Specialist conferences in Morocco, Algeria and Egypt focus on the most important technology trends at drupa 2020
Leading suppliers of printing and finishing technology provide insight into quality-assured, automated production of the future
PrintPromotion, VDMA Printing and Paper Technology Association and Messe Düsseldorf cooperate with local trade associations
With only 140 days to go before drupa 2020 kicks off, the world's leading trade fair for the printing, media and packaging industry in Düsseldorf will be offering its visitors eleven days of in-depth insights into the printing and finishing processes of the future. The drupa motto embrace the future sets the tone. Modernization, automation and increasing networking with connected customers, cooperation networks on digital platforms and the targeted use of artificial intelligence pave the way to highly flexible, knowledge-based production processes of the highest quality. At the same time, the worldwide increase in environmental awareness is driving the entry into the circular economy.
"In the increasingly globalized printing industry, these megatrends will shape the value-added processes," explains Dr. Markus Heering, Managing Director of the Printing and Paper Technology Association within the VDMA and PrintPromotion GmbH. This is precisely why informed, strategically intelligent investments in future-proof printing and finishing technology have become a central factor in the competitiveness of print service providers. According to Heering, this finding applies worldwide. "Those who do not invest will sooner or later lose their customers to international competitors," he warns.
drupa world tour presents competition-relevant technologies
drupa brings together innovators and users every four years. The drupa world tour has been running for several months now to explain the concept and the wide range of special shows and conferences on offer during the eleven-day leading trade fair, and to draw the attention of trade visitors and media representatives from all over the world to the most important technology trends.
The tour, organised by Messe Düsseldorf, PrintPromotion GmbH and the VDMA Printing and Paper Technology Association, will stop in North Africa in mid-February. At three trade conferences in Morocco (11 February 2020, Barcelo Anfa, Casablanca), Algeria (13 February 2020, Algiers, Centre International de Conférence CIC) and Egypt (16 February 2020, Hotel Ramses Hilton, Cairo), leading technology suppliers from the printing, finishing and post-press sectors will explain which process innovations they consider to be particularly promising - and how megatrends in the industry influence their product development and customer projects.
High-ranking conference podiums - an opportunity for networking
Werner M. Dornscheidt will participate in the conferences as Chairman of the Board of Management of Messe Düsseldorf GmbH. He will explain the status of the trade fair preparations and present the concept of drupa and its hotspots. In addition, the drupa President and CEO of Koenig & Bauer AG, Claus Bolza-Schünemann, will outline key technology trends and their impact on the printing and packaging industry. Representatives of leading press manufacturers will then feed his remarks with current innovations and technological developments. Conference topics will include technical presentations from HEIDELBERG, H.C. Moog, IST Metz, KAMA, Koenig & Bauer, LEONHARD KURZ, Müller-Martini and POLAR-Mohr. In Casablanca, BW Papersystems will also contribute to the lecture program.
"We are very pleased to be able to welcome leading representatives of the printing industry in all three countries," says Heering. In Casablanca, for example, Said NEJJAR, President of l'APMI - Association Professionnelle Marocaine des Imprimeurs, will speak. In Morocco, the organizers were able to win over Abdelhalim Salhi, Vice President of the Organisation Nationale des Editeurs de Livres (ONEL), for an opening speech. And the technical conference in Cairo will start with an introductory talk on Egypt's printing industry in which Ahmed Gaber, Chamber Chairman of the Printing and Packaging Industry, will impart first-hand knowledge.
"We want to give entrepreneurs from the printing, media and packaging industry and also media representatives on site an insight into drupa planning and show them that there is no better opportunity to deal with the technological future of our industry than a visit to drupa," explains Heering. But the conferences would also promise important added value for participants who will not be coming to Düsseldorf. Among other things, he said, there will be an opportunity for in-depth discussions with the lecturing experts at the end of each conference and for networking at a relaxed conclusion with a final cocktail.
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