IZB 2026: the International Suppliers Fair shines the spotlight on customer-oriented innovations

The key topic of this year’s International Suppliers Fair (IZB) 2026 brings the rapid, high-quality and cooperative development of marketable solutions to the forefront.

The event will mainly focus on three dimensions that will shape future cooperation in the industry:

• Speed: faster development and decision-making processes
• Quality: a focus on robust, scalable and marketable solutions
• Partnership: early and close cooperation with development partners along the entire value chain

With this approach, the IZB is being specifically developed from a classic presentation space into an active innovation platform for the joint creation and advancement of new solutions.

A platform for cooperation and innovation

The IZB brings together international supplier companies, manufacturers and partners from the fields of development and research. It aims to enable participants to identify innovations at an early stage, work together to develop them further and use them in industrial applications more rapidly.

One of the main focuses of the event is the speed of development processes. By facilitating direct, early communication between supplier companies and OEMs, the IZB helps accelerate coordination, shorten decision-making processes and significantly reduce innovation cycles. As a result, the industry strengthens its competitiveness in an increasingly dynamic international environment.

With its involvement in the IZB, Volkswagen highlights its role in actively shaping the industrial landscape. Within this context, the trade fair offers structured contact points for professional exchanges and provides scope for direct dialogue between all parties involved – from the idea to its implementation.

“The speed at which innovations now need to be transformed into marketable products is an essential competitive factor. The IZB establishes the ideal conditions for achieving this speed by creating links between development, procurement and suppliers at an early stage and enabling direct, solution-oriented communication. This leads to better ideas and, above all, solutions that can be implemented and made available even more rapidly,” states Thomas Krause, Spokesman of the Board of Wolfsburg AG.

Further development of the Volkswagen Group Hubs

After their successful introduction at the IZB 2024, the Volkswagen Group Hubs are now a central element of the trade fair concept. With different areas dedicated to specific topics, the hubs focused on connecting experts and decision-makers from the Volkswagen Group with supplier companies and facilitated direct, content-related communication.

The positive response to this format underlined the importance of structured dialogue forums for the development of customer-oriented innovations.

The Volkswagen Group Hubs are undergoing further development for the IZB 2026, where they will become an even more prominent platform for discussing strategic topic areas. They will act as clear contact points for conversations with relevant partners and they will promote the joint development of concrete proposed solutions.

An international platform for the automotive industry

The IZB is one of the most important industry gatherings for the automotive supplier industry in Europe. In 2024, more than 800 exhibitors from 33 different countries came to Wolfsburg and made the most of the trade fair as a platform for communication, innovation and cooperation.

By further developing the trade fair concept, the event organiser, Wolfsburg AG, is strengthening the role of the IZB as a central meeting point for the international supplier industry – and as the place where people come together to shape the future of mobility.