Drupa, the world’s leading tradeshow for printing and cross-media solutions, will switch to a three-year cycle rather than its current two-year cycle, after its 2016 show May 31 – June 10 in Düsseldorf, Germany. This decision was made by the drupa committee recently.
“The entire print process chain has changed radically because of the Internet and digital technologies,” said Claus Bolza-Schünemann, Chairman of the drupa Advisory Board and President of the Koenig & Bauer Group (KBA). “New applications and solutions are developing and opening up new fields of business. At the same time, there is more focus on innovative technologies, such as 3D printing, printed electronics and functional printing. It’s more important than ever before, that our customers have an overview of the latest technology and are also inspired to use new business models and solutions. Drupa is the only specialist trade fair in the world to offer this – and will do so every three years in the future.”
One positive outcome of this change is that drupa will no longer take place in 2020, the same year as Interpack, the No. 1 international trade event for the packaging industry and the closely related process industry. “For the drupa exhibitors who specialize in packaging printing, 2020 would have been an incredibly stressful year, so the change will clearly benefit our customers,” added Werner Matthias Dornscheidt, President & CEO of Messe Düsseldorf.
The exact dates have not yet been finalized, but show officials have confirmed that it’s certain that drupa will take place in the traditional drupa month of May in 2019, 2022 and 2025 in Düsseldorf, Germany.
