IPC International Community magazine an association member publication
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96 I-CONNECT007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2026 Wintercom, an event focused primarily on standards. The final Wintercom took place in Barcelona in 2023. The Association now co-hosts PEDC with FED. It was created to bring together a broader cross-section of European professionals and draw on their expertise across disciplines, and was intentionally designed as a pan-European event that would also engage people who might not attend the German-language conference hosted by FED. Our first two events were held in Vienna and Prague, and this year we are moving to Amsterdam. The conference offers an excellent opportunity for European professionals across our industry, and the response has been very positive. PEDC has grown significantly since its inaugural event in 2024. What is the intent of PEDC? What can attendees expect? PEDC is designed as a technical deep dive into the challenges shaping Europe's electronics industry. The program explores innovation and new product design, along with the legislative, regulatory, and geopolitical issues affecting the industry, particu- larly where those challenges are unique to Europe. We intentionally keep the conference non- commercial and firmly focused on technical content. We are strict about this so attendees can engage in meaningful discussions without being continu- ally subjected to sales pitches. Sessions center on ideas, solutions, trends, and issues relevant to the European community, with the goal of maintaining an academic tone. Networking is an equally important aspect at PEDC, and it offers distinctive value by connecting professionals from across Europe. Is there still any focus on standards? PEDC is not a standards-focused conference. For example, there are no committee meetings, and no standards development work takes place. Of course, the industry naturally revolves around the standards, and it comes up in conver- sation, but they are not an explicit focus of the program content or presentations. Unlike IPC Builds, which revolves entirely around standards building, PEDC em- phasizes the exchange of ideas and offers exceptional network- ing opportunities for profession- als across Europe. What have you learned after your first two years of hosting PEDC? What has changed? One of our key lessons was the importance of cre- ating a more integrated and intimate expo experi- ence. In the first year, exhibitors were placed in a separate room, which we found limited interaction, so we redesigned the conference layout to allow exhibitors to share the main conference space with attendees. Last year, exhibitors were located in a central area that attendees naturally entered during session breaks. This encouraged significantly more inter- action and created a stronger connection between the technical program and the expo. Attendees could discuss ideas from a session, encounter a relevant booth, and continue the conversation with a supplier—sometimes over coffee with someone who had attended the same session. The arrange- ment worked very well, and I hope we can use a similar setup this year. The tech conference sounds very comprehensive. Have you received enough submissions? Participation has been really good. Submissions were a little slow at first, but we know folks often submit at the last minute. We extended the deadline by a few weeks, and now we have an abundance of submissions, far more than is needed. Since we have only so many slots, we will be curating sub- missions for our final tech program lineup. Some of them will, naturally, be a better fit for this confer- ence than others, but we are confident we can use all of them somewhere, maybe pushing them over to APEX EXPO. S u s a n Kaye s a r