Gröbenzell, Germany – The Seventh Balkan Print Forum held in Sofia, Bulgaria, October 18-19 proved that the current focus of the PrintCity Alliance on Packaging and Digital Printing trends & opportunities is highly topical.

In particular, the audience of over 180 people from 13 countries found the PrintCity Value Added Packaging (VAPack) initiative presentation by Rainer Kuhn, managing director of PrintCity to be of interest, with many interesting discussions and the opportunity to take away creative packaging print samples and tutorials.

The Balkan Print Forum was supported by PrintCity Alliance members manroland web systems, Océ, Baumüller, Kurz, Procemex, Sappi and UPM. The event was hosted by the Printing Industry Union of Bulgaria, manroland Bulgaria and a Bulgarian printing company.

Dr. Dimitar Rozalinov, Editor-in-Chief of the Package, Printing & Converting Magazine, Bulgaria, and Professor at the University of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy (UCTM), Sofia, stated, "I had many questions about packaging before the presentation. They are now all answered. Thank you very much!"

Dr Rossitza Velkova, organiser of the Sofia event confirmed, "The 7th Balkan Print Forum in Sofia showed once again the big importance of the event for the Balkan and East European countries. It is getting bigger, more popular and more interesting for countries and companies in East and West Europe. Today it is more than 'only' a Balkan event and expands beyond the geographical boarders of the Balkan Peninsula. All these changes naturally lead to the new title of the event: the new International Forum on Print Efficiency and Quality (InPEQ Forum), which is the successor of the Balkan Print Forum."

"During the last years the Value Added Packaging topic became a very important one for the successful and competitive development of many East European print companies. Therefore the presentation held by Rainer Kuhn of PrintCity, was accepted with great interest and curiosity. The participants highly appreciated the VAPack initiative of PrintCity."

Summarising the success of the Sofia event, Rainer Kuhn concluded, "The new InPEQ Forum is definitely a 'place to be'. A market place where the who-is-who of the Balkans and of Eastern Europe's printing industry meets each year, to network and exchange ideas."