Mihir Joshi previews the big ticket trade shows to look out for…

Companies like Manroland, Canon, Micro Mechanical, Nagpal, Cartonal, Autoprint to name a few, have confirmed participation while NPES will organise conferences on two days. More conferences are being planned, which will be announced in due course.

K S Khurana, president of Indian Printing Packaging & Allied Machinery Manufacturer’s Association (IPAMA) said, “Exhibitions are about showcasing new products and concepts and not necessarily selling on the spot though that’s the aim. At this Printpack we are focussing on promoting India and its new products.”

FESPA 2013 - London
FESPA 2013 which will be held at ExCeL London on 25-29 June 2013 will be one of the largest event for the wide format print industry. It will provide an international platform to demonstrate and see the latest equipment and consumables in digital printing, screen printing, industrial and garment decoration.

Fespa has also announced plans for the fourth Fespa Fabric, which will be a part of Fespa 2013. The event will cover approximately 12,000 sq/m and will include workshops, seminars and live demonstrations on fabric printing for decorative clothing and promotional products.

IPEX 2014 - London
IPEX 2014 has created a lot of buzz since its official launch at Drupa this year. A couple of high profile industry giants have pulled out of event, but it still promises to be a huge event.

In the run up to the event, Informa Exhibitions, organisers of the event will hold a series of roadshows in the UK and internationally next year ahead of its 2014 tradeshow. The current list of countries that will be visited as part of the roadshow include Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy Japan, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey, the UK and the US. 

Each event will aim to engage with key print groups, associations and exhibitors by offering the latest industry analysis, trends and statistics, including discussions around growth opportunities and presentations of relevant case studies. It will also provide networking opportunities and the latest updates on the 2014 event, including technology highlights and features that will be incorporated.

digi:media - Dusseldorf
In its second edition digi:media 2013, trade fair for commercial publishing & digital printing, is meeting with positive feedback in the sector – and this goes for both the trade fair and the varied specialist programme.

Exhibitors who have already registered so far include: apps4print, Esko, FKS, HP, Horizon, Hunkeler, Kinetik, Kolbus, Kollin Mediengesellschaft, Neo7even, Printdata, Ricoh, Scodix, trivet.net and Werk II. Approximately 160 exhibitors are expected to be part of the
2013 edition of the show.

The event will be held in Dusseldorf between 10-12 April 2013.

DRUPA 2016 - Dusseldorf
Messe Düsseldorf’s 20 member committee ended media speculation about Drupa’s next edition during their committee meeting, following extensive consultation with industry organisations, exhibitors and visitors. The show is to remain on a four-year cycle; it has been shortened to eleven days and will include only one weekend, with the organisers having confirmed new dates for the next major show in 2016.

This meets the needs and requests of all the major exhibitors and stakeholders.

“Visitor structure at Drupa has changed. While in the past large groups travelled to the fair – preferably at the weekend – Drupa is now increasingly developing into a B2B fair with a high proportion of top decision-makers. At this year’s drupa 78% of the international visitors and 52% of German visitors came from top management; respectively this is 4 and 5 percentage points more than in 2008. This makes running over two weekends unnecessary. With eleven days – i.e. one weekend and nine working days – we perfectly cater to the needs of both supply and demand,” said Werner Matthias Dornscheidt, chief executive officer at Messe Dusseldorf, explaining the decision.

Claus Bolza-Schunemann, chief executive officer of Koenig & Bauer AG, was appointed as the chairman of Drupa 2016.