At the heart of Europe’s premier leather industry conference, Mindhive Global stepped onto the stage at the 13th Freiberg Leather Days, held May 21 - 22, 2025, in Freiberg, Germany, to present its forward-looking approach to AI in leather grading. The prestigious event, known for bringing together top minds in tanning, research, and manufacturing, provided an ideal platform for exchanging ideas on the industry's next frontier.
On day two, Mindhive Global's Business Development Manager Laura Caccia introduced our Co-founder and CTO, Dion Bettjeman, who delivered a compelling presentation titled “Trusted Data, Better Decisions: AI-Powered Grading for Global Tanneries.” Mindhive outlined how its real-time, AI-driven defect detection and grading system supports consistent quality and smarter decision-making in tannery operations worldwide.
In an industry which has developed over centuries, but hasn't kept pace with modern technological capabilities, the result is a highly fragmented value chain. At each stage, quality information is trapped in silos - inspections happen multiple times, but the data is rarely passed along. Manual inspections lead to lost insights, and individual hide-level data is not retained or leveraged for optimization.
Dion explains the transformative impact that Verified Hide Data could have in this ecosystem:
"Verified hide data is standardized, objective quality information about leather hides, generated through AI-powered assessment and maintained throughout the manufacturing process. This data creates a single source of truth about hide characteristics, defects, and grades that can be trusted by all parties in the supply chain."
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With several sessions at the Freiberg Leather Days highlighting AI's emerging role in the leather sector, the discussion underscored a shared industry movement toward intelligent automation. Mindhive’s approach stood out for its focus on actionable data, scalability, and real-world results, helping tanneries move confidently into the next phase of digital transformation.
Mindhive’s presence extended beyond the podium as the event provided a great opportunity for the team to engage directly with over 200 industry professionals, including tanners, chemical manufacturers, and machinery innovators. These conversations were critical in forging new relationships and understanding regional priorities in sustainability and automation.
As the industry grapples with tightening regulations, shifting consumer expectations, and operational complexity, Mindhive Global continues to lead with purpose. By combining vision with verifiable technology, Mindhive is not just part of the conversation - it’s shaping the next chapter of leather manufacturing.
Find out more about how our Verified Hide Data approach is creating measurable results at every stage of leather manufacturing.