ESMA, a leading, non-profit association in Europe for specialist printing manufacturers of screen and digital print technology is elevating its profile in industrial markets. To this end, it launched a new conference covering all aspects of inkjet engineering from Digital Asset Management to Fluids and Chemistry. It is designed to help delegates discover the developments in print heads and precision engineering, and meet experienced integrators to aid them in their journey to the next level.

The Inkjet Conference™, to be held in the Swissôtel in Neuss (Düsseldorf), Germany, September 30 and October 1 2014, is an ideal opportunity to connect with technology suppliers, research institutions, integration experts, as well as OEM's from different market sectors, in what has become a rapidly growing billion euro business.

IPC Media today announces its intention to award a new contract to Polestar that will see the supplier take on the printing and binding of all of its regular frequency magazines, making it responsible for IPC's complete portfolio.

IPC intends to award the contract to Polestar on a six-year term from July 2014 through to 2020. The work will be produced at Polestar's sites in Sheffield, Wakefield, Leeds and Bicester, with sheet fed production being handled at Stones in Banbury.

Today's passports are much different from what they used to be 20 years ago. Not only do they look different, they are also produced in a different way and no longer examined on a merely visual basis.

Most all information needed for international passports is stored in digital format and resides on various online databases. What is physically printed must accommodate the automatic ID scanning tools used by border security personnel and therefore requires marking techniques with high resolving power for the finest details.

When Ipex 2014 closed its doors on Saturday, Informa Exhibitions had firmly established the show's future and new direction at the state-of-the-art ExCeL London Exhibition and Conference Centre. The event, which took place from 24th – 29th March 2014, saw a total attendance of 22,768, which included 3,532 exhibitors, with a geographical visitor split of 54% UK and 46% international.

"With the fast evolving print industry and the challenges these changes represent, Informa Exhibitions has collaborated closely with its stakeholders to ensure the delivery of an informative and engaging event that offered a wide range of benefits, most importantly a good return on exhibitor and visitor investment," comments Peter Hall, Managing Director of Informa Exhibitions. "I particularly want to thank our exhibitors for their continued support, and am delighted that we could repay their confidence in Ipex by providing a high quality international and UK audience to ensure it was the key event for the international print community in 2014."

Congratulations to Laura M. Thompson, Ph. D., Director, Technical Marketing and Sustainable Development, Sappi Fine Paper North America, and the recipient of the 2013 William D. Schaeffer Environmental Award.

Established in 1990, this award is named for environmental pioneer and researcher Dr. William D. Schaeffer, who is celebrated in the industry for his contributions to environmental issues.

Tarsus Group and E.J. Krause & Associates (EJK) are pleased to announce the latest addition to its portfolio of manufacturing events, Industrial Print Expo. Industrial Print Expo will be Mexico's first tradeshow exclusively dedicated to industrial print within manufacturing. The 2015 event will be co-located with Expo Manufactura™, the most important business forum for the manufacturing industry in Mexico.

Industrial Print Expo will bring together companies providing print solutions used in the manufacturing, assembly, marking, decoration and distribution of a wide range of electrical, mechanical and industrial machine products and components.

Frank Romano, professor emeritus at RIT asked the speakers at an Ipex World Print Summit session yesterday if print is doomed or on the verge of a new digital renaissance. They agreed that they see evidence already of print's expansion into new and innovative directions such as variable data or high-margin industrial applications. Keynote speakers EFI™ CEO Guy Gecht and Landa Corp CEO Benny Landa addressed a packed audience on the second day of the London based exhibition.

Printing Industries of America is pleased to announce the Manitoba Print Industry Association has joined the team of Canadian Affiliate Organizations of Printing Industries of America.

The organization of Grafitalia is now proceeding at full steam in view of the upcoming edition of the exhibition, part of the great event taking place in 2015 at Fieramilano.

The presidency of the exhibition was confirmed to Vincenzo Boccia, a prominent president and leading user of graphic arts technology. Exhibition organizer Centrexpo Spa chose not to renounce the prestige such notable figure will bring to the exhibitions in 2015 – especially since the next edition of Grafitalia will be a special one: for the first time they will combine graphic arts, printing, communication and paper converting technology (of the parallel Converflex) into a single event unparalleled anywhere in the world.

Grafitalia and Converflex look to the future with confidence - a future that is now getting very close. 2015 will see the first edition of a one-of-a-kind event: from May 19 to 23 2015 seven leading exhibitions will be staged jointly: Grafitalia and Converflex will be joined by IPACK-IMA (Europe's leading exhibition specializing in processing and packaging technology, of great world renown) and three related shows: Meat-Tech (Ipack-Ima's brand new event specializing in technology and solutions for the meat industry), Fruitech Innovation (the most comprehensive and innovative show in the fruit & vegetable industry), Dairytech (the new specialized exhibition for processing and packaging in the dairy industry) and Intralogistica Italia (the first edition of the exhibition for logistic and material handling technology organized by Deutsche Messe in partnership with Ipack-Ima Spa).

For the seventh year running, Heidelberg USA hosted the annual SkillsUSA Georgia Training Day and competition in Advertising and Design and Graphic Communications at its North American Print and Packaging Technology Center (NAPPTC) in Kennesaw, GA March 13-14. The Printing and Imaging Association of Georgia (PIAG) partnered with Heidelberg USA to sponsor the event, for which Heidelberg USA also loaned the use of three Printmaster QM 46 presses.

PIAG's Educational Foundation awarded $2000 in scholarships to the first-, second-, and third-place winners.

Robert C. Ross Jr., CEO and Founder of Xanté headquartered in Mobile, Alabama, will be the keynote speaker for The Tiara Group Toners 2014 Conference in Santa Barbara, California at the Fess Parker Resort Hotel from June 2 – 4, 2014.

Xanté is a pioneer in production printing with a portfolio encompassing chemical and process-free technology, workflow solutions, and digital print output. Ross founded Xanté in 1989 with the goal of offering upgrade boards for Apple and HP laser printers, which increased the speed and brought the resolution to 600 x 600 dpi. Xanté was the first to offer this technology and continued to be the first on the market with 1200 x 1200 dpi, and now 2400 x 2400 dpi on graphics printing solutions. Xanté also developed patented technologies in encrypted data transfer, electrophotography, and image dimensional accuracy.