The Fespa Fest press webinar this morning (23 January) kicked off with Fespa CEO Neil Felton recapping the organisation’s numerous global activities over the last nine months.
These included the inaugural WrapFest, which will take place once more at Silverstone racing circuit from 3-4 October, and the first Personalisation Experience event, held alongside the Fespa Global Print Expo 2023 in Munich, both of which were well received according to Felton.
“In some ways, both events really cemented our belief that we have to deal with the vertical markets that we serve and provide dedicated events for them, so we can show what the innovation is in the market, and the opportunities that exist for our visitors. And that’s what we’re solely committed to as a community organisation but also as an event organiser.”
He also recapped highlights from the 2023 Print Census, the headline findings of which were published in October 2023, and discussed next week’s Fespa Middle East event, a new show taking place in Dubai to serve the Middle Eastern, North African, and South Asian speciality print market. The details and dates for the 2025 event will be released next week.
Discussing Fespa Global Print Expo, which will take place at the RAI Exhibition Centre in Amsterdam from 19 to 22 March 2024, head of Fespa Global Print Expo Michael Ryan said: “Last year was all about new perspectives – we were encouraging the audience of Fespa to look at things from a different angle and to discover fresh approaches and avenues for growth.
“In 2024 we have our four vertical events which are focused on their own core vertical markets and we have unique messaging for each individual show. For Fespa Global Print Expo it’s Opportunities Revealed, where we’ll be encouraging people to discover and find the new opportunities that await them at the Fespa exhibitions.
“As we know, visitors will witness new applications, hardware and software, and also discover many new sustainable processes and trends which they’ll see at the Fespa exhibition.”
The other straplines are Opportunities Illuminated for European Sign Expo, Opportunities Reimagined for the Personalisation Experience, and Opportunities Created for the inaugural Sportswear Pro event, which was announced by Fespa in 2019 but postponed due to Covid.
Printweek will be producing the official daily newspaper live from the showfloor at this year's event. As well as being handed to show visitors on arrival, the FespaDaily will also be available at the entrances and strategic points throughout the halls.
Fespa has also been held in Amsterdam on several other occasions, most recently between lockdowns in the Dutch capital in October 2021.
Ryan said Amsterdam was affordable, “well connected with almost every major city throughout Europe and across the globe”, and that the venue was 10 minutes by train from the airport.
The event will occupy six halls at the RAI and will be using both of its entrances for the first time. 487 exhibitors are currently confirmed, 170 of which are either new to the show or returning after missing the 2023 event in Munich. These include ColorJet India, SPGPrints, DGI, Kornit Digital, MHM, Ricoma, and Tajima.
Ryan added European Sign Expo is currently “over 49% larger” than the 2023 event in terms of exhibitor numbers.
Returning features at the show will include the Sustainability Spotlight showcase of innovative sustainable textile and graphic substrates, and the World Wrap Masters event, while new this year will be the Digital Signage Lounge, a dedicated networking hub showcasing the latest innovations in digital signage and software.
Registration for the Fespa Global Print Expo and its co-located events is now open at: fespaglobalprintexpo.com.
