drupa 2008 Exhibitor Registration at a Record High
DÜSSELDORF, Germany—Four months before the start of drupa 2008, print media trade fair, the exhibitor registration reflects the international market situation and industry developments.
Consequently, the leading technology producing nations will be the most strongly represented countries at drupa 2008: Germany, Italy, the U.S., Switzerland, Netherlands, Japan, the UK, Belgium, and Spain. Exhibit space booked by emerging industrial countries such as China and India has increased considerably: by 300 percent for China and 60 percent for India.
With more than 1,800 exhibitors on more than 1.8 million square feet of exhibit space, 400,000 expected visitors, and about 3,500 journalists from around the world, drupa 2008 will be larger than ever before. “These figures once again underscore drupa’s status as the world’s No. 1 trade fair for the print and media industry,” commented Werner M. Dornscheidt, president and CEO of Messe Düsseldorf. “No other event has as profound and all-encompassing an influence on the economics and technologies of the print media industry as drupa in Düsseldorf. What the Olympic Games mean to athletes is what drupa means to the print media industry.”
In the age of Internet and digital media, the competitiveness of print is a recurrent theme of discussion. But the facts show print to be as solid as ever. “Today more paper, cardboard, foil, and other materials are printed than ever before. The annual global total is almost 500 million tons,” pointed out Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann, president of drupa 2008 and president of Koenig & Bauer AG. At drupa 2008, the international supplier industry will present an abundance of innovations, integrated solutions, and market-ready refinements that could give printed products the edge in competition between the media. “The feel, emotional power, and high quality of printed products provide a substantial competitive advantage over electronic media, for example, at the point of sale, in brand communications, personalized mailings, and large-format advertising,” added Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann. In addition, new growth markets are opening up due to electronic printing (the keywords here are security printing and brand protection) and networked communications (e.g. interactive campaigns).
Whether sheetfed or web-fed offset, gravure or label printing, digital or screen printing—all these technologies will be highlighted in XXL format at drupa 2008. With more than 322,900 square feet of exhibit space reserved, this product category will be the largest, followed by bookbinding and print finishing on more than 118,400 square feet, prepress and pre-media (more 96,800 square feet), and packaging production/paper converting (more than 80,300 square feet).
Compared to drupa 2004, the area for digital solutions has expanded by about 107,600 square feet of exhibit space. The two new halls 8a and 8b will play a central role in this segment. Together with Halls 5 and 9, this will be the stage primarily for exhibitors with a focus on this product category (e.g. Agfa-Gevaert, Canon, Eastman Kodak, Epson, Fujifilm, Hewlett-Packard, Konica Minolta, Ricoh Company, Xerox Corporation).
