63 www.printmonthly.co.uk May / June 2024 - Issue 348 A lot has changed over the past eight years and two of the megatrends you are focusing on this year are Sustainability and Digitalisation. Can you tell us about how these trends will be reflected at the event? I think digitalisation will play a major role at many of our exhibitor booths when it comes to, for example, self-learning machinery, automation, maintenance, more efficient workflows, IT solutions, big data, and how you can analyse big data. Again it comes back to AI and robotics, the ‘Smart Factory’, and the next level of Industry 4.0. Drupa 2016 and 2020 already reflected the ongoing digitalisation and automation development and this year, there will be the next generation of that development highlighted. With sustainability, we all know from daily media reports how important it is and it’s not just a theme and topic in very mature markets that will gain more relevance. One side of the story is driven by legal regulation. Being in the EU, you have to follow ESGs and for every company up to a certain size, it’s all about reporting, transparency, and controlling your supply chain in many ways. It’s no longer an option, it will become an obligation and it already is today to a certain extent. At drupa we will have dedicated special forums that will educate and engage our worldwide attendees to ensure they maintain their competitive advantage and understand where the industry is developing and ensure they are prepared. In terms of in-show features, there will be three Touchpoint Forums, Sustainability, Textile, and Packaging. How did you decide to divide the areas into these three themes? These touchpoints had already been planned for 2020 and the dedicated forums simply focus on the potential of the future. As we have seen from the shift in portfolios of our exhibitors, packaging production will certainly be more perceived on the fairground. This is why we decided in 2016, in 2020, and now to continue with that highly relevant forum for visionary, innovative, and smart packaging design solutions. The fact that we launched Touchpoint Sustainability simply reflects the relevance of a circular economy. We wanted to make sure that we’re driving that topic with participating associations. The organiser of that forum is a Germany-based but Europe-wide association to educate and provide insights into where sustainability is going to become relevant and to showcase best cases from 30 partners that are involved. For Textile, we will be focusing on and reflecting growth potential. Digital print technologies and inkjet will allow people to print on more applications like furniture, apparel, fashion, interior décor, and in other verticals like the automotive industry. On a yearly basis we launch trend reports that clearly reflect trends in the industry and we wanted to cover these trends and highlight these in special forums. Can you tell us about drupa Next Age (DNA) and why it’s so important to champion younger talent in the industry? One target that has clearly been put on our agenda from our participating companies and associations has been to activate young talent and to recruit potential from youngsters in order to make sure that they are getting engaged with the print and packaging industry. I think to a certain extent, everybody is fighting for young and fresh talent and it’s why we, through DNA, are focusing on best cases from universities and have different associations and universities participating from Germany but also across the globe. The beauty is that we are engaging with students and apprenticeships from different areas and they all get a stage to share their solutions and ideas about the future. Next to students and young talents, we are also focusing on start-up companies because very often startups need direct contact and financial support from more established companies. It’s a place focusing on cutting-edge technologies from robotics and AI to new materials and will feature short, technical presentations, creating the network and showcasing the creativity of the industry. What advice would you give to people planning their trip and wanting to get the most out of the show? 11 days sounds like a very long period of time but at the end of the day we are talking about a huge number of exhibitors in different areas. There are 20 exhibitors with several thousand square metres of booths and they have their own stages and theatres. Next to these brilliant performances from our exhibitors, we are adding another five forums which shows the landscape and the environment. So, the best way to make your visit the most effective and to take the best value out of it is to get best prepared. We are occupying 18 halls so make sure you already know where to go, plan or mark the exhibitors of your choice in the relevant hall, and also try to make appointments prior to the event. We even offer guided tours for our worldwide associates and you can simply select a theme and get guided tours around our trade fair. Also, have a look at our conference database and you can select by forum, company, speaker, and topic, and it will automatically present you with your ideal list of talks. It’s been eight years since the last drupa took place in person, what are you most excited about the show? I am very excited about the show and to meet our customers face to face again and certainly see the groundbreaking technologies. Drupa has always stood for product premieres and groundbreaking new trends and applications. Needless to mention networking is important as well as the human factor. We are in an industry that is truly technologically driven but on the other side, we are a very emotional community and I think people are very much looking forward to meeting face to face after such a long time. Seeing all the delegates that have confirmed their participation from every single continent will certainly be, for me personally, a very nice opportunity to meet again with familiar faces as well as with a lot of new faces. This will motivate me a lot and my team and all of our reps around the world. It’s a huge universe and there are a lot of opportunities to go for and we are very much looking forward to seeing very inspirational products at drupa. You can see the full schedule for in-show features and find the the full exhibitor list on www.drupa.com Q & A / SABINE GELDERMANN
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