Expert Insights lay out key industry thought leadership leading up to the event, helping attendees make better use of their time at drupa 2024 and inspiring new business practices

WhatTheyThink, the leading global media organization serving the printing and publishing industries, today reported that as part of its coverage in the run-up to drupa 2024, where WhatTheyThink will be publishing the drupa Daily, promotion of the drupa Essentials series of expert articles is in line with our dedication to helping both exhibitors and attendees better prepare for the world’s largest printing trade show.

“We believe there is value to our members in reviewing these expert articles,” said WhatTheyThink President Eric Vessels. “Even if they have no plan to attend the show today, these inspirational pieces may encourage them to consider traveling to Dusseldorf for the event. Giving these articles more visibility is in line with our position as the leading global media organization serving the printing and publishing industries. In this release, we summarize the first four drupa Essentials expert articles for the benefit of our members and the broader printing community.”

The full library of drupa Essentials articles is available here. drupa is the world’s leading trade fair for printing technologies, held every four years by Messe Düsseldorf in Düsseldorf, Germany. The next staging will take place from May 28 – June 7, 2024.

drupa Essentials: The Label Market

In this article, contributed by Chiara Bezzi, Editor in chief of Rassegna Grafica, the Italian B2B magazine for the graphic arts, she points out that the “label printing sector has always been a dynamic market. Brand owners are looking for increasingly innovative labels to differentiate themselves and convey current and targeted messages to consumers. The current trends are leading suppliers and converters towards solutions that focus on sustainability and innovation. In the last years label converters felt the need for automation at various product life cycle stages.” She reports on research that dug into consumer reaction to various different paper and finishing selections for wine labels across the customer journey. Find the full article here. 

drupa Essentials: Digital Print in Corrugated Packaging

Robert Seay, Vice President of Digital Print Strategy and Growth, Georgia-Pacific, contributed this expert article. He states that digital print today still only represents and addresses a small subset of corrugated print needs, but that new approaches are needed to broaden the reach and value of digitally printed corrugated packaging. He adds, “For those of us who have been championing digital print and what is possible to transform the corrugated industry, the pace of progress is both encouraging and disappointing. There are pockets of great success, but there is also a lot of work to do to get us to the full transformation that all members of the value chain need. These improvements and new solutions cannot get here fast enough. It will be exciting to see what is announced and shown at drupa 2024 to further drive the industry’s digital transformation.” Read the full article here. 

drupa Essentials: Embracing the Power of Community

In the third article of the drupa Essentials series, Peter van Teeseling, the executive director of Dscoop, shares his thoughts on how thriving communities of print professionals are helping to shape the positive future of print. He cites his experience as executive director of Dscoop as an example of the importance of these communities to the industry’s future, saying, “Within the print community today, like-minded individuals are gathering to share triumphs and challenges, exchanging valuable insights and best practices. The community becomes a catalyst for personal and professional growth, where seasoned professionals become mentors, guiding and nurturing the next generation of print industry leaders.” Learn more here. 

drupa Essentials: Sustainability in Print and Packaging

Sustainability is more than a buzzword, according to Kaunain Shahidi, a strategic thinker with more than 20 years’ experience in packaging development and procurement, the author of the fourth in the series of drupa Essentials expert articles.He comments, “Experts say that the climate crisis is not a scientific problem that can be solved only by technology. It is a problem created by humans by not aligning with nature in terms of our lifestyle designs. Technologies and systems can play a limited role; we need to have a paradigm shift in our attitude, our lifestyles, and our ways of interaction with nature by bringing elements of respect and compassion for nature and its creation. We need to see beyond seeing and look beyond sustainability and start thinking about redesigning our systems.” He points out that drupa offers a great opportunity for the printing industry to come together on a single platform with a focus on minimizing the impact of print and packaging on the environment. Read the full article here. 

Stay tuned for more information about the thought leadership embodied in the drupa Essentials series. We hope these articles inspire you to consider attending drupa if you are not already planning to do so. Either way, these articles provide terrific insights that can help you better frame your thinking about the future of your business.

For more information, visit https://whattheythink.com/drupa. For information about sponsorship opportunities before and during the event, view our drupa Opportunities webinar here.

About WhatTheyThink

WhatTheyThink is the global printing industry's go-to information source with both print and digital offerings, including WhatTheyThink.com, WhatTheyThink Email Newsletters, and the WhatTheyThink magazine. Our mission is to inform, educate, and inspire the industry. We provide cogent news and analysis about trends, technologies, operations, and events in all the markets that comprise today's printing and sign industries including commercial, in-plant, mailing, finishing, sign, display, textile, industrial, finishing, labels, packaging, marketing technology, software and workflow.

About drupa

As the world’s leading trade fair for printing technologies, drupa stands for inspiration, innovation, top-class knowledge transfer and intensive networking. With the motto “we create the future”, drupa will serve as the global meeting point, presenting the visions of the print and packaging industries along the entire value chain. The 2024 edition will specifically focus on the mega trends sustainability and digitalization, in addition to many more relevant trends in an inspiring setting. The exhibits will be complemented by an extensive ancillary program and five special forums: the drupa cube, drupa next age (dna) as well as touchpoints packaging, textile and sustainability.