Woodstock, Illinois -- The Waterless Printing Association (WPA), an international non-profit trade association, today announced it will host the Global Climate Change Leadership Summit, to be held 26 to 28 February 2009 in Woodstock, IL, a far north suburb of Chicago. The summit will focus on the unique environmental advantages associated with the waterless offset printing process and provide all the tools and know-how for turning those same benefits into a competitive advantage for the printers in the markets they serve within the global printing community.

“We believe this is the best possible time to bring both DI and Toray waterless printers and suppliers together face to face, both because of the deteriorated state of our environmental resources and the dismal state of our global economy,” says Arthur Lefebvre, WPA co-founder and executive director.

“That may seem counterintuitive, but in fact waterless printers utilize an earth-friendly printing technology that’s well suited to today’s environmental regulatory climate and will robustly meet whatever new regulations come along. Waterless printing technology puts them in a position of competitive strength, no matter what country they are operating in—a key issue for every business in today’s economy,” Lefebvre adds.

In the “New Environmental Developments in Waterless Printing” general forum at the Global Climate Change Leadership Summit, attendees will hear the latest news about UV waterless printing, water-washable inks, green tools for waterless printers and WPA’s global butterfly branding initiative.

In the follow-on session, “Learn How to Leverage Your Waterless Offset Assets,” a half dozen printers will deliver in-depth case studies describing their waterless printing successes, with a focus on the market appeal of earth-friendly printing techniques. The presenters in this session represent a diverse selection of countries, including Japan, Europe, Canada and the United States. The summit will conclude with the Printer Member Awards Ceremony, which honors technical and aesthetic achievement in commercial waterless printing.

To register for WPA’s Global Climate Change Leadership Summit, please visit the Association’s web site at www.waterless.org, no later than 19 February 2009. Registration fees are:
US $349 for WPA printer members.
US $379 for non-member printers.
US $449 for WPA domestic-vendor sponsor members.
US $489 for non-member domestic vendors.
US $549 for WPA international-vendor sponsor members.
US $649 for non-member international vendors.