What’s different at Drupa?
Manuel Mataré, Drupa project director, outlines why the world’s biggest printing show matters, and what will be new this year.
 The upcoming Drupa fair will underline its status as the leading trend and business barometer of the worldwide print and media industry. More than 1,800 exhibitors from all over the world will show off the latest innovations, trends, market-ready technologies and integrated solutions at the Düsseldorf Trade Fair Centre from 29 May to 11 June 2008. The roughly 400,000 visitors can look forward to a wide range of themes and trends: advances in automation and standardisation, new dimensions in finishing for packaging printing, hybrid systems turning out new and faster end products, printed electronics and not least the increasingly effective symbiosis of print and online media.
The ideal complement to the exhibitors’ offerings is the specialist ancillary programme, comprising several carefully matched events. This allows visitors to put together their own individual know-how package.
With the Drupacube, Drupa 2008 will for the first time provide a special event offering aimed at the print buyer target group. The spotlight will be on printed products – with one key difference to what will be on display in the exhibition halls. At the event pavilion set up on the banks of the Rhine, the focus will be squarely on marketing-driven applications for printed products. The technology that makes this possible will play a subsidiary role. This shift in perspective offers one unbeatable advantage: Heads of marketing and publishing directors, production managers, account executives and creative directors will be able to take in print’s potential in the marketing mix in a compact format. With this tool, print buyers can be attracted to Drupa in greater numbers. The Drupacube acts as a portal for print buyers by serving up concise infotainment on all aspects of print communications and guiding them to exhibitors’ stands.
The “Drupa innovation parc presented by HP” serves as a forum for innovative new technologies. With more than 3,300 square metres of floor space and 160 exhibitors in eight different sections, the “DIP” is the world’s biggest micro-platform for young, innovative companies from the digital supplies sector of the print and media industry. The focal areas of the “DIP” in Hall 7 span workflow, publishing, PDF, XML, etc. as well as cross-sector topics and the “JDF experience parc”. More information can be obtained at http//dip.drupa.com.
Once again, part of the line-up will be the Compass Sessions, organised by the Bundesverband Druck und Medien (the German Printing and Media Industries Federation). Every day, international speakers will provide the lowdown on current trends. Each Compass Session will have a different thematic slant and pick up on current industry trends. Topics include: digital/inkjet printing, offset printing, pre-media and Web-to-print solutions, digital workflows and packaging printing. No doubt one of the highlights will be the Compass Session on “printed electronics” to be held on Wednesday, 4 June. Further information and a detailed programme as well as registration facilities for the Compass Sessions can be found online.
For more in-depth insights into the various thematic areas, join one of the Highlights Tours. These guided tours take visitors by the hand and lead them to expert discussion partners at exhibitors’ stands. The ten different tours offered range in topic from workflows and Web-to-print solutions through offset and digital printing to packaging printing and finishing. An overview of all the tours, dates and times can be found online at Drupa.
Spread across a net floor space of more than 170,000 m² in 19 halls (two more than at Drupa 2004), Drupa 2008 will be bigger than ever before. Which is why it’s all the more important that careful preparations are made before a Drupa visit. Quick, customised help is provided by Drupa’s Internet portal (www.drupa.com) where, among other things, visitors can search for exhibitors and products, compile a personalised catalogue as well as find out about current events. Tickets can also be purchased online – at a preferential price of EUR 37 instead of EUR 55 at the ticket office in Düsseldorf.
And then there’s also Drupacity Düsseldorf with its distinctive flair. To ensure that visitors and exhibitors feel as much at home in Düsseldorf as in the past, our many and diverse partners in the restaurant, hotel, retail and service industries will offer a wide range of fantastic deals. These Drupa extras run the gamut from special Drupa articles in department stores and events at shopping malls to the Drupa cocktail or Drupa soup in bars and restaurants. The Drupacity guide, available during the fair, will list all of the Drupartners and their offerings. And let’s not forget that the Internet, too, will be a source of copious information updates on this programme.
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