Global competition is increasingly about competing as a system, and the Italian industry must be able to present itself as a system too.
This is the idea behind Italian glassWAYS by GIMAV, the new project designed to enhance and coordinate the presence of Italian companies operating in the glass industry at the world’s leading international trade fairs.
The first stop will be glasstec 2026, taking place in Düsseldorf from October 20 to 23, where GIMAV will introduce a new way of presenting and making the Italian presence more visible and recognisable.
The objective is simple yet ambitious: to transform multiple individual presences into a coordinated industry presence, creating a route that guides operators and visitors through the technologies, expertise and Italian companies exhibiting at the show.
All Italian glass technology along one route
At glasstec, the natural starting point will be Hall 16, historically characterised by a strong Italian presence. But Italian glassWAYS has been conceived precisely to go beyond the physical boundaries of a single hall.
The route will also connect GIMAV member companies exhibiting in other areas of the show, creating a widespread map of the Italian glass industry across the exhibition grounds.
One identity and one route will make immediately recognisable what, within a major international trade fair, is inevitably spread across different stands, halls and exhibition areas.
Following Italian glassWAYS will mean following the path of the Italian glass industry.
From glasstec to the world: Italian glassWAYS will travel with Casa GIMAV
glasstec represents the first stop, not the final destination.
Italian glassWAYS has been conceived as an international project to be replicated at the overseas trade fairs attended by GIMAV through Casa GIMAV, adapting each time to the characteristics of the event and to the presence of Italian companies.
The ambition is to build, over time, a permanent and travelling platform for the international promotion of the Italian glass industry.
Cities, trade fairs and exhibitor locations will change, but Italian glassWAYS will remain recognisable: the route through which international operators, buyers and stakeholders will be able to identify and discover the Italian presence.
The project will also be able to evolve progressively, complementing visibility and discovery tools with new opportunities for connection, networking and business matching.
In this way, Casa GIMAV will not simply represent the Association’s presence at international trade fairs, but will also become one of the hubs from which Italian glassWAYS takes shape.
A new asset for the international promotion of the Italian glass industry
Italian glassWAYS is not intended to be a quality label or simply a communication campaign.
It has been created to become a recognisable and replicable system through which GIMAV can strengthen and enhance the presence of its member companies at international trade fairs over time.
Behind every individual exhibitor lies an industrial heritage built on technology, innovation, specialisation, expertise and manufacturing excellence.
Italian glassWAYS aims to make that heritage visible as a system.
“With Italian glassWAYS, we want to take a further step forward: not simply to be present at the leading international trade fairs, but to build a recognisable route that allows the market to find and discover Italian companies as part of a wider system. We are starting with glasstec, but Italian glassWAYS has been designed to travel alongside Casa GIMAV at international trade fairs such as China Glass and GlassBuild America, growing step by step as a tool for promoting and connecting the Italian glass industry,” said Lucia Masutti, General Manager of GIMAV
glasstec 2026 will therefore be both the project’s first testing ground and the first stop on a journey designed to continue.