The drupa world tour has kicked off with presentations in the Philippines and China. It has reached its first high point at the drupa Print Promotion Industry Summits (PPIS) in Asia and Latin America.
Messe Düsseldorf hosted the PPIS in cooperation with the Printing and Paper Technology Association of the German industrial organisation VDMA and some of the world’s leading exhibitors. It had the motto ‘Enabling the Digital and Sustainable Transformation’.
Speakers came from Heidelberg, IST Metz, Kama, Koenig & Bauer, Kurz, Müller Martini, Polar, and the Windmöller & Hölscher Group. They provided insights into the industry and initiated an exchange of knowledge on both continents. Organisers report great interest in PPIS with an average of 200 industry representatives attending each individual event in Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil. Asia is one of the world’s fastest growing markets, and Latin America has a higher level of investment than Europe,.
Sabine Geldermann, director drupa Print Technologies Messe Düsseldorf, says, “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, digitalisation, 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 industrial, media and regional partners in the association, with whom we cooperate locally, added further interesting insights into local market conditions.
Digitalisation and sustainability
Sustainability features as one of the dominant issues at PPIS. Participants discussed the industry’s best practices for circular economy and efficient energy use. In addition, they considered the future and debated which technologies will be needed 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. Further points under intense discussion included global megatrends like increasing digitalisation, automation, AI and robotics, which will influence both individual processes and the entire added value chain in future.
The drupa world tour continued into December with three stops in India before visiting Japan, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Italy, France and Turkey and holding a pan-Eastern European press conference for eight countries in Hungary. The tour will culminate in the international drupa Media Conference in Düsseldorf at the end of March. At the end of May, drupa 2024 will welcome the global industry for printing technologies in Düsseldorf.
The drupa ticket shop has opened. For more information, see www.drupa.de.
