Chillventa 2026 opened today, 13 October, at the Exhibition Center Nuremberg. The trade fair for the refrigeration, air-conditioning, ventilation and heat pump sectors brings together more than 1,150 exhibitors from over 50 countries. It runs until 15 October and offers more than 200 lectures along with new formats such as the Future Hub.
Hall 1 has been added this year, which increases the overall exhibition space. The lecture programme takes place in three specialist forums: Climate, Ventilation & Heat Pumps in Hall 7A, Refrigeration Technology in Hall 4A, and Applications, Training & Regulations in Hall 8. Topics include artificial intelligence in refrigeration technology, more efficient industrial heat pumps, new approaches to data centre cooling and the impact of the new ErP26 Ecodesign Regulation.
The Future Hub in Hall 9 (Stand 9-504) covers digitalisation, AI, social media and the recruitment of skilled workers, with a focus on practical approaches that companies can apply directly. In Hall 7, the Bundesfachschule runs live demonstrations on testing modern electrical equipment, including how harmonics are generated and measured, as well as neutral conductor overload and neutral point displacement. At the AIT Heat Pump Innovation Lounge, experts from the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology present research projects on heat pumps for data centres, industrial steam generation and laboratory environments for heat pump technologies.
Hall 9 also hosts the German Championship for mechatronics technicians specialising in refrigeration technology. The competition is organised by the Federation of German Refrigeration Plant Assemblers (BIV), and participants who qualified at regional level assemble, wire, test and commission refrigeration systems on site. Daily guided tours by KK DIE KÄLTE + Klimatechnik take visitors to selected exhibitors working on natural refrigerants, energy-efficient systems and sustainable building concepts. The tours start from Hall 4, Stand 4-207.
“New technologies such as AI are becoming increasingly important, whilst at the same time companies are facing challenges such as decarbonisation, securing skilled workers and the growing demand for energy-efficient solutions for data centres,” said Jasmin Rutka, Head of Brand Strategy at Chillventa, NürnbergMesse GmbH.
