During the Fespa PressFest webinar this morning (28 March), the Fespa team said it has confirmed 325 exhibitors for the show so far, including Agfa, Canon, EFI, Epson, Fujifilm, and HP. 105 companies are returning to the event in Berlin after missing the 2021 show in Amsterdam in October.

Running with the theme ‘Experience Print in Motion’, the show will occupy eight halls on one level at Messe Berlin from 31 May to 3 June 2022.

Michael Ryan, head of Fespa Global Print Expo, said: “As Fespa’s live events enable our community to make connections, and network with like-minded people, printers can be inspired by new opportunities and discover things they wouldn’t find in a Google search – those serendipitous moments we all need to experience.

“Plus, when you add our exciting educational and inspirational features into the mix, you get a full sense of the whole experience that a Fespa show delivers.

“We strongly believe that our Berlin event is the place to witness the industry’s development and see the latest innovations and trends in action.”

He said the 2021 event had been “incredible” and attracted 7,863 visitors from 103 countries, including 54% visiting the show for the first time.

“Fespa 2021 helped kickstart business recovery and we want printers and signmakers to explore the opportunities that now exist in their business,” Ryan added, describing Berlin as “one of our favourite cities for the community”, based on visitor feedback on the two previous Fespa events held in the city, in 2007 and 2018.

The event will host four features this year including the returning Printeriors, which will highlight the multiple opportunities for printers in the world of interior and exterior décor.

Also returning is World Wrap Masters, which will see as many as 36 European wrappers compete in the regional competition on the first two days of the competition before 12 successful semi-finalists then go head-to-head to compete for the title of Wrap Master 2022.

New for 2022 are Sustainability Spotlight and the Associations Pavilion. The former will enable visitors to join presentations from several industry experts providing useful, informative, and actionable advice around environmental best practice.

Graphics producers and textiles printers can also view a wide range of material samples on display and learn how to produce innovative but sustainable finished products.

“Building a successful and profitable business is every entrepreneur’s number one goal, but the print community has an obligation to sustainability too, and this is becoming a priority for print buyers,” said Ryan.

“Becoming sustainable means understanding the whole operation and the opportunities and risks that need to be addressed, now and in the future. Our goal with the launch of Sustainability Spotlight is to inform the print community of the different options open to them as they progress along the path towards sustainable operations.

“We want to show print businesses how to meet changing customer demands, increase productivity and profitability, while making meaningful improvements to their supply chain and efforts to decarbonise.”

The new Associations Pavilion, meanwhile, will celebrate the talent of Fespa’s international member community. The Pavilion will give members of Fespa’s worldwide network of Associations the opportunity to showcase their talent through samples of their screen and digitally printed work.

Ryan also outlined the Covid measures at the show, and currently in place in Germany.

“Happily, restrictions in Germany eased significantly last week as the Covid situation continues to improve. We expect the easing to have a positive impact on all aspects of the show and given that we’re still two months out, we do anticipate that there will be still some changes in the way large scale events are run.”

He added there would be increased cleaning and hygiene facilities at key locations throughout the show, and that current guidance on events of Fespa’s scale mean that – as it currently stands – it will be obligatory to wear an FFP2 facemask throughout the event.

Local ‘3G’ entry requirements mean that everyone can attend with either proof of vaccination, if they have recently recovered from Covid, or can provide a negative test result.

Fespa technical lead and head of associations Graeme Richardson-Locke also revealed that the 2022 event will see the launch of the third Fespa Print Census.

“This will give us a more holistic view of the current commercial backdrop, the challenges printers are facing, and the trends driving change in the industry. The knowledge will help us to shape Fespa’s product offering for the future.

“The Fespa Print Census is a particularly meaningful piece of market intelligence because it reflects the commercial reality for print businesses on the ground.”

The survey will be open to Fespa members and non-members globally and the results will be shared at the Fespa 2023 events. The last Print Census, which was delivered in 2019, received over 1,400 completed surveys from participants in over 100 countries.

Fespa will be co-located with the European Sign Expo, which will showcase technology and materials, enabling visitors to see the application opportunities in areas including channel lettering, dimensional signage, engraving and etching, and LED.

Registration for both shows is available at: www.fespaglobalprintexpo.com.