74th Annual IWCS Forum expands to address industry trends, opportunities, and challenges

Join industry-leading wire and cable suppliers, manufacturers, and end-users in Pittsburgh this October to experience critical innovations and developments affecting the global cable and connectivity industry. For the past 73 years, international representatives from the communications, data, electronics, power, industrial, automotive, aerospace, and similar industries gather at the annual IWCS Forum for valuable networking, learning, and career and business growth.

This premier event features the traditional elements of the IWCS Forum plus additional new components that highlight trending developments and innovations affecting the cable and connectivity industry. These auxiliary trend components are divided into four special sessions featuring discussions on the following topics: artificial intelligence + machine learning, sustainable solutions for power and data cables, smart grid infrastructure, and cable innovations for automotive and electric vehicles. 

Attendees will have increased opportunities to visit with supply chain leaders during this year’s event as a result of a continued revised schedule structure, first introduced at last year’s event, and lunch concessions being added to the exhibition floor. The updated schedule begins Monday with Professional Development Courses, followed by the Plenary Luncheon featuring a keynote speaker.

New, attractive location – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. USA

The event will be held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. From scenic vistas to an award-winning culinary scene, renowned arts, cultural offerings, and celebrated sports teams, Pittsburgh has something for everyone. Better yet, it’s easy to get to whether you’re driving, flying, or traveling by train. The city has received many awards in recent years for its convenient travel, impressive dining options, sports, art, entertainment, and more. The city offers many unique attractions so attendees may consider extending their trip or bringing their families to experience all that it has to offer.

Technical Symposium

The cornerstone of the IWCS Cable & Connectivity Industry Forum is the Technical Symposium, which begins Monday afternoon. As always, great care was taken while choosing the papers to be presented. Forty members of the IWCS Board of Directors and Symposium Committee, representing companies from ten unique countries, met in April to review technical paper abstracts. Resulting from the strong response to the Call for Papers will be an extremely high-caliber Technical Symposium that features multiple technical presentations in each of the following sessions.

• Codes and Standards
• Fiber Manufacturing
• Materials Resilience & Durability
• Cable Sustainability & Recycling
• Micro-Cable Design & Installation
• Design and Testing for Copper Ethernet and PoE Cables
• Special Applications & Installations
• Advances in Optical Fiber Coatings & Cable Materials
• Fiber Cable Design, Qualification, Manufacturing and Reliability
• Hyperscale and AI Innovations for Data Centers
• Multicore Optical Fiber
• Poster Session

Executive Session

An additional highlight of the Technical Symposium is the Executive Session, which features economic trends and similar executive management topics of interest. You don’t want to miss these technical innovations and industry outlook presented during the IWCS Technical Symposium!

Plenary Luncheon

Attendees should make travel plans to ensure they arrive for lunch on Monday afternoon to experience the Plenary Session Luncheon. In addition to the keynote presentation, you will also share lunch with colleagues, hear welcome remarks from IWCS, and experience awards recognizing the Outstanding Technical Paper, Best Presentation, and Outstanding Poster Paper from last year’s conference.

NEW! Special sessions highlight important trends

In an effort to supplement the Technical Symposium and support the exchange of ideas on critical advancements, challenges, and opportunities throughout the industry, focused breakout sessions were recently introduced into the IWCS Forum program to promote high-level industry innovation and trend discussions. The 2025 IWCS Forum will be enhanced by multiple special trend sessions featuring influential industry and technology leaders plus the exclusive opportunity for attendees to engage with the panelists and presenters.

Scott Wasserman, Chair of the IWCS Board of Directors, commented on the success of introducing special trend sessions for the first time in 2024. “We are excited to build upon the momentum and continue fostering discussion on critical trends impacting the technical developments driving change in our industry.” He continues, “While the Executive Session has offered an economic outlook at past events, the addition of these new panel discussions allows us to also highlight cutting-edge technical trends and market drivers.”

The detailed agenda for these special sessions is in progress at the time of this article development. Please check back for additional details, panel participants, and presentation features.

 

AI/ML for Communication Network Infrastructure

Monday, October 27, 2:45 – 5:30 PM

During this special session on Monday afternoon, attendees can expect to experience panel discussions and invited talks from utility providers, government personnel, cable manufacturers, and software and system developers that deploy artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhance communication network infrastructure. Please check the IWCS website for additional details and panel participants.

 

Sustainable Solutions for Power and Data Cables

Wednesday, October 29, 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM

This full-day special session will feature multiple panel discussions, invited talks, and the following technical paper presentations:

• Sustainable Options for XLPE Cable Scrap, Brian Risch, Prysmian
• Next Gen. of Recycled Polyolefins for Outer Jacket in OSP Cables, Lucas Nogueira, Prysmian
• Sustainable Solutions for Cable Infrastructure, Tom Schelling, Teknor Apex Company
• New Sustainable Design for Category 6 Cables, Lucas Nogueira, Prysmian

 

Power Delivery for Electric Vehicles

Thursday, October 30, 8:30 AM – 12:00 PM

During this special session on Thursday morning, attendees can expect to experience panel discussions and invited talks from leading players in the Electric Vehicle industry, including cable manufacturers and infrastructure experts. Topics will address advancements and challenges in delivering power to support the growing demand for electric vehicles and smart automobiles.

 

Powering the Grid of the Future

Thursday, October 30, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM

This program brings together industry leaders, technologists and policymakers to explore the evolving landscape of grid modernization. With a focus on the critical role of cabling, connectivity and emerging technologies such as AI, digital twins, ORAN and Quantum, this session delves into the infrastructure, innovation and strategic partnerships necessary to power an electrified economy. Designed for cable and fiber experts, smart grid engineers, and energy stakeholders, the session offers forward-looking insights and actionable dialogue to shape the next generation of resilient, intelligent grid systems.

 

Professional Development Courses

This year, a variety of strong Professional Development Courses will be offered, providing a great learning opportunity from renowned industry experts. IWCS will present the annual core courses of Copper 101, Fiber 101, Materials 101 and Extrusion 101. The four core courses will provide those new to our cable & connectivity industry with basic technology information. Additionally, the Materials 211, Copper 207, Fiber 212, and Fiber 215 elective courses will deliver current, leading edge topics geared at providing information on new areas of interest to engineers, scientists, and other cable & connectivity professionals.

Extrusion 101: The Art and Science of Extrusion Machinery for Wire and Cable

This core course focuses on the basic analysis of identifying potential machinery bottlenecks due to the extrusion group and identifies solutions to improve productivity and product quality.

Fiber Optic 101: Fundamentals of Optical Fibers & Fiber Optic Cable Design & Application

This core course provides an overview of optical fiber fundamentals and optical cable design principles to those new to fiber optic cables.

Materials 101: Selection & Use of Materials in Wire & Cable

This core course is intended for all wire and cable practitioners including raw material suppliers, cable manufacturers, and end users interested in gaining a broad understanding of applied material selection as it relates to cable performance.

Copper 101: Fundamentals of Copper Conductors & Metallic Cable Design & Applications

This core course provides an introduction to the design and application of copper conductor communications cables.

Materials 211: Basics of Fluoropolymers and Their Use in Various Cable Applications

This elective course is intended for raw material suppliers, cable manufacturers, and end users interested in gaining a broad understanding of applied material selection as it relates to cable performance and processing.

FO212: Advances in Optical Fibers and their Applications

This elective course is designed for industry professionals who are interested or involved in the selection of fiber types and connectivity solutions for data center and enterprise applications.

FO215: Understanding Optical Fiber Coatings

This elective course is intended for those interested in optical fiber materials and coatings.

Copper 207: Fundamentals in Signal Integrity

This elective course is designed to learn about how the high signaling and clock frequencies used in communications results in more sources of noise and distortion for modern electronics engineers to consider as part of their circuit design or measurement protocols.

 

Supplier Exhibition^™

The Forum provides many unique professional networking and social opportunities for industry colleagues. A key part of the event experience is the Supplier Exhibition™, which allows industry suppliers to exhibit their products and services to event attendees. The Supplier Exhibition continues its two-day program, providing plenty of opportunity and incentive for all attendees to visit with premier suppliers from around the world. It also includes Supplier Spotlight presentations where latest product developments and industry trends are showcased by exhibitors.

Preliminary List of Exhibiting Companies:

• ADVARIS USA, Inc.
• AESA S.A.
• AGC Chemicals
• Alphagary / Mexichem Specialty Compounds, Inc.
• Arkema Inc.
• Artofil bv
• ATK Flame Retardant Materials Company
• Aurora Material Solutions
• Aversion Technologies, Inc.
• Avient Corporation
• Axjo America
• BASF
• Carris Reels
• Chase Corporation
• Commission Brokers Inc
• Conneaut Industries Inc.
• Covestro LLC
• Dainichiseika Color & Chemicals Mfg. Co., Ltd.
• Delta Tecnic
• DeWal Industries / Rogers Corp.
• Excelitas Technologies
• Fabpro Polymers
• Fiber Optic Ctr., Inc.
• Fil-Tec, Inc.
• Gem Gravure Company
• GEON Performance Solutions
• Glenair, Inc. (new)
• Graham Engineering Company LLC
• Herkula
• HS Hyosung Advanced Materials
• Huber Advanced Materials
• Info-Gel LLC
• InnoVites B.V
• IWCS
• Kinrei of America, LLC
• Lloyd & Bouvier Inc.
• Holland Company
• Madem-Moorecraft Reels USA, Inc.
• Maillefer Extrusion Oy
• Medek & Schörner GmbH
• Melos GmbH
• Mitsubishi Chemical Group
• Mitsui Chemicals America (new)
• Nabaltec AG
• NARWAL EXPORTS
• Neomat Distribution (new)
• OZEN USA LLC. (new)
• Proton Products Inc
• REELEX Packaging Solutions Inc
• Roblon A/S
• Rosendahl Nextrom
• Runaya Pvt Ltd
• SABIC (new)
• Saint-Gobain Tape Solutions
• Service Thread
• SETIC POURTIER SAS
• Shaowu Yonghe Jintang New Materials Co., Ltd.
• Shresht Composites Inc
• Sikora International
• Sonoco Products
• Submarine Telecoms Forum
• TDC
• Teknor Apex
• Tensor Machinery Ltd
• TESTMACH INTECH LLP
• The MGS Group
• The Wire Association International/Wire Journal
• Thermoplastics Engineering Corp.
• Web Industries
• Wire & Cable Technology International (WCTI)
• Wire and Plastic Machinery Corp.
• Xaloy LLC
• Zumbach Electronics Corporation

Register early for discounted rates

Registration will open this summer, with the most discounted “Summer Special” rates available through August 1. The last chance to take advantage of discounted registration rates is September 15, which is when the “Advanced” discount expires. IWCS encourages international travelers to secure a valid VISA for USA travel as wait times for VISA applications may be lengthy.