The forthcoming Ipex 2010 event in May this year is becoming one of the most eagerly awaited print shows for many years. It is being seen as the show that will herald the printing industry growing and changing as the recession comes to an end. In many ways this will be the show that will showcase the arrival for sale of many of the new products previewed at drupa in 2008.

Ipex is the show that has the longest history of any international print show tracing its roots back more than 150 years. It also has an incredibly wide spread with attendees coming from more than 150 countries and exhibitors from 38 countries. This year’s show has the appearance of being a real success. So far there are over 580 exhibitors and this is likely to be well over 600 by the start of the show. It is also interesting to see areas where the show is growing with currently 28% of the exhibitors showing for the first time. 38% of exhibitors are in the digital and pre-media areas. While the space for digital printing has increased for 2010, as has post press, the area for conventional press vendors has dropped from 41% of the area in 2006 to 26% of the total stand area this year. A major area of growth is from China, and Chinese exhibitors will be on more than 60 stands. The exhibition is concentrated into 10 halls at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. I

t is also interesting to see how the space being taken by different vendors has changed. In 2006 the largest stand was from Xerox followed by Heidelberg. This year HP has the largest stand area with 3,000 sq meters, an increase of 39% from 2006. The second largest exhibitor is still Heidelberg but their stand has been reduced by 52% to 2,448 sq.m. Xerox is the third largest exhibitor with 1,980 sq.m, a reduction of 61%. The next largest stands are from Canon and Fuji, both with much larger stands than 2006. The largest new exhibitor is Ricoh with a 1,432 sq.m stand, while Konica Minolta has increased its stand space by 395% to 1,086 sq.m. IIR, the Ipex organizers have been very successful in filling the area and have commitments for 57,000 sq.m of space and there is just 3.5 sq.m vacant at this time. The exhibitors are obviously voting that Ipex will be a successful show.