This article was originally published in International Filtration News (INDA Media), Issue 2, 2026. Republished with permission. All rights reserved.
As filtration requirements intensify across industrial, environmental, automotive and medical applications, nonwoven materials continue to play a central enabling role. From fiber architecture and media durability to efficiency optimization and sustainability performance, filtration innovation is increasingly rooted in advances in nonwoven technology. Against this backdrop, INDEX™26, taking place from May 19–22, 2026, in Geneva, positions itself as a relevant technical forum for filtration professionals seeking insight into material trends, application requirements and cross-sector developments.
Owned by EDANA, the international association representing the nonwovens industry, and organized in collaboration with Palexpo SA, INDEX brings together the full value chain, including raw material suppliers, media producers, equipment manufacturers and end-use specialists. While the event spans a broad range of applications, filtration emerges at INDEX26 as a clearly defined technical theme, supported by dedicated seminar content and a strong concentration of filtration-relevant exhibitors.
The clearest signal of filtration’s importance within the INDEX26 program is the seminar “From Air to Industry: Nonwovens Powering Innovation Across Global Filtration Markets,” scheduled for Thursday, May 21, 2026.
This seminar will explore the key trends shaping the global filtration market, highlighting how nonwovens enable high efficiency, durability and innovation in applications ranging from heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and industrial filtration to automotive, medical and environmental protection.
Drawing on market insights and real-world applications, the presentation will examine how sustainability, material innovation and evolving end-user needs are driving the next generation of filtration technologies — and where the most promising growth opportunities lie for the nonwovens industry.
Two speakers will present during the seminar: The first speaker, Martin Klein, senior vice president, Engineering Filtration Materials at Mann+Hummel, will present under the title of “Nonwovens at Work: Innovation in Filtration.” Klein will talk about how nonwoven media are at the heart of modern filtration, enabling cleaner air, fluids and environments across automotive, industrial and life science applications; will explore how advanced fiber engineering, digital media designs and innovations in nonwoven structures are pushing the limits of efficiency, capacity and sustainability; and will connect material science to application needs, outlining pathways for next-generation filtration solutions and competitive differentiation.
“The New Age of Sustainable Air Filtration” is the title of the presentation from the second seminar speaker, Sandra Schäfer, senior scientist, Hollingsworth & Vose. Attendees can expect to learn how innovative 3D-structured filter media can cut global air filter waste and support genuine sustainability gains; how filter media with beneficial pressure drop behavior throughout its entire service life reduces energy costs and total cost of ownership; and how extended service life and reduced material usage enable more sustainable air filtration without compromising performance.
Nonwoven media have become integral to modern filtration systems due to their ability to combine structural control, functional performance and scalable manufacturing. The seminar framing at INDEX26 reflects this reality by focusing not on filtration as a standalone discipline, but on the interaction between material architecture and application needs.
It highlights how evolving end-user expectations — including higher efficiency, longer service life and reduced environmental impact — are driving the development of next-generation filtration media. These pressures are particularly visible in sectors such as automotive air filtration, industrial dust control and medical environments, where regulatory and performance thresholds continue to rise.
Rather than presenting filtration in isolation, the INDEX26 program situates filtration within a broader ecosystem of nonwoven innovation, acknowledging that fiber selection, bonding technology and media design are decisive factors in filtration performance.
Filtration will also be framed in the context of market and sustainability trends. The session on “Market Trends in Nonwovens – Insights Shaping the Future,” while not filtration exclusive, will also focus on providing relevant context for filtration professionals by situating filtration demand within overall nonwoven market dynamics, including sustainability pressures and shifting customer expectations. The inclusion of filtration within this high-level market analysis reflects its established position as a core growth and innovation area within nonwovens.
Sustainability considerations — addressed in the seminar “Sustainability in Nonwovens: Key Developments & Perspectives” — are also directly relevant to filtration, particularly in relation to material efficiency, lifecycle considerations and evolving regulatory frameworks affecting air and environmental protection systems.
Beyond seminar content, the relevance of INDEX26 to filtration professionals is reinforced by the documented profile of exhibitors and visitors at the most recent completed edition, INDEX23. While not filtration-specific, these figures provide insight into the technical and decision-making environment in which filtration discussions take place.
INDEX23 brought together 610 exhibitors from 42 countries, with 12,017 on-site visitors from 103 countries, demonstrating a global concentration of suppliers and users of nonwoven technologies. Visitor profiles show strong representation from R&D, production, corporate management and purchasing, indicating that technical evaluation and strategic sourcing decisions are central motivations for attendance.
From an application perspective, 27 percent of visitors were employed in medical and surgical sectors, while 18 percent were linked to automotive applications, both of which rely heavily on advanced filtration solutions. The presence of these sectors reinforces INDEX’s relevance for filtration media developers and system integrators.
One of INDEX’s defining characteristics is its value-chain completeness. For filtration professionals, this means direct access not only to finished filtration media suppliers, but also to:
This structure supports technical exchange on issues such as media uniformity, scalability, production efficiency and material compatibility — topics that are often difficult to address in application-specific filtration conferences.
The high satisfaction scores reported at INDEX23 further underline the perceived technical value of this environment. Seventy-seven percent of visitors were satisfied with opportunities to meet all levels of the value chain, while 93 percent were satisfied with opportunities to identify solutions to business and technical issues.
Crucially for filtration professionals, INDEX26 is structured around technical discussion and peer exchange rather than product promotion alone. The seminar program is positioned as a forum for examining underlying drivers — material innovation, performance requirements and sustainability constraints — that shape filtration media development.
For filtration engineers and R&D teams, one of the less immediately visible but structurally important aspects of INDEX lies in its positioning at the intersection of multiple application sectors. Air filtration, industrial filtration and medical filtration increasingly draw on developments originally driven by adjacent nonwoven applications, including hygiene, medical disposables and mobility. INDEX’s application-spanning structure enables technical benchmarking across these domains, particularly in areas such as fiber consistency, media uniformity, scalability and process efficiency.
Survey data from INDEX23 indicates that visitors value this cross-application exposure — 96 percent reported satisfaction with networking opportunities, while 97 percent were satisfied with the ability to engage with all levels of the value chain. For filtration specialists, this environment supports early-stage technical dialogue with material suppliers and equipment manufacturers, often before solutions are formalized for filtration-specific markets.
Filtration At The Core Of Nonwoven Innovation
For filtration professionals working with nonwoven media, INDEX26 offers a concentrated opportunity to engage with the material technologies underpinning next-generation filtration systems. Through dedicated filtration seminars, cross-application market analysis and a value-chain-wide exhibitor base, the event provides a technically grounded environment for understanding how nonwovens continue to shape filtration performance across industries.
Rather than positioning filtration as a peripheral topic, INDEX26 integrates it into the core discussion on material innovation, sustainability and application-driven design — reflecting the central role filtration now plays within the global nonwovens landscape.