World Printers Forum Conference to open Berlin Publishing Days 2019

Conference to address print-related issues of publishing industry

119

The World Printers Forum Conference will kick off the re-launched ‘Berlin Publishing Days’ this year. On 7 October 2019, the conference will provide an overview of the major print-related issues of the publishing industry.

Print products continue to account for the largest share of turnover in the portfolio of publishing companies worldwide. A fact impressively evidenced by the Print Innovation Awards 2018 – there is a large scope for innovation in the print sector. The new World Printers Forum Conference will describe the current challenges confronting the printed news media, at a selected location in the heart of Berlin.

The conference will be hosted by the capital city office of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in Berlin. From 11:00 to 18:00 hours, the focus will be on topics of burning interest to the publishing industry – including print innovation such as new concepts or individualized products, market and business developments, new investment concepts as well as the latest developments in print design and distribution, expansion and automation possibilities for existing printing processes and presses.

Speakers will include Thomas Drensek, chief operating officer, Newspaper Printing department at Axel Springer (Germany), Iris Chyi, associate professor and new media researcher at the School of Journalism of the University of Texas, Austin (USA), Björn Christian Wilms, managing director, Styria Print Group und Druck Carinthia (Austria), Gary Thomson, senior market consultant at EMGE & Co. (UK) and Sebastian Haupt, managing partner, Multisense Institut (Germany).

Kick-off for the four-day Berlin Publishing Days

The refocused conference is the kick-off for the Berlin Publishing Days. On the two following days, the IFRA World Publishing Expo and parallel DCX Digital Content Expo will take place at the Berlin Exhibition Centre (Messe Berlin). Conference attendees have the option on both conference days to concentrate on visiting the exhibitors’ stands or benefit from the accompanying program.

The Berlin Publishing Days continue for one day after the exhibition. On day four, 10 October, the Berlin Publishing Tours will lead the visitors to selected stations at publishing companies and start-ups throughout Berlin. Participants can choose between two tours organized around the focus topics of the two parallel IFRA and DCX exhibitions.

Included in the ticket to the World Printers Forum Conference is access to the IFRA World Publishing Expo and DCX Digital Content Expo. The Berlin Publishing Days can be booked also as a full package, including conference, exhibitions and Berlin Publishing Tours.

2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India

Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.

The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry. While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.

The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.

Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.

Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.

Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.

– Naresh Khanna

Subscribe Now

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here