Embracing the future of printing
Digital and packaging printing will be the main focus of the next drupa, which will take place from 16 to 20 June 2020, less than a month after interpack the same year. From today, 17 November 2019, drupa 2020 is just 201 days away. Some of the prototype 40-inch digital inkjet presses shown at drupa 2016 are now at beta customers who produce monocartons and these should be ready for sale in June 2020. The other new information is that digital textile printing will feature at drupa 2020.
Drupa’s global roadshows have begun, and in India, there will be ‘embrace the future’ events on 25 November 2019 in Chennai; in Mumbai on 26 November 2019; and in Delhi, on 28 December 2019. Limited seats are available, and entries are by registration only. Please contact the Messe Dusseldorf India office in each of these cities.
Embrace the future of packaging
Digital and packaging printing will be the main focus of the next drupa, which will take place from 16 to 20 June 2020, less than a month after interpack the same year. The packaging thrust at the event will be enhanced by the participation of the Active and Intelligent Packaging Industry Association. AIPIA members include major brand owners such as Nestle, Danone, and suppliers such as Agfa, Heidelberg, and Seigewerke. Initially, AIPIA has been given exhibition space at the ‘Touchpoint Packaging platform.’ The AIPIA is also actively supporting the Second Packaging Design, Innovation, and Technology Conference on 13 December 2019 at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. IppStar and Messe Düsseldorf India are jointly organizing the PDIT2 Conference.
At a press conference at interpack in 2017, Messe Düsseldorf’s senior management acknowledged several overlaps between the two megashows. But it also insisted it is in continuous consultation with major exhibitors to come up with a differentiated focus for each show. ‘Parallels’ and ‘synergies’ were the words used by Messe Düsseldorf president and chief executive officer, Werner Dornscheidt. Synergy would be particularly applicable for packaging printing and converting as the major drupa highlight. The next interpack, which is from 7 to 13 May 2020, is therefore expected to focus even more on processing as it did already in 2017.
drupa 2020 is structured with six product groups – prepress and print; pre- and cross-media; post-press, converting and packaging; future technologies; materials; and equipment, services, and infrastructure. Highlighted topics include packaging production, functional printing, industrial printing, and 3D. ‘Touchpoint Packaging,’ launched at drupa 2016 in collaboration with the European Packaging Design Association (EPDA), will again be organized as a platform covering the entire packaging production chain.
Interaction between brand owners, designers, and material and equipment manufacturers is to turn this forum into a place of inspiration where solutions to future requirements will be proposed and debated. The Touchpoint concept, therefore, fits seamlessly into the ‘embrace the future’ slogan that is to be drupa 2020’s essential claim.
Markus Heering, managing director, Print and Paper Technology at the German equipment manufacturers’ association VDMA, co-organizer of drupa presented forecasts on the future of packaging printing at the 2017 press event. According to the projections shown, the global value of packaging printing was forecast to grow by 15% in the five years between 2015 and 2020. The highest increase projected at 79% for India, which would bring India into the top five packaging print producers by 2020.
Dynamic leitmotiv – inclusion, convergence, transformation
At the press conference, Sabine Geldermann, drupa director and Messe Düsseldorf’s global head – print technologies, also presented the new visual leitmotiv for the 2020 show. The series of faces of people from all corners of the planet blurs into butterfly wings, signifying, as Geldermann explained, beauty, aesthetic appeal, creativity, and depth.
“The delicate butterfly wings symbolize departure, change, a transformation process that affects all industries, but particularly the traditional print industry, every company, everybody. Transformation moves companies to rethink their strategies, adapt to new processes, and move into new business models—a change that also takes place in people’s minds. Different individuals have already moved into the focus of the new marketing campaign. The heads are surrounded by color digits that symbolize the wide variety of print applications. With the slogan ‘embrace the future,’ drupa invites exhibitors and visitors to experience and accept technological innovation, trends, and future challenges. And, to implement them into their corporate workflows and tap into new potential.”
