European Market Leaders to speak at March 31 event in Belgium

Charlottesville, VA and Brussels, Belgium - INTERQUEST, a leading market and technology research and consulting firm serving the digital printing and publishing industry, today announced an impressive lineup of speakers for the 2015 Brussels Digital Printing Forum. The full-day event will take place Tuesday, March 31 from 9:00 to 17:30 at Le Plaza Hotel in Brussels, Belgium. 

According to Gilles Biscos, President of INTERQUEST, "Attendees to our event will hear from some of the leading movers and shakers in the direct marketing, transactional, and publishing markets. It will be a great venue for learning first-hand about exciting recent developments in software, equipment, and applications; we are extremely pleased to have the participation of key vendors and print providers who are on the front lines of innovation in the industry."

The morning "Digital Printing & Multi-Channel Communication" seminar will be kicked off with a keynote address from Christophe Benavent who heads the Graduate School of Economics, Organizations and Society at the University of Paris Ouest. He will discuss how the design of appropriate and scalable architectures can enable powerful and cost effective omni-channel communication.

Then Toby Cobrin, a Director at INTERQUEST, will provide insights from recent INTERQUEST research into direct marketing and multi-channel communications. Leading direct marketing specialists will then share multichannel success stories. Speakers include: Tommaso Teppex, Director of International Business Development for Loyalty Expert; Bart Blondelle, Direct Mail Specialist, Symeta N.V.; and Jordan Audenaert, Managing Partner, BBC. 

After additional INTERQUEST research findings in transactional printing are presented, successful market players will discuss how they are taking advantage of the convergence of transactional printing and direct marketing to counteract declining transactional print volume. They will also discuss some new and innovative multi-channel solutions they have been implementing. Speakers include: Bart Vanwijnsberghe, Director, Fedopress (formerly SPF Finances); Jonathan Laloum, Development Director, Groupe Diffusion Plus; Yves Dewyspelaere, Manager Document Services, ING Belgium; and Frederic Lanciaux, Managing Director, OptiMail Solutions. 

A panel of executives from leading digital printing equipment vendors will then share their views on direct marketing and transactional markets and applications. Panelists include: Peter Jongeling, Regional Business Manager HP Indigo and Inkjet Web Presses, General Western Europe; Charles Deck, Cofounder and Sales Director, NMC Company; Danny Mertens, Director Segment Marketing & Business Development, Document Printing, Xeikon; and Olivier Zwartjes, Sales Director, Production Printing Solutions Division, RISO.

Following lunch, the afternoon seminar—"Digital Printing in Publishing"—will be kicked off with a keynote address from Hubert Pedurand, an entrepreneur and pioneer of distributed newspaper printing; his keynote, "Distributed Printing 360°" will draw from his successes with RotOcean and Interval, and discuss the IRENEO initiative which has for objective to disseminate on-demand book printing systems in bookstores throughout Europe.

INTERQUEST will then provide an update of trends, issues, and developments in the use of digital printing in newspapers and magazines. Following the INTERQUEST presentation, Stefaan Vanysacker, Managing Director, Genscom; and Gabriella Moretti, Marketing & Business Development Manager, Rotolito Lombarda SpA will discuss their use of digital printing technology for producing short-run and targeted publications.

Gilles Biscos will then share recent INTERQUEST research into digital book printing in Europe and North America, followed by a panel of leading digital printing equipment vendors who will discuss developments targeted at publishing markets. Executives include: Reinhold Frech, Sales & Marketing Director, Commercial Printing Group, Canon EMEA; Christoph Blank, Executive Sales Manager, Digital Post-Processing Solutions, manroland web systems AG; Erwin Busselot, Commercial Print Solutions Director, Production Printing, Ricoh Europe; and François Gouverneur, Graphic Communications Marketing Manager, Xerox Europe. 

In wrapping up the program, leaders in book publishing and manufacturing will discuss how they work together to streamline the supply chain. They will also discuss how technology innovations help them expand their digital printing business. Speakers include: Anthony Morin, Marketing and IT Solutions Director, CPI Group; Benoit Verlayen, Manufacturing Director, Dupuis; and Anthony Smeele Chairman and CEO, Publidisa Digital Limited.

The 2015 Brussels Digital Printing Forum is sponsored by leading players in the market, including Böwe Systec, Canon, CPI, Hewlett-Packard, manroland web systems, NMC, Ricoh, RISO, Tecnau, Xeikon, and Xerox. It is supported by leading industry associations including the Belgian Direct Marketing Association (BDMA), the European Publishers Council (EPC), the Federation of European Direct and Interactive Marketing (FEDMA), the Federation of European Publishers (FEP), the European Federation of Envelope Manufacturers (FEPE), Intergraf, as well as Nouvelles Graphiques/Grafisch Nieuws.

For more information about the event, visit www.inter-quest.com/focused-forums/2015Brussels.