Around 60 drupa events in more than 40 countries

The presentations and press conferences in Chicago (12 September), Manila (15 September) and Tokyo (18 September) signal the start of the crucial phase of the drupa 2012 World Tour.
 
Reaching far into February 2012, around 60 drupa events will take place in more than 40 countries. The event format ranges from trade press conferences in smaller groups, half-day industry workshops right up to presentations with several hundred participants. „The drupa World Tour is an important component of our entire marketing mix consisting of PR, press relations, advertising campaigns, direct mailings, online campaigns and sponsoring", says Manuel Mataré, Director of drupa 2012, pointing out the special importance of these activities. „In this way we immediately reach the drupa visitors and can provide them with information on the latest facts concerning drupa 2012. But naturally, also in a direct dialogue it can be determined what the interests and requirements are. This, in addition to personal visitor advertising, is especially an invaluable advantage of the drupa events." By the way, when the last drupa  pre-event has come to an end, the „drupa ambassadors" will have flown more than 237,000 air miles – this roughly corresponds to traveling six times around the globe.

drupa 2012: The focus is on the future of printing
Besides the current trade fair facts, the World Tour presents a view on the industry's megatrends, which will be shown at drupa from 3 to 16 May 2012. „The future of printing lies very clearly in the areas of packaging, printed electronics (RFID) and digital print with personalisation", says Dr. Markus Heering, Managing Director of the Association for Printing and Paper Technology in the VDMA. „Especially packaging printing will play an ever increasing role in the future."

While traditional markets are close to saturation, the printing market in the emerging countries is developing very dynamically. In Asia, the volume has increased from 133 billion Euros to 168 billion Euros; in China alone it has doubled to 49 billion Euros. And these dynamics are not letting up. Market research institutes estimate that the printing volume in China will increase to 70 billion Euros by 2014. Cautious optimism is reflected by the printing and paper industry in the run-up to drupa 2012. Thus – once again – drupa comes at exactly the right time. Many innovative developments coupled with successful business ideas promise the printing industry exciting future perspectives.

Multi-talent printing: More than newspaper & Co
Like no other trade fair, drupa presents the complete global range on offer: Whether global players or ambitious newcomers, providers from emerging countries or from industrial nations – they are all represented at drupa from 3 to 16 May 2012. The complete fairground with its 19 halls is transformed into the largest printing plant of the world during this time. Here, approximately 1,800 exhibitors from over 50 countries give proof of the versatility and innovation strength of their industry – regardless of whether it is all about newspapers & Co., packaging printing, commercial or functional printing.

In contrast to the last drupa 2008, the suppliers of digital solutions have become even more important and thus clearly reflect the megatrend of digitisation. In the coming year, six halls will show everything concerning digital printing, workflow or web-to-print applications, to just name the most important examples. Companies such as Agfa, Canon, Kodak, Epson, Fujifilm, Hewlett-Packard, Konica Minolta, Ricoh, Screen and Xerox can be found in halls 4, 5, 8a, 8b, 9 and 10. A positive trend can also be seen in the field of post-production; the exhibitors have noticeably enlarged their presentation (e.g. Kolbus).

Other important cornerstones of drupa 2012 are:

• Halls 1 and 2: Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG with its network partners (e.g. Polar-Mohr)
• Hall 3: Printing as well as materials and services (e.g. Leonhard Kurz, Sakurai )
• Hall 6: PrintCity with manroland as well as other exhibitors (e.g. Wohlenberg)
• Halls 10 to 12: Paper processing and  packaging supplies production (e.g. Bobst AG, Mitsubishi Paper, Comexi)
• Halls 12 to14: Printing post-production (e.g. Horizon, Müller Martini, CP Bourg)
• Halls 15 to 17: Printing machines and printing post-production (e.g. Cerrutti, Ferag AG, Goss, Koenig & Bauer AG, Körber PaperLink, Kolbus GmbH & Co. KG, Shanghai Electric, Windmöller & Hölscher KG)

The dynamic development of the Chinese printing market is also reflected by the large number of participating exhibitors: With around 11,000 square metres, China's participation has increased by almost 100 percent compared to 2008.

Type Directors Club of New York with current show
The ideal supplements to the exhibitors' ranges on offer and special shows, for example the drupa innovation park and the drupacube, are the professional add-ons such as the presentations of the Mainz Gutenberg Museum, the Leipzig Museum for Printing Arts or also the current show of the Type Directors Club of New York (TDC). At drupa 2012, the winning entries of the current worldwide competition will be presented for the first time. The world's most important competition for typeface and graphic design evolved from a club internal competition among a few New York Madison Avenue typo-freaks. Today, an award from the Type Directors Club of New York (TDC) is looked upon as the „Oscar for Typography". It is the launching pad for a career and an important point in creative ranking.

The opening hours of drupa are from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm daily (5.00 pm at weekends). Tickets can be printed out in advance, at home via the Internet. The advantage of an eTicket is the reduced price: Here the price for a day-ticket is 40 Euros; at the box offices in Düsseldorf the price is 65 Euros. This service includes yet another benefit: Tickets that are ordered online can already be used on the way to the fairgrounds as a free ticket for all means of public transport operated by the Rhine-Ruhr Transport Authority and the Rhine-Sieg Transport Authority.