Charlottesville, VA - INTERQUEST, a leading market and technology research and consulting firm in digital printing and publishing, today announced its Digital Printing in Government and Higher Education Forum. The seminar will take place in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, November 4 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Omni Shoreham Hotel.

According to David Davis, Director at INTERQUEST, "Based on the success of the Digital Printing in Government Forum we have organized every year since 2006, and with feedback from our partners and attendees, we are expanding the forum this year to include the Higher Education sector. As we discovered at the Personalized Communications & Variable Data Printing in Higher Education Forum we organized with the Association of College and University Printers (ACUP) in 2007, these two environments share much in common. Both serve a public mission, both face shrinking budgets, and in-plants both sectors are rapidly adopting digital printing. Synergies are also apparent in the areas of variable data printing and multimedia."

The forum is designed around recent and on-going INTERQUEST research in digital printing in these environments. The morning portion of the event will feature general sessions addressing the needs of both audiences. This will include a panel of executives from leading vendors who will present their companies' strategies and solutions for the Government and Higher Education markets. This will be followed by an update of market and technological developments as well as key findings from recent INTERQUEST studies on digital printing. The morning session will conclude with case studies from U.S. and international Government and Higher Education users who will present applications, successes, and challenges with digital printing.

The afternoon will feature two tracks specifically targeted at each of the two environments.

In the Government track, INTERQUEST will present key results from recent research it has conducted in this market. The presentation will be followed by a panel of publishing and printing executives at key government agencies who will present current applications and discuss what they would like to see from their suppliers in areas such as output solutions, system features and capabilities, support and maintenance, and cost.

The Higher Education track will feature a presentation of key results from recent INTERQUEST research in this environment. This will update findings from Color Digital Printing & Personalized Communications in Higher Education: Market Analysis, a study published by INTERQUEST in 2007. Following the presentation a panel of management representatives from leading in-house print and publishing operations as well as marketing specialists will discuss their color printing applications, along with effective personalized marketing campaigns they have developed to help college and universities better communicate with students and alumni. Panelists will present the solutions they have implemented, challenges they have faced, and the ROI which their campaigns obtained.

The seminar is sponsored by leading industry players, including Cascades, Hewlett-Packard, InfoPrint Solutions Company, Kodak, Océ, Rimage, and RISO, with additional support from American Printer, the Federal Electronic Document Systems Association (FEDS), In-plant Graphics, the Interagency Council on Printing & Publications Services (ICPPS), the National Government Publishing Association (NGPA), and the Xplor Mid Atlantic Region (MAR).

The event is targeted at government and higher education users, including publishing and graphic services, in-plants and CRDs, print and mail services, IT/data center operations, purchasing and procurement departments, and communications professionals, as well as service providers.