- 09/08/2025
- Article
- Pharmaceuticals
From containment to AI: Impulses for pharmaceutical production
With its strong pharmaceutical and life science branding, POWTECH TECHNOPHARM 2025 is focusing on GxP-compliant drug manufacturing. The TECHNOPHARM FORUM, with 35 specialist presentations, offers practical know-how on containment, continuous production, GMP requirements, and process optimization. Exhibitors will have their say, as will representatives from pharmaceutical companies and associations.
Written by Dr. Ulla Reutner
POWTECH TECHNOPHARM is repositioning itself. After a ten-year hiatus, the TECHNOPHARM section is being revived—no longer as a standalone trade fair, but as an integral part of the trade fair brand with strong pharmaceutical and life science branding. The double name stands for the numerous synergies between the various sectors of the process industry. Digitalization and automation, continuous processes, sustainability, and interfaces between processing and packaging are at least as important for pharmaceutical production as they are for the chemical, food, and plastics industries. Now, the focus is once again clearly on GxP-compliant manufacturing of pharmaceuticals in solid, semi-solid, and liquid form.
This is also reflected in the forum program at the trade fair. With around 75 lecture proposals submitted, participation in the Call for Papers 2025 was almost three times higher than in 2022. In 2023, drive entered the pharmaceutical sector. Parallel to the traditional POWTECH FORUM, a separate TECHNOPHARM FORUM was already held, not least thanks to the support of the APV (Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Pharmazeutische Verfahrenstechnik e.V.), one of the conceptual sponsors of POWTECH TECHNOPHARM. This year, there will be two strong forums featuring expert presentations on production technology every half hour from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The POWTECH FORUM will focus in particular on process optimization, safety and security, and sustainability across the visitor industries, with a focus on food processing on Wednesday. (We have already reported on this here).
The TECHNOPHARM FORUM in Hall 10, Booth 10-356, will provide a stage for exhibitors of pharmaceutical equipment as well as industry representatives from various pharmaceutical companies. In addition, speakers from the Pharma in Focus Pavilion will present their companies' expertise, including GMP compliance service providers and technology companies that focus strategically on the growing pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. The program was once again put together this year with the support of the APV, led by office manager Dr. Martin Bornhöft, who will also moderate the event.
Focus on continuous manufacturing
On Tuesday, September 23, 2025, several presentations will address the topics of pharmaceutical containment and continuous production, both of which are technological issues currently occupying the pharmaceutical industry. Current projects and the presentation of technical innovations, for example in disposable isolators and mini-batch processing, will enable the transfer into practice. Insights such as those provided by Dr. Michael Ostendorf, Senior Expert Particle Technology at Bayer AG, are particularly valuable in this context. He will present the methods used to analyze powder properties in continuous drug manufacturing that are used in his area of responsibility. Ricarda Leister from Meggle shows the advantages of co-processed excipients in such processes.
Several presentations are also aimed at researchers and process developers among the visitors, for example when it comes to methodological expertise in grinding and screening or optical volume measurement of compacted powder for porosity determination. On Tuesday, several speakers will also present how excipients make the development of solid oral dosage forms more efficient and their manufacture easier. This includes the use of slaughterhouse waste and various plant-based excipients.
Engineers as enablers for the digital future
One highlight on Tuesday is out of the ordinary. Johannes Krämer from the biotechnology company CSL Behring will explain the future prospects for the pharmaceutical industry and the role that engineers play as enablers for digitalization. As head of the APV Pharmaceutical Process Engineering specialist group, Krämer focuses not only on innovative process technologies for all dosage forms, but also on automation concepts and GMP-compliant maintenance, among other things. At CSL Behring, he heads the Engineering department.
Annex 1 – how do we master the challenges?
On Wednesday, several speakers will address a topic that is currently of great concern to the pharmaceutical industry: EU GMP Annex 1. This guideline describes the manufacture of sterile medicinal products. Very detailed, complex requirements have led to uncertainties in implementation. Luigi Scaffidi, among others, will illustrate how these challenges can be met, using the example of Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma's experience. Other presentations will address containment requirements, including an overview of SMEPAC testing in accordance with ISPE guidelines. A presentation on the strategic use of DoE (Design of Experiments) will address the regulatory requirements in pharmaceutical analytics.
Several speakers will also provide insights on the topic of process optimization, including Dr. Philippe Solot, CEO of Aicos Technologies. He will present experimental design as an accelerator and aims to dispel concerns about its supposed complexity. Dirk Steinhäuser from Glatt Ingenieurtechnik will discuss the structured planning of biotech plants where the process is still in development or scale-up. Other speakers will discuss optimization opportunities in freeze drying and AI-supported filling process development.
Keynote: What makes Generations Z and Alpha tick?
All visitors who want to understand, motivate, and retain young colleagues should mark Felix Behm's keynote speech in red on their calendars. He considers himself a “Generation Z expert.” The first generation to grow up completely digitally (born between 1995 and 2010) and Generation Alpha (born after 2010) will replace the baby boomer generation in industrial companies and research in the coming years. “Young, digital, demanding – understanding Gen Z & Gen Alpha” – the keynote speaker will answer this question and outline strategies for winning over digital natives. Not least thanks to his presentation style, his concrete recommendations for action will have a lasting impact.
The “preliminary program” is also impressive: On Wednesday at 1 p.m., three science slammers will take to the stage under the motto “From the lab to the stage” on the initiative of the VDI. Prof. Samir Salameh from Münster University of Applied Sciences, Pierre Cautaerts from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, and Daniel Klüh from Regensburg want to convey their research content in a creative, humorous, and inspiring way. This is also a first for POWTECH TECHNOPHARM.
Process data, inline instrumentation, and PAT
On Thursday, the TECHNOPHARM FORUM will feature a number of expert presentations on process data. Visitors will learn how they can use this data for risk-based requalification and revalidation. Hygienic inline instrumentation and the use of refractometers as a PAT tool will also be discussed. Other topics range from automated laboratory processes to the use of disposable powder mixers as an effective way to prevent cross-contamination.
Learning from practice for practice is the theme of many presentations at the forums. But this is especially true when experts such as Dr. Joachim Herrmann from Dr. Willmar Schwabe, a manufacturer of phytotherapeutics, speak. As Director of Pharmaceutical Formulation, he has first-hand knowledge of the quality and stability problems associated with soft capsules and presents possible solutions.
One future trend is the digitalization of production and supply chains in industry. The BDI (Federation of German Industries) is contributing to this important topic. Senior Manager Ege Hüsemoglu is responsible for the HealthTrack-X data room project at the BDI. He explains how HealthTrack-X can increase the resilience and transparency of supply chains in the industrial healthcare sector, paving the way for digitalization.
Conclusion: Concentrated expertise for the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries
Visitors from the pharmaceutical industry will get their money's worth at POWTECH TECHNOPHARM 2025. This is evident from the accompanying program of the TECHNOPHARM FORUM alone. Further good reasons to visit the trade fair are provided by the more than 330 exhibitors who explicitly target the pharmaceutical industry with their offerings. Many of them also offer devices, systems, and solutions for the cosmetics and personal care industries—and, above all, the expertise to advise interested parties on their next project. Visitors can easily find the relevant exhibitors using the exhibitor search function. Simply select the industry, desired product category, and other criteria to find the intersection you are looking for and plan your visit to the trade fair.
Are you interested in this topic? Then come to POWTECH TECHNOPHARM and experience this and many other topics live at the trade fair. Secure your ticket here using the following code: PTTP25Insights
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