The International Bodyshop Industry Symposium has released the full agenda for its IBIS Global Summit 2026, detailing five main-stage sessions and naming the opening slate of speakers for the June 16-18 conference, with programming built around industry consolidation, artificial intelligence in claims and repair, and the long-term insurability of collision work.
IBIS said the summit will run at the Hyatt Regency Vienna under the theme “Connecting Changemakers,” using a restructured conference format the organization debuted at IBIS USA 2026 in Phoenix. The release builds on the draft program IBIS issued in March, when CollisionWeek reported the organization opened early bird registration and outlined its Vienna programming for the first time.
The session topics track the pressures bearing down on collision repairers, insurers and claims operations worldwide: the spread of private equity-backed multi-shop operators, the push of AI into estimating and claims handling, and rising repair costs that are testing total-loss thresholds and insurer risk appetite. For executives weighing where the next decade of repair economics is headed, the agenda reads as a map of the questions the global industry’s leaders intend to debate in Vienna.
The conference opens the afternoon of June 16 with a flagship session titled “The Race for Scale: Decisions That Will Define the Next Decade,” examining investment and private equity influence, global MSO expansion and the outlook for the industry to 2030. The opening panel is set to feature Paul Sell, managing director of Trend Tracker; Almudena Benedito, CEO of GiPA; Rex Green of Jefferies; Steve Greenfield of Automotive Ventures; and Victoria Turner, CEO of Precision Group.
The second day turns to technology and economics. A morning session, “Who Owns Collision Repair in a Software-Led World?,” addresses AI in claims, estimating and repairs, automation and robotics, digital claims journeys and the growing role of data, connectivity, diagnostics and calibration. Scheduled speakers include Alexander Grimm, CEO of Aspaara; Levi Fawcett, founder and CEO of Partly; Norbert Dohmen, global managing director of Innovation Group; and Matthias Rolinski, group CEO of IRS Holding GmbH.
A follow-on session, “Insurability, Repairability and the Future of Repaironomics,” takes up rising repair costs, increasing total-loss ratios, insurer risk appetite and the profitability needed to sustain reinvestment. The panel is slated to include Dirk Fuchs, director of engineering at the Energy Security Agency; Andy Rietschel, co-founder and CEO of Rebattex; and Mikhail Sadomtsev, collision and parts channel manager at Toyota Motor Europe.
Leadership anchors the afternoon. A fireside-style session, “Who Will Repair the Future?,” pairs Sabrina Thring, president of Driven Brands Collision Group, with Daniel Lowes, a former Red Arrows pilot and current Boeing 787 pilot, in a discussion of decision-making in volatile conditions. A closing “lightning” session gives senior leaders quickfire calls to action that delegates then debate in the Changemaker roundtable format, a smaller-group discussion structure IBIS is using to drive audience participation.
The revised format pushes the opening session to the afternoon of the first day, giving delegates the morning to arrive and adding networking time across the event. The program is bracketed by receptions and dinners — including a second-night Changemakers Dinner held in partnership with Axalta — and a closing networking breakfast on June 18. IBIS also plans to unveil its 2027 event calendar during the summit’s closing remarks.
The Vienna summit marks a new host city for the flagship event, which drew representatives from 29 countries to Istanbul, Turkey, in 2025 under the theme “Shaping the Future: Leadership Through Collaboration.” IBIS Worldwide has hosted international collision repair conferences since itbs first event at the Celtic Manor Resort in Wales in 2001, which gathered 120 delegates from 12 countries. The organization now runs events on five continents and says the Global Summit typically draws more than 350 delegates from approximately 30 countries.
Registration inquiries can be directed to Emily Miles at emily@ibisworldwide.com. Partnership inquiries can be directed to Suzie Scott, IBIS Worldwide head of corporate sales, at suzie@ibisworldwide.com.
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