And over the next 11 days tens of thousands of expectant visitors will be be trawling Messe Düsseldorf’s halls looking for the latest innovations in print that will have a serious impact on their business.
But what will be the star attractions?
Well, if the predictions of this issue’s rather timely interviewee, print guru Frank Romano – that half of all print will be produced digitally within just five-years’ time is to be proven right – then the chances are they will be sprinting straight to digital vendors’ stands to form a not so orderly queue to place their orders for the latest technology.
There’s little doubt that digital will be the key draw at Drupa, whether it be the drama and excitement of the likes of Landa or the awe-inspiring scale of the likes of HP, whose 6,200m2 presence is bigger than many national print shows.
But is digital really poised to produce half of the industry’s output in such a short timeframe?
On the face of it seems unlikely.
However, on a number of levels Romano’s soundbite does stand up to a certain level of scrutiny, after all, if this becomes the Drupa where digital cracks packaging and larger-format sheetfed digital enters the mainstream – then perhaps he could be proven right.
But it would still need an awful lot of printers to spend an awful lot of money in an awfully short space of time and, perhaps even less likely, for vendors to take a long, hard look at the pricing models of consumables.
But then if you can’t dream of a print Utopia at Drupa, then where can you?
