On 17 November, new lectures and teaser videos will go online on the digital platform drupa preview. International speakers such as Jack Stratten, Fons Put, and Deborah Corn will present trending topics of the industry and give visitors the opportunity to interact with them by asking questions during the live web sessions. Additional input is provided by the conference area with short presentations about the special forums at drupa. Speakers such as Achim Halpaap or Michael Gale provide impulses for the future of the printing industry.
Interested participants can register free of charge for the new live web sessions at drupa preview via the link https://preview.drupa.com/17Nov2020. Here, industry-relevant topics such as inkjet, packaging trends, and additive technologies will be discussed. Strategic advisor Kristin Kain will also take part again together with Marco Kersch from the Bertelsmann Group addressing the question of how print can survive in a digital world.
In addition to stimulating input from the exhibiton and conference areas, the matchmaking options will continue to be available. On the networking plaza, the drupa matchmaking brings visitors and exhibitors together – by entering special areas of interest and using extensive filter functions, it finds contacts to potential interested parties or suppliers. After making an appointment, personal meetings can be held in a virtual room via audio or video call.
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.
