Statement Werner Matthias Dornscheidt, President & CEO Messe Düsseldorf GmbH, at the drupa press conference on 12 May, 2014 in Düsseldorf

In exactly 749 days, the drupa 2016, the most important and significant international trade fair for the global printing and media industry, will open its doors. No other trade fair – regional or international, marginal event or special trade show – is of similar relevance for the entire industry. The drupa trade fair presents innovations and trends, provides hands-on experience of the printing and media industry, makes visions come to life and turn investments into real products.

During more than sixty years, the drupa has been tried and tested – and has never failed to impress. And the drupa 2016 will be no different.

Why are we so sure that the drupa 2016 will continue the success story?

1. Because the drupa never stops evolving
2. Because the drupa keeps advancing
3. Because we – Messe Düsseldorf and our partners from the industry – are providing the perfect responses and tools that meet the challenges of the market

It may sound simple but that is the recipe for drupa’s success: we spot trends, analyse them and develop appropriate trade fair concepts.

Markets in transition
As long-standing partners of the drupa, you know that every single drupa that we hosted over the last decades has marked and endorsed the technical quantum leaps of the industry. Naturally, the appearance of the drupa has undergone changes. Large printing machines have been superseded by digital printing systems, bits and bytes now set the rhythm of production. Much publicized over the last few years, the international focus has shifted from publication printing, which used to be the trademark of the printing industry, to package printing and industrial printing. In the wake of this development, we have systematically adapted the focus of the drupa, updated the relevant nomenclature and established new event formats such as the drupa innovation park and the drupa cube.

At present, the printing industry is undergoing radical structural changes and far-reaching consolidation processes. At the same time, new technologies such as functional printing, printed electronics and 3D printing, which have significantly increased their market share, provide major opportunities and potential for growth. The same applies to applications and solutions in the area of digital printing, package and label printing as well as to the industrial production segment.

drupa – touch the new: Repositioning
It is precisely on these areas that the drupa’s structural realignment and repositioning measures are focused. Over the past 18 months, following many constructive discussions, we have developed this new realignment strategy in close cooperation with our partners from the industry. I would like to express my gratitude to the VDMA and its members Heidelberger Druckmaschinen, Koenig & Bauer, Kolbus, Leonhard Kurz, manroland web systems, Polar-Mohr, technotrans, Voith, Windmöller & Hölscher – to name but a few. Also, I would like to thank the participating global players such as Bobst, Canon, EFI, Gallus, Hewlett-Packard, Ricoh and Xerox for their dedication and active involvement in bilateral talks.

And here is the list of the most important aspects of the strategic realignment:

1. The drupa 2016 stands for Print & Crossmedia Solutions. All technical processes related to the areas of printing and crossmedia, the entire range of applications and business areas are assembled in this segment. The focus will be on solution technologies and applications as well as innovative business ideas and best-practice examples – these areas will receive more attention than before. The drupa’s unique selling point is emphasised by a new claim: No. 1 for print and crossmedia solutions.
   
   This strategic realignment has also been confirmed by the results of the “drupa Global Insights Report”, which will be published in an unabridged version at the beginning of September 2014. Just some of the results are summed up below:
   
    About 32 % of participating international printing service providers offer their customers multichannel and cross-media services such as QR codes or augmented reality applications. These services are particularly prevalent in the US, where 44 % of all printing service providers already cater to this segment. 
   
   There is a clear trend for more QR codes in package printing: 50 % of all printing service providers questioned in the survey reported that they use QR codes in package printing.
    
2. Package printing is the key word. For the first time, the drupa has defined salient issues with acute market relevance and significant potential which are already playing an important role in the market or will do so in the future. These are:
   - Package printing including label printing
   - Multichannel publishing 
   - Green Printing 
   
   As you know already, these areas of application already featured in previous drupa trade fairs, but they never acquired an important status in this event’s strategic alignment. 
   This is where we come in: we will change the position of the drupa trade fair by introducing relevant activities, events, event formats and systematically addressing the industry’s target groups.
    
3. With our new motto “touch the future”, we will highlight the industry’s innovative strength and provide the perfect platform for pioneering technologies such as functional printing, printed electronics and 3D printing. 
   The drupa 2012 launched and prepared the market for pioneering technologies, and they have become increasingly integrated into the trade fair concept. In cooperation with its partners OE-A (Organic Electronics Association) and ESMA (Association in Europe for Specialist Printing Manufacturers of Screen, Digital and Flexo technology), we established the PEPSO brand – Printed Electronics Products and Solutions – and initially addressed this issue by introducing a special show and roadmap, which has now been developed into a unique concept. Since its premiere in 2012, the PEPSO brand has been systematically advanced and featured at six flagship fairs glasstec, COMPAMED, EuroCIS, K, EuroShop and interpack. This evolution will also become evident at the interpack 2014 where international exhibitors will present the latest trends and developments in functional printing and printed electronics.

The drupa handles the issue of 3D printing with the same strategic approach, and has introduced the “3D fab + print” brand, which is supported by the VDMA. The importance of additive production methods for tooling, component production, medical technology and manufacturers of consumer goods is substantial. Therefore, this subject will take centre stage during the Bright World of Metals, MEDICA, COMPAMED and, naturally, at the drupa 2016.

We intend to pool these pioneering technologies in one hall and enhance this with related events such as special shows, staged events or presentation forums.

In this context, I would like to address the accompanying program: the sub-brands drupa innovation park and drupa cube will also be presented at the drupa 2016. However, both formats will undergo a formal re-launch and become more dynamic according to our philosophy of future visions – “discover! imagine! think!”. I hope you understand that we are currently planning the content of our accompanying program and will therefore publish the official agenda during the second half of this year.

Back to our strategic realignment: we have revised and updated the so-called nomenclatura – the service profile of the drupa, which is divided into six main categories:

1. Pre-press / Print
2. Pre-media / Multichannel 
3. Post Press / Converting / Packaging Printing
4. Future Technologies
5. Materials
6. Equipment / Services / Infrastructure

A few days ago, the first invitations to exhibitors went out. Our customers have already received the printed version, they can register until 31 October, 2014. Our stand at the North Entrance is the perfect contact point for meetings with potential exhibitors at and visitors to drupa.

Successful trade fairs in China
You may have noticed that in addition to this strategic realignment we also gave the drupa’s corporate design a complete makeover including the key signifier to underline the innovative strength of this industry. We took care to retain tried-and-tested elements such as the pixel logo and the colour red, while also conveying a new image which underlines the claim of the new drupa.

Despite the fact that many trends are common to all industries, there are still some significant regional differences. In the US, the digital and industrial transformation process of the printing industry seems to be already complete, while in Europe it is still in progress. Analogue to the overall economic development of this region, the Asian markets are experiencing a dynamic upward trend. This is corroborated by the results of our first drupa Global Trends Report, which was carried out in February of this year. This development is also reflected by the trade fairs of the printing industry in China: the All in Print, which will take place in November of this year on a 10,000 sqm  exhibition area and is already completely overbooked. From 11 until 14 November, 2014, about 800 exhibitors, 70 % of which come from China, will travel to Shanghai to present their products on exhibition grounds with more than 108,000 sqm;  about 100,000 visitors are expected.

Launch of PacPro Asia
Finally, I would like to talk about our latest project in Shanghai, the PacPro Asia, an international trade fair for the production, conditioning and processing of packaging products and materials. The first event of this kind will take place from 17 to 20 November, 2015, at the SNIEC, our exhibition venue. This trade fair will focus on the production and conditioning of packaging products made from a range of materials such as paper, plastic, glass, wood, woven textiles and metal. Applications such as package printing, labelling and recycling are also on the agenda. The PacPro Asia will pool the different aspects featured at the drupa, interpack, glasstec and K, all of which are organised by Messe Düsseldorf.

This event was organized with our subsidiary Messe Düsseldorf Shanghai, and in cooperation with our long-standing partner Adsale Exhibition Services and the China Center for Food & Drug International Exchange (CCFDIE). SWOP is promoted by the Forum Packaging Materials, newly established by the associations Food Processing Machinery and Packaging Machinery, Plastics and Rubber Machinery as well as Printing and Paper Technology within VDMA.

At the same time as the PacPro Asia, three other trade fairs of the “Shanghai World of Packaging” family brand will take place. All of these represent all stages of value-added chain of the packaging industry and the related process industry. The trade fairs are listed below:

1. CHINA PHARM, The China International Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic Industry Exhibition
2. FoodPex, International Trade Fair for Food Packaging and Processing Solutions
3. BulkPex, International Trade Fair for Technology and Equipment in Bulk Packaging

I would like to use this opportunity to welcome Mr Stanley Chu, Chairman of the Adsale Exhibition Services. Like Mr Hans Werner Reinhard, Vice President of Messe Düsseldorf, Mr Chu will also be available for questions concerning the PacPro Asia.

Thank you for your attention. I will be available for questions later. And now, I would like to give the floor to Dr. Markus Heering.