Drupa press meet: Drupa is in town again
This is exclusive. On the banks of the river Rhine, around 100 journalists from five continents gathered under one roof, as exhibitors offered a sneak-peek into what they are doing at Drupa 2016.
02 Mar 2016 | 3656 Views | By Rahul Kumar
The first day of the international press conference for Drupa 2016, of course, belonged to the organiers, Messe Dusseldorf. There were also Kodak, Kolbus and HP giving us a peek into their plans.
This is Germany, and the day was both sunny and chilly. The air was full of excitement and music, as the organisers unveiled the official Drupa theme song, composed and performed by Dita Folk. The song is catchy with lyrics that go, ‘Drupa is in town again’.
Indeed, Drupa is in town again. You can literally feel the excitement.
It is especially true for Messe Dusseldorf. “We have booked the entire exhibition centre comprising 19 halls, covering an area of 1,50,200sq/m,” said Wermer M Dornscheidt, president and CEO, Messe Dusseldorf. “We have total 1,650 exhibitors from more than 50 countries.”
Dornscheidt said these numbers are the testament to the fact that print is not in danger. “Drupa is a place to show the world that print is not dying. Each of us is surrounded by print round-the-clock,” he said.
And Drupa 2016 is pushing print to the next level. “Functional printing, industrial printing, 3D printing, digital printing and packaging printing will be on focus during Drupa 2016,” said Claus Bolza Schunemann, president and CEO, KBA. “Packaging printing is becoming more intelligent and it is being used not for decoration, but to fight counterfeiting.”
At the same time, Bolza-Schunemann conceded that while 3D printing would be exhibited for the first time at Drupa, it is more moulding than printing.
Expectations are high. “While more than 1,000 visitors have already registered, we are expecting more than three lakh visitors,” said Sabine Geldermann, director, Messe Dusseldorf.
This year, the exhibition would be short in terms of days, 11 as opposed to 14 days during the previous editions. From this edition onwards, even the Drupa cycle would be of three years, as opposed to regular four years. Geldermann said there was a discussion and the majority voted for the three-year cycle.
“Nothing is fixed,” she said. “We have to keep changing according to the market. Worldwide some exhibitions have closed down and new ones have come up in its place. So you have to keep changing.”
She added that around 500 companies are exhibiting at Drupa for the first time.