drupa 2020 will be structured along six product groups: prepress and print; pre- and crossmedia; postpress, converting and packaging; future technologies; materials; and equipment, services and infrastructure. Highlighted topics include packaging production, functional printing, industrial printing and 3D. “Touchpoint Packaging,” launched at drupa 2016 in collaboration with the European Packaging Design Association (EPDA), will again be organized as a platform covering the entire packaging production chain. Interaction between brand owners, designers and material and equipment manufacturers is to turn this forum into a place of inspiration where solutions to future requirements will be proposed and debated. The Touchpoint concept therefore fits seamlessly into the “embrace the future” slogan that is to be drupa 2020’s key claim.
Forecasts on the future of packaging printing were presented by Markus Heering, managing director, Print and Paper Technology at the German equipment manufacturers’ association VDMA, co-organizer of drupa. According to projections assembled for a series of studies by the Economist Intelligence Unit, the global value of packaging printing is believed to increase by 15% in the five years between 2015 and 2020, with the highest increase (79%) in India, bringing India into the top five packaging print producers by 2020.
At the press conference, Sabine Geldermann, drupa director and Messe Düsseldorf’s global head – print technologies, also presented the new visual leitmotiv for the 2020 show, which will be a series of different faces of people from all corners of the planet blurring into butterfly wings, signifying, as Geldermann explained, beauty, aesthetic appeal, creativity and depth. “The delicate butterfly wings symbolize departure, change, a transformation process that affects all industries, but particularly the traditional print industry, every company, everybody. Transformation moves companies to rethink their strategies, adapt to new processes and move into new business models—a change that also takes place in people’s minds. Different individuals have already moved into the focus of the new marketing campaign. The heads are surrounded by colour digits that symbolize the wide variety of print applications. With the slogan ‘embrace the future,’ drupa invites exhibitors and visitors to experience and accept technological innovation, trends and future challenges, so as to implement them into their own corporate workflows and tap into new potential.”
