The winners of the first Inca Digital Excellence Awards (IDEAs) were announced last night in Munich during FESPA at a special event to mark the occasion.

The IDEAs celebrate the creative and stunning effects and products produced by innovative companies around the world using Inca printers. The judges – Nigel Steffens, CEO of FESPA, Peter Kiddell of PRISM and John Charnock of PR-INT – were faced with the tough task of selecting the winners from a very strong global line up and were looking for high-quality graphics that exceed expectations for creativity.

The standard of entries was extremely high with Inca printer users producing innovative products incorporating many different of materials to meet customer's specific requirements.  The flexibility of Inca UV digital printing enabled companies to produce stunning lenticular walls that come alive when you walk by, children's shoes and toys, cross bows, wood effect furniture, interior décor, urban art, displays, 3D POS products and more.  Materials used ranged from Re-Board, Acrylic, Plastic, aluminium and leather to MDF, Douglas Fir and Plywood.

Each category winner received an Inca IDEA Trophy and a VIP trip to Munich to attend FESPA and celebrate their Award.

"We are delighted by the number and quality of entries that showed the considerable potential for digital print," says Dr Linda Bell, CEO, Inca Digital. "The sheer range of applications show the ingenuity and creativity of our customers using the full range of our printers, from one of the very first Inca Eagles installed in Europe nine years ago, the Inca Spyder, Columbia Turbo and latest Inca Onset."

The IDEA 2010 stars are:

POS/POP GRAPHICS
Winner - Daelprinting, Belgium: for the design and production of a 3D cargo bike for Kraft Foods. This comprised 50 pieces of Re-Board that could be easily transported in a car booth, constructed without screws or tools, and re-used many times. Printed on an Inca Onset S20.

DISPLAY GRAPHICS
Winner - Mills Styrox, Australia: for its own trade show booth promoting its eco-friendly products and versatility of Xanita board. The whole booth, including tables, chairs and 3D layered graphics, were printed on an Inca Columbia.

Highly Commended - Mills Styrox, Australia: again for a wall graphic for an Outback Steak House Restaurant. The rustic image was printed directly using an Inca Columbia onto large sheets of 10mm plywood.

DÉCOR
Highly Commended - Optima, Canada: for 32 high-impact graphics printed by an Inca Columbia Turbo onto Aluminium for an underpass in Downtown Rideau.

PRODUCT DECORATION & SPECIALITY PRODUCT
Winner - Visual Marking Systems, USA: for printing Crossbows with a camouflage decoration and instructions on an Inca Spyder 320+w. The challenge was to print quality graphics on flat and curved surfaces that could withstand extreme bending.

Highly Commended: Optima, Canada, for producing furniture featuring multiple wood grain effects to achieve an inlay effect on Exterior Medite using an Inca Columbia Turbo.

Highly Commended - JD Print and Display, Canada: for producing multi-layer children's toys printed by an Inca Eagle onto multiple materials from 3-25.5mm thick.

OFF THE WALL
Winner - America Digitaal Druk, The Netherlands:  for a stunning Tropical Forest Lenticular Wall that comes to life when you walk past it printed on a Inca Eagle 44 (one of the first in Europe) for Emma's Children's Hospital in Amsterdam. This featured 18 two-part lenticular panels mounted onto Dibond.

Highly Commended - Druckwerk Hamburg, Germany: for a Camel Active instore display printed onto Douglas Fir pine using an Inca Columbia Turbo

Highly Commended - Extrema Publicidad, Mexico: for printing onto leather with an Inca Eagle H to make children's shoes