On 14 October 2025, the SBS Lift Forum will once again take place within the framework of the Interlift Fair, for the first time in Nuremberg, bringing together SMEs, experts, and stakeholders from across the European lift sector. Organised by EFESME and Small Business Standards - SBS, this year’s Forum continues a long tradition of creating a dedicated space for small and medium-sized enterprises to meet, learn, and exchange on the issues that shape their daily activities and long-term growth.
The Forum, held from 13:30 to 15:30 at the VfA Forum, is an established occasion for SMEs to receive direct insights from technical experts and policy specialists, ensuring that businesses are kept informed about the latest developments in standardisation and regulation. With SMEs forming the backbone of the European lift sector, this opportunity to access clear, practical knowledge is crucial.
As such, the 2025 edition of the SBS Lift Forum presents a carefully designed programme highlighting the direct relevance of standards and regulations for lift SMEs. Each session will explore both technical and policy developments, providing a comprehensive overview of the challenges and opportunities ahead.
- EN 81-42 and the new version of EN 81-41: Paolo Tattoli, Technical Expert and Chairman of CEN TC 10 WG 8 & WG 13 (EFESME), will introduce the latest developments in these key standards, and explain their importance for SMEs. Updates to such standards directly affect daily business operations, making it essential for SMEs to understand and adapt to them.
- Digitalisation in preventive and predictive maintenance: Marco Cogliati, Technical Expert in ISO TC 178 WG 13 & ETSI Smart M2M (EFESME), will address how digitalisation is reshaping maintenance practices, and how standards can support SMEs in harnessing these technologies. For many smaller companies, standardisation offers a pathway to innovate and remain competitive in a digitalising market.
- The new Machinery Regulation: Andrea Raffaelli, Senior Policy Adviser at SBS, will present the key parallels and differences between the new Regulation and the previous Directive, outlining the new challenges that SMEs will face in terms of compliance and standardisation. Understanding these changes is critical for businesses to anticipate regulatory impacts and align their strategies accordingly.
- Evaluation of the Lift Directive: Philippe Reyniers, Senior Legal Consultant at CSES, will close the Forum by presenting the ongoing evaluation of the Lift Directive and its potential consequences for European standardisation. Such assessments have direct implications for SMEs, whose voices must be included to ensure that future frameworks remain fair, accessible, and supportive of smaller actors.
Along the years, the SBS Lift Forum has become a cornerstone for SME representation in the lift sector, and its role is twofold. One the one hand, it provides SMEs with concrete knowledge on standards and regulations that directly affect them; on the other, it ensures their perspective is included in discussions at European and international level.
The collaboration between SBS and EFESME in organising this Forum underscores a shared commitment: giving SMEs the tools they need to succeed in a sector where standardisation is both a challenge and an opportunity. Standards, when shaped inclusively, can empower SMEs to grow, compete, and innovate — but only if these companies are informed, consulted, and actively engaged in the process.
By bringing together technical experts, policy officers, and legal consultants, the 2025 Forum will once again show how dialogue and training can bridge the gap between regulation and practice, ensuring lift SMEs are not only informed but also prepared for the future.
