Smart Manufacturing Week gets a new logo and features for 2026
12 September 2025 
Smart Manufacturing Week (SMW), the UK’s biggest festival of advanced manufacturing and engineering, has unveiled a fresh look and announced new features for next year’s show, which is taking place at the NEC in Birmingham from 3-4 June 2026. The event includes Smart Factory Expo, Maintec, Drives & Controls, Design & Engineering Expo, Manufacturing Digitalisation Summit and The Manufacturer Top 100 Awards.
The show has a new logo, designed “to match the forward-thinking and technology driven modern world of engineering and manufacturing, and align with the evolution of the event as a fun and exciting place to visit”.
“We wanted a brand that feels as electric as the industry it represents,” says Verity Noon, marketing director at event organiser, Nineteen Group. “The bright, neon and modern creative, inspired by our music festival theme, captures the sparks of innovation and energy at the heart of Smart Manufacturing Week. The dynamic design also reflects the pace of change in manufacturing – always evolving and alive with possibility.”
The Week offers a full-spectrum view of the technologies and trends driving modern industry, and is attended by more than 13,500 manufacturers, engineers, designers, maintenance professionals, industry leaders and technology providers from every sector of industry. Building on the 2025 event, which attracted more than 450 exhibitors and 200 speakers, SMW – winner of the Best Tradeshow at the Conference & Events Awards 2024 – is poised to deliver an even larger, more ambitious and more transformative event in 2026.
New features and attractions at the exhibition will include:
- Fight Fest: A robot fighting competition that will give students a hands-on experience of engineering through a dynamic blend of sport, engineering and mechanical mayhem. Visitors will be able to battle it out with custom-made robots in the fight for glory. In addition, there will be professional teams competing live across the two days of the exhibition. The high-energy competition, aligned with the show’s automation and robotics theme, will be located on the Acu Bots stand in the Drives & Controls section of the event.
- The Future Stage: A window into the future of industry where bold ideas, breakthrough tech and radical thinking from pioneering start-ups to global innovators, will collide, exploring disruptive trends that will define the decade ahead.
- Theatres: There will be additional stages on the show floor offering specialised content based on key themes relevant to the sector. The keynote and panel sessions will draw on years of experience in the sector, and will be delivered by experts. In addition, following the success of 2025’s keynote address by former F1 boss Guenther Steiner, there will be two keynotes addresses for the first time in 2026.
- The Ambassador Programme: This celebrates individuals passionate about driving change in manufacturing and engineering, giving them a platform to share insights that help the industry to thrive. In 2026, the programme will go further, introducing exclusive networking time for ambassadors to connect, collaborate and tackle pressing challenges together, strengthening their role as champions of change, and deepening their impact on the future of the event.
The Ambassador themes for 2026 are:
- Digital transformation: Driving smart factories and data-led innovation.
- Supply chain resilience: Anticipating disruption, maintaining continuity and increasing reliability across operations.
- Sustainability: Driving progress towards net-zero through decarbonisation, reducing waste, prioritising repairability, and designing with re-use at the core.
- Equity, diversity and inclusion: Building the workforce of the future by championing diversity, developing leadership, strengthening STEM pipelines, and nurturing next-generation talent.
“Our Ambassador Programme was a huge success last year, spotlighting leaders in digital transformation, supply chain resilience, sustainability and people and skills,” says Verity Noon. “This year we’re building on that momentum, expanding the programme to bring even more voices and expertise to the table. It’s about celebrating the champions driving change in manufacturing and engineering and creating a platform for them to share insights that inspire the whole community.”
Smart Manufacturing Week 2026 will also see the return of several familiar attractions and themes, including the showfloor theatres that deliver curated content on topics including digital transformation, AI and data, connected factories, automation and robotics, maintenance, supply chain, sustainability, IIoT and connectivity, sustainability, leadership, design, skills, and engineers of the future.
SMW will also offer a dedicated networking platform with the ability to arrange one-to-one meetings, making it easier for attendees to find the right people who match their requirements. At a large trade show, where it can be challenging to connect with the most relevant contacts, this is a vital tool, supported by additional matchmaking services and onsite assistance to facilitate introductions.
Fringe events taking place as part of SMW 26 include The Manufacturer Directors’ Forum breakfasts and dinners, the Marketing to Manufacturers Breakfast, and partner events.
As in previous years, SMW 26 will also host the two-day Manufacturing Digitalisation Summit for senior leaders. This attracts many of the UK’s top 250 manufacturers and focuses on applying digital technologies to enhance the processes, efficiencies and outcomes of manufacturing industry.
In addition, the evening of 3 June will see the announcement of The Manufacturer Top 100, honouring the UK’s 100 most dynamic leaders and innovators in manufacturing. The candidates are nominated by The Manufacturer’s audience, the industrial community, and judged by a panel of industry leaders, academics and manufacturing associations.
SMW 26 will cater for every role across manufacturing and engineering. A music theme will once again be at the forefront of the look and feel at the show, creating an environment and atmosphere for people to be entertained and surprised, as well as being able to make connections, find solutions and plan strategies.
With its commitment to innovation, SMW has become the fastest-growing festival of advanced manufacturing and engineering in the UK. To this end, there will be an added emphasis in 2026 on attracting international visitors and exhibitors.
“Smart Manufacturing Week has grown year on year, and that comes from us being genuinely passionate about this industry and the people in it,” says Grace Gilling, managing director of The Manufacturer, which organises the event. “We listen, we learn, and we keep building on the feedback to make sure it’s valuable and relevant. It’s now firmly part of the industry’s calendar — a place where the whole community comes together, all the key topics are on the table, and new ideas get shared. We’re excited to keep pushing it forward, and 2026 will bring some great new elements into the mix.”
You can register your interest in attending SMW at the show’s Web site. You can also subscribe to the event’s newsletter.
If you are interested in booking a stand, visit this page. And if you would like to be a speaker at the event, contact enquiries@smartmanufacturingweek.co.uk
