How will we remember Drupa 2016?

Every Drupa has a description attached to it, there’s even a Wikipedia page about it. So what will this year’s event be described as?

One week into Drupa and the inevitable question is What will this one be remembered for? Will it be another Inkjet Drupa, perhaps the Packaging Drupa, the Automation Drupa or the Industry 4.0 Drupa? All have valid claims and may well earn the epithet in due course. Even the Social Media Drupa has a potential claim, so many people are glued to their smart phones or obsessed by snapping selfies.

We prefer to think of it as either the Applications Drupa or the Drupa when print bounced back and began again to assert itself. Four years ago the atmosphere was absolutely down beat, relatively little technological change and lack lustre stands. While the Landa project stood out, that was about fantasy not reality.

What a change this time around. The bells are ringing up orders from all quarters, wringing a nostalgic smile from those who remember the Crosfield years.

Print everywhere has a vibrancy that had disappeared in 2012. There are no longer machines isolated in stands for visitors to guess what they do. Instead they are linked with other machines to show how real products can be produced and real applications delivered.

Good crowds are stimulated into investing, optimism is in the air. The industry has little to fear from electronic media. Print has rediscovered its mojo.