drupa 2012 World Tour Events in 40 Countries

Starting in September and lasting until February 2012, around 60 drupa events will take place in more than 40 countries. The event format ranges from trade press conferences for smaller groups and half-day industry workshops 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”, stated Manuel Mataré, Project Director of drupa 2012. “This way we reach the drupa visitors directly and can provide them with the latest information concerning drupa 2012. Of course, in a direct dialogue it can also be determined what the interests and requirements are. This, in addition to personal visitor advertising, is an especially valuable advantage of the drupa events.” When the drupa World Tour comes to an end, the “drupa ambassadors” will have flown more than 237,000 air miles—equivalent to traveling six times around the globe.

drupa 2012: The focus is on the future of printing

In addition to current trade fair facts, the World Tour presents a preview of the industr’s megatrends, which will be shown at drupa from May 3 - 16, 2012 in Düsseldorf, Germany. “The future of printing lies very clearly in the areas of packaging, printed electronics (RFID) and digital print with personalization. Especially package printing will play an ever increasing role in the future,” explained Dr. Markus Heering, Managing Director of the Association for Printing and Paper Technology within the German Engineering Federation (VDMA).

While traditional markets are close to being saturated, the printing market in the emerging countries is developing very dynamically. In Asia, the volume has increased from Euro 133 billion to Euro 168 billion and in China alone it has doubled to Euro 49 billion—and these dynamics are continuing. Market research institutes estimate that the printing volume in China will increase to Euro 70 billion by 2014. Cautious optimism is reflected in the printing and paper industry before the start of drupa 2012. Thus, drupa will again be held at exactly the right time. Many innovative developments together with successful business ideas promise the printing industry exciting future perspectives.

Multi-talent printing: More than newspaper & Co

Like no other trade fair, drupa will present the complete global range of products: whether global players or ambitious newcomers, providers from emerging countries or from industrial nations—they will all be represented at drupa 2012. The entire fairground with its 19 halls will be transformed into the largest printing plant of the world. Approximately 1,800 exhibitors from over 50 countries will showcase the versatility and innovation strength of their industry—regardless of whether it is all about newspapers, package printing, commercial or functional printing.

In contrast to the last drupa held in 2008, the suppliers of digital solutions have become even more important and thus clearly reflect the megatrend of digitization. In six halls, drupa 2012 will show everything concerning digital printing, workflow or web-to-print applications, just to 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 where the exhibitors have noticeably enlarged their presentation (for example Kolbus).

Other important cornerstones of drupa 2012 will be:
• 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 machinery 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 exhibitors at drupa 2012. With around 118,400 square feet, China’s participation has increased by almost 100 percent compared to 2008.

Type Directors Club of New York with current show

The ideal addition to the exhibitors’ product displays and special shows (e.g. the drupa innovation park and the drupacube) will be the professional “add-ons” such as the presentations of the Mainz Gutenberg Museum, the Leipzig Museum for Printing Arts and the 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 started as a club internal competition. Today, an award from the Type Directors Club of New York (TDC) is considered the “Oscar for Typography,” a career launching pad and an important creative ranking feature.

The opening hours of drupa 2012 will be 10:00 am - 6:00 pm daily (until 5:00 pm on weekends). eTickets can be ordered online at ww.drupa.com and printed out in advance at reduced rates: Euro 40 for a one-day ticket (compared to Euro 65 when purchased on-site).

For further information on visiting or exhibiting at drupa 2012,contact Messe Düsseldorf North America, 150 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 2920, Chicago, IL 60601. Telephone: (312) 781-5180; email info@mdna.com; or visit www.mdna.com.