Now I'm your typical Capricorn - more of a cynic than an optimist - so it's unlike me to take a leap of faith and say the worst is over. While wide-format has so far weathered the economic storm far better than most, let's be candid, we've been battered and bruised. But I'm sensing a new energy. News is coming through more frequently of investment and growth plans than of redundancies and falling margins, and it appears that companies are no longer just accepting that things have to change, but are embracing the changes. So are the fruits of earlier restructuring and diversification beginning to ripen?

Print '09, Viscom Dusseldorf and Print Ireland have prompted a recent outpouring of new solutions and ideas, and it's obvious from my in-box that manufacturers and suppliers are gearing up to snatch their piece of the recovery pie. While the generally bleak economic landscape may have stymied R&D somewhat over the last year or so, print kit, software and consumables suppliers have been anything but idle - and not just in terms of product development but in terms of turning their operations into more sustainable businesses etc.?

Let me know if you think my newly found optimism is well founded...