CPHI Europe adds AI and tech zone for its return to Milan in 2026

Informa Markets’ flaghip CPHI Europe event is set to make a return to Milan in 2026 when the organisers’ plans include adding a new artificial intelligence (AI) and tech zone.

The area will line up alongside sections for the event that this year included contract manufacturing, finished dosage formulations, packaging and drug delivery, and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).

The expansion of its tech focus comes as the pharma industry’s interest in the application of AI to drug development, research and manufacturing continues to grow, Informa’s Executive Vice President of the Pharma Portfolio Orhan Caglayan noted.

Speaking to European Pharmaceutical Review at CPHI Europe in Frankfurt last week he said: “This industry is innovative but it’s highly regulated as well. So that’s why we are curious about how to integrate AI into the future of pharma and make it part of the regulatory system.

“We have launched for next year [an] AI and tech zone at CPHI. This year we are having a very small presence, but next year we will be emphasising it in Milan.”

CPHI Europe 2025 took place at Frankfurt Messe, when more than 62,000 people gathered for the annual pharma exhibition, with more than 2,400 companies taking stands at the venue.

In addition to the main exhibition, CPHI this year also offered content sessions on areas such as API supply security, evidence‑driven traditional Chinese medicine and design-to-manufacture models.

Meanwhile, the CPHI Pharma Awards 2025 rewarded pharma industry leaders at Fujifilm, RezonBio and Esteve, with a rollcall of winners that also included CNX Therapeutics, NunaBio, Evonik Industries and Corden Pharma.

Now well into its third decade, the event has grown out of all recognition from its more humble beginnings, as Caglayan noted.

“It’s the thirty-sixth year of CPHI right now, and we’ve come back to where we began. We started thirty-six years ago in Frankfurt with only 12 exhibitors and 200 people and it started as a small pharmaceutical ingredients conference. Then it’s grown from ingredients to machinery to packaging and now it’s covering the full value chain,” he said.

In 2026 CPHI Europe’s full pharma value chain coverage will come to Italy, where the event will take place at Fiera Milano from 6 to 8 October.