The countdown to drupa 2024 is on! The drupa World Tour in the run-up to the No. 1 trade fair for printing technologies (May 28  - June 7, 2024 in Düsseldorf, Germany) started this fall with presentations in the Philippines and China and reached its first highlight with the Print Promotion Industry Summits in Asia and Latin America. 

The motto of the drupa Print Promotion Industry Summits (PPIS), organized by Messe Düsseldorf in cooperation with the Printing and Paper Technology Association of the German industrial organization VDMA and some of the world’s leading exhibitors at drupa, was “Enabling the Digital and Sustainable Transformation”. Renowned speakers from Heidelberg Deutschland, IST METZ, KAMA, Koenig & Bauer, LEONHARD KURZ, Müller Martini, POLAR Cutting Technologies and the Windmöller & Hölscher Group provided interesting industry insights and initiated a valuable exchange of knowledge on both continents. In Asia, one of the fastest-growing markets in the world, and in Latin America, where the level of investment is currently higher than in Europe, interest in the Print Promotion Industry Summits by drupa 2024 was enormous in preparation for visiting the drupa trade fair. On average, 200 interested industry representatives attended each of the individual events in Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Mexico, Colombia and Brazil.

Sabine Geldermann, Director drupa, Print Technologies Messe Düsseldorf, is very pleased: “Our summits were a complete success. Together with decision-makers involved in the local industries, we discussed the issues that will shape the future with regard to sustainability, circular economy, digitalization, AI, automation and much more. During panels and discussion rounds, our drupa exhibitors, above all Dr Andreas Pleßke, CEO of Koenig & Bauer and Chairman of the drupa committee and, representing the VDMA, Thomas Schiemann, Managing Director of the Printing and Paper Technology Association, provided important insights into the European and global markets. Our industry, media and regional association partners, with whom we cooperate locally, added further interesting insights into unique local market conditions.

Main topics at drupa: Digitalization and sustainability

One of the dominant issues at the drupa Print Promotion Industry Summits was sustainability. The participants engaged in lively discussions about best practices in the industry with regard to the circular economy and energy efficiency. They also considered the future and discussed which technologies will be required to make the industry fit for the future, resilient and above all sustainable. This also included a preview of the special forum “Touchpoint Sustainability” at drupa 2024 in Hall 14. In addition, global megatrends such as increasing digitalization, automation, AI and robotics, which will influence both individual processes and the entire value chain in the future, were examined in detail.

The drupa world tour continued in December with three stops in India before going to Japan, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Italy, France and Turkey and hosting a pan-Eastern European press conference for eight countries in Hungary. The tour will end with the international drupa Media Conference in Düsseldorf in March, before the global printing technologies industry will meet at drupa in May at the Düsseldorf fairgrounds for its most important event worldwide.

drupa entrance passes are now available in the online ticket shop. For further information on visiting or exhibiting at drupa 2024, contact Messe Düsseldorf North America; Telephone: (312) 781-5180; E-mail: [email protected]; Visit www.drupa.com and www.mdna.com; Follow us on https://www.linkedin.com/company/mdnachicago/

For hotel and travel information, contact TTI Travel, Inc. at (866) 674-3476; Fax: (212) 674-3477; E-mail: [email protected]; www.ttitravel.net