On August 18 and 19 PrintCity Alliance members completed their first two seminar events in São Paulo, Brazil, both with large audiences:
- Web Printing – Technical Visions of the Future of Print – in partnership with ABRO on August 18
- Sheetfed Printing & Packaging – Benefits and Technologies for Value Added Printing – in partnership with ABIGRAF and SENAI on August 19

Web Printing Seminar
The PrintCity Alliance Web Printing seminar was a special session within the ABRO Annual Congress and attracted an audience of over 100 people.

Lively open discussions followed the presentations by PrintCity members Sun Chemical, manroland, UPM and Cofely on value added printing, lean manufacturing and environmental issues.

Trends for more special interest magazines, higher quality and production efficiency were identified as the key success factors for printers & publishers to create a better experience for the reader and be highly attractive for advertisers & brand owners.
84 % of participants rated the PrintCity session as 'very good' or 'good'.

This PrintCity seminar session was chaired by Eduardo Gândara Costa of Abril (President at ABRO) and Rainer Kuhn (General Manager) on behalf of the PrintCity Alliance.

Sheetfed Printing & Packaging Seminar
Over 100 Brazilian sheetfed printers and packaging printers attended this event and heard presentations from PrintCity members manroland, Sun Chemical, UPM, Cofely, Eltosch and Kurz. Much attention was paid to the presentations focusing on value added printing techniques such as creative foil applications and UV finishing. These were discussed at length from various angles including: benefits, applications, technology and examples.

Presentation topics also included the influence of temperature on productivity, the sustainability of paper and best practice packaging guidelines for safe food production.

Through this discussion the power of PRINT was emphasised, with the audience recognising the importance of value added printing opportunities for their businesses.The PrintCity Sheetfed Seminar contained very good interactive panel sessions involving the Brazilian audience – led by Mr Manteigas of SENAI and Mr Victor of ABIGRAF.

Innovative New PrintCity Alliance Packaging Project – VAPack
One of the August 19 highlights was the 'world first' presentation by Matthias Holder of manroland introducing the new PrintCity Alliance VAPack project – Value Added Packaging.

This project exploits the full range of value added printing techniques. A range of new innovative sample boxes created by PrintCity Alliance members will be made available direct to brand owners and designers, to generate discussion on benefits, differentiation, customer appeal and bespoke applications.

The primary objective is to promote Value Added Packaging technologies & opportunities to the global industry – luxury goods through to high volume consumer food packaging.

Positive Comments on Both Events by Brazilian Attendees
Flávio Godoi Gonçalves of Editora Abril commented on the August 18 web printing event, "Great approach conveyed by the speakers. Especially encouraging global sustainability."

Sidney Anversa Victor commented on the August 19 sheetfed printing & packaging seminar, "It was very important for me, representing ABIGRAF's Group GE EMBA, to be involved with the participants in the PrintCity Alliance's recent event. Technical information on value added printing, productivity and sustainability are basic needs to the printer leaders in Brazil.

"The place chosen, quality of the speakers and the themes approached, added to the good discussions during coffee breaks, have helped all the participants to prepare themselves for the future."