Events &
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Registration for our next community event is now open! At the end of November, we are bringing the LADS community together at VACUUBRAND GMBH + CO KG and BRAND GMBH + CO KG to further advance vendor-independent laboratory connectivity.

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November 25 (VACUUBRAND): LADS Workshop

A one-day event for decision-makers, developers, and lab users. Highlights include keynote speeches (covering topics such as Data Lakes, AI applications, and implementation journeys), a factory tour, live showcases, and interactive Innovation Groups.

🔗 Registration & details for the Workshop

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November 26–27 (BRAND): 10th LADShack (Hackathon)

A two-day hands-on event for software developers and system architects. The focus is on implementing LADS OPC UA on real lab devices, technical deep dives, and peer-to-peer exchange within the developer community. Includes a brief factory tour at BRAND.

🔗 Registration & details for the LADShack

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Both events can be attended individually or combined. A joint dinner on the evening of November 25 provides additional networking opportunities. Registration deadline is November 11.

Berlin is solidifying its position as a growing hotspot for laboratory automation: At the 2nd Berlin Lab Automation Community Meetup on July 7, 2026, SPECTARIS, together with member company Laboperator GmbH, placed a key focus on the agenda: how open, standard-based communication via LADS OPC UA significantly streamlines device integration.

Ranging from personalized drug discovery to NGS automation, the diverse program highlighted that lab digitization thrives on cross-sector collaboration. As a sponsor, SPECTARIS extends its thanks to all participants for the inspiring dialogue between academia, industry, and technology providers.

At the SPECTARIS and IUTA Industry Day at June 18th in Duisburg, the sector turned its focus directly toward the laboratory of the future, from the perspective of those operating it daily. Through direct dialogue with major lab operators including BASF, Henkel, INVITE, Merck, and the RV/EGLV joint lab, one central takeaway emerged for equipment manufacturers: faced with intense cost and competitive pressures, end users are urgently demanding open device standards.

In large-scale laboratory environments with diverse equipment fleets, integration costs for proprietary interfaces no longer scale linearly, they grow exponentially. This has reached a financial and operational tipping point for operators. While budgets for lab digitization and automation are available, adoption hinges on standardized, open communication framework like LADS OPC UA to ensure long-term investment protection.

The message to manufacturers is clear: to remain competitive, the transition from isolated solutions to fully connected digital ecosystems is no longer optional.

The 9th LADS Workshop & Hackathon powerfully demonstrated the community’s drive and enthusiasm: from the opening presentations to late-night coding sessions, the event was dedicated to laboratory connectivity and digitization.

LADS based on OPC UA was successfully brought to life across a wide variety of systems. This proved once again that LADS is far more than just a communication standard—it is a strategic foundation for modern laboratory ecosystems that reduces complexity, breaks down data silos, and significantly lowers integration costs.

A big thank you goes to our host, SARTORIUS AG, as well as to all supporters and participants. We look forward to the next steps together!

We are delighted to be able to offer another hackathon together with a workshop. We have extended the deadline for our tried-and-tested LADShack format, which is now taking place for the ninth time, this time on the Sartorius campus in Göttingen.

• LADShack#9 on: January 15 and 16, 2026
• WHERE?: Sartorius Campus, Otto-Brenner-Straße 20, 37079 Göttingen

The LADS organizing team looks forward to seeing you again in Göttingen!

Places are limited!

Our tried-and-tested LADShack format is back for the ninth time, this time on the Sartorius campus in Göttingen.

In addition, we are once again organizing an exciting workshop on the day before, January 14, 2026, on the topic of “OPC UA, FAIR Data & Standardization: The Key to Digital, Resilient Laboratory Structures” with various speakers and an interactive exhibition.

Places are limited, so register now!

The LADS organizing team looks forward to seeing you again in Göttingen!

LADS OPC UA is part of the “Future of Life Sciences” area. From September 16 to 18, 2025, Ilmac Basel will present a new interactive format in Hall 1.0: the “Future of Life Sciences”. It is an interactive space that enables exhibitors to present their visions and products to a wide audience. With a combination of stage and exhibition space, current trends in the fields of life sciences, robotics and artificial intelligence are presented in a focused manner.

Spectaris, Allotrope Foundation and the OPC Foundation are proud to announce a major milestone in smarter labs by advancing semantic interoperability and structured data standards in laboratory environments: At the most recent, and now 8th hackathon, which took place on April 11, 2025 in Germany and once again featured various companies, from device manufacturers, software providers to even laboratory operators, a successful demonstration showcased the integration of Allotrope Foundation Ontologies (AFO) and the Allotrope Simple Model (ASM) into the OPC UA (Unified Architecture) framework.

In the latest edition, the LADShack itself – and not just its participants – became a “repeat offender”. For the 8th version of the LADS hackathon, we were once again guests of infoteam Software AG in Bubenreuth. The aim was to support the participating companies in implementing and further developing LADS OPC UA in their devices and software solutions. The LADS community as always impressed with its team spirit, innovative spirit and common goal: to make laboratories more efficient, networked and future-proof.

At Future Labs Live 2024 in Basel, the member companies of the LADS community presented themselves together on a joint stand for the first time: LADS-ready devices as well as LADS-compatible software solutions demonstrated in workflows how plug-and-play can be implemented with LADS OPC UA. The 9 companies together with Spectaris experienced great interest and a promising exchange with the visitors and the other exhibitors. This strong response confirms how central the topics of digitalization, automation and robotics in the laboratory have become for the industry.

With the support of the OPC Foundation, LADS presented itself together with SPECTARIS members at Future Labs Basel 2023. The day before, a well-attended LADS workshop was held using the example of the Centro Microplate Luminometer from Berthold Technologies. This was followed during the fair by presentations and discussions at the OPC stand with Matthias Arnold and Alexander Allmendinger, supported by teams from essentim, SmartLab Solutions and Spectaris, among others. Numerous LADS-enabled devices were also on display.

On March 23, 2023, device communication in the laboratory using LADS OPC UA was already the focus of the SPECTARIS Industry Day: In addition to a demonstration of LADS-enabled devices in the foyer, the benefits and advantages of LADS for laboratory device manufacturers, laboratory software providers and customers or users of laboratory devices were presented and discussed in presentations and on the podium. The next day, Labforward hosted a joint breakfast in the Connectivity Space before kicking off the fully booked 3rd LADShack.

After the successful start, it was clear to everyone that the LADShack format had to be continued. The aim of the hackathon was to bring the LADS community together, but also to make it easier for all “newcomers” to get started with LADS OPC UA and to be able to take them by the hand to a certain extent in a direct exchange. This time, LADShack#2 was held in Dresden.

In October 2021, after the LADS OPC UA project had already been running for over 1.5 years, the successful training and event series that brings the LADS community together and helps it grow was launched with the first LADS Hackathon. What began in the beer tent in the garden in 2021 was the start of the meeting place for the LADS community par excellence: the first LADShack!