The organisers have come up with a challenging main theme for the congress of the global industry. "A Disruptive World - New Trends in Home Improvement" is the motto bestowed by the European DIY retailers' and manufacturers' associations EDRA and Fediyma, who are once again organising the event in tandem. The venue is the Stockholm Waterfront Congress Centre.
The programme is categorised into five sessions: "Leadership - Engage to deliver maximum performance", "Connected home - Opportunities for DIY", "Disruptors - The new challenges in the digital world", "Market update - The impact of disruption on DIY" and "Home improvement around the world".
The list of speakers features the CEOs of major DIY chains. These include Véronique Laury of Kingfisher (Great Britain), Sergio Giroldi of Obi (Germany), Régis Degelcke of Groupe Adeo (France), John Gillam of Bunnings, Yuichiro Sasage of Komeri (Japan), Jennie Stenbom of Kesko (Finland), Murat Gigin of Tekzen (Turkey) and Sigurður Pálsson of Byko (Iceland). John Gerosa of Google will appear at the Keynote Session. A store tour and get-together on the eve of the congress will get the event underway.
Around 700 delegates came to last year's Summit in London, over twice as many as at the first congress in Vienna in 2010. More than a quarter of the delegates are from the retail trade.