pivot in the organization of key initiatives gathering the Industry's stakeholders, assuming simultaneously a key role in the facilitation the sector's access to community initiatives and programs, promoting strategic projects and research, development and demonstration activities.
Following the success of previous editions held in Lisbon (2007), Milan (2009), Wiesbaden (2011), Portoroz (2013), Tampere (2015), Stuttgart (2017) and Brussels (2019), the European Tooling Forum will embody, integrate and leverage the Industry's priorities, consistently fostered in ISTMA Europe's multiple activities over the last years.
Congregating the Industry, decision-makers and responsables for national and European public policies, representatives from associations, research centres and universities, clients, entrepreneurs and renowned experts, the European Tooling Forum will gather the Industry's stakeholders in order to discuss and highlight the Moulding and Special Tooling Industry's importance and strategic positioning for the sustainable development of European Industry and Employment.
Notably, the Forum intends to alert, debate and motivate all the stakeholders to:
- The strategic importance of the Mouldmaking and Tooling sector in innovation and in the development of new products, technologies, know-how and skills in the European Economy;
- Sector's impact in the European Union's industrial infrastructure;
- The importance of European strategic cooperation networks along the European value chain versus the positioning of a sector like the Mould and Tooling sector that is dominated by SME's and, consequently, receiving reduced media coverage;
- To foster and promote the sector's strategic importance in the development and sustainability of the European economy among political decision centres, at the level of National Governments, as well as at the level of European Commission representatives in Brussels.
