For an industry balancing immediate commercial pressures with questions about its longer-term direction, the difficulty is deciding which developments demand attention now and how businesses should prepare for what comes next.
These questions will be at the centre of the OPI European Forum taking place in London from 5-7 October. This year’s programme will cover the economic and geopolitical outlook, AI adoption, e-commerce, the future of work, sustainability and leadership.
Following a welcome from Workplace360 CEO Steve Hilleard, the conference will begin with the State of the Industry session, featuring short interviews with executives from across the channel, including RAJA Office Managing Director Christa Furter, evo Group CEO Andrew Gale, RS Group Chief of Product and Supply Chain Christian Horn and Lyreco Group CEO Greg Liénard. A keynote from Graeme Leach, CEO and Chief Economist of GLOBAL4CAST, will then widen the lens, examining the longer-term ‘megatrends’ that are likely to impact organisations.
AI gets practical
AI will feature prominently, with the emphasis on what business leaders should actually do with the technology available. Paddy Donnelly, CEO of Donnelly Dynamics, will examine the gap between experimenting with AI and achieving measurable productivity gains. Former Lyreco Group Director of Innovation Marc Curtis will consider how roles could evolve as AI takes on more of the ‘doing’. His session will examine the growing importance of human oversight, from identifying errors to conducting ethical checks and building trust in AI-generated output. Meanwhile, Virtualstock/Logicbroker Chief Growth Officer Ed Bradley will address AI’s implications for e-commerce and what resellers, vendors and wholesalers will need to do to stay visible, relevant and trusted.
Two rounds of interactive sessions will explore these issues further, with Donnelly, Curtis and Bradley leading discussions on AI workflows, human oversight and AI commerce readiness. Technology, however, forms only part of the agenda. Greenspeed Chairman Michel de Bruin, for instance, will host a roundtable on turning cleaning into a profitable and sustainable proposition. Meanwhile, B2B Product Consultancy Director Simon McLoughlin will challenge one of the industry’s most-used terms: ‘partnership’. He will ask which relationships genuinely warrant the investment of time, data, resources and senior attention.
Routes to growth
The second day of the OPI European Forum will focus on how leaders should respond to changing conditions and where future growth could come from. Ed Gillespie, Senior Facilitator at the Forward Institute, will explore four major trends – decarbonisation, dematerialisation, diversification and deglobalisation – and consider what responsible leadership looks like in practice and the decisions that executives may increasingly face.
McKinsey Partner Jennifer Stanley will draw on the firm’s 2026 Global B2B Pulse Survey of nearly 4,000 decision-makers to examine what today’s B2B buyers expect and what the companies outshining their peers are doing differently. The event will conclude with an interactive panel chaired by Avery Commercial Director UK & Ireland Shaun Tidman, reflecting on the Forum’s key themes and how the ideas discussed can translate into practical action.
The OPI European Forum will take place 5-7 October at The Cumberland hotel in London.
For more information and to book your place at the OPI European Forum, visit: opi.net/ef2026
