Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1543584
34 SMT007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2026 EIPC Winter Conference 2026 Innovation, Energy, and Sustainability Aix-en-Provence (pronounced "ex-ahn- pro-vonse"), a historic city and commune in the south of France, about 20 miles north of Marseille, was the pleasant venue for EIPC's Winter Confer- ence in early February. Industry delegates from 11 European countries, as well as from the U.S. and China, gathered at the Renaissance Hotel for a two-day programme, "Driving the Future: Innova- tion, Energy, and Sustainability in PCB Technology." An added attraction was a privileged visit to the ITER fusion power project at the Cadarache research and development centre. Newly elected EIPC Pres- ident Rico Schlüter, recognised in recent years for his outstanding contribution to the establish- ment of Unimicron's new PCB manufacturing plants in Germany and Teltonika's in Lithuania, welcomed delegates to the event. He also gave a keynote address. The audience warmly applauded his acknowl- edgement of the longstanding dedication, commit- F E AT U R E A RT I C L E BY P E T E S TA R K E Y Editor's note: This article contains EMS-related excerpts from Pete Starkey's three-part series covering the conference published in the I-Connect007 Daily Newsletter. To read the entire proceedings, start here. Pete Starkey ▼ Panel comprising Andre Bodegom of Adeon, Chris Haley of Amphenol-Invotec, Vincent Dronnet of Elvia Electron- ics, Joachim Verhegge of Group ACB, Thomas Michels of ILFA, and Hugo Tang of Ventec.