Major Key Accounts Joining our Digital Adventure
Everything is different in 2021 but drupa remains the leading trade fair for the global print industry. Of course, we are especially proud to see the key players of print joining us for the virtual.drupa experience. In this article, they are telling you themselves why our digital expo is an absolute must for them!
With drupa going fully digital in 2021, we are especially proud to provide the print industry with a platform for global exchange and innovation. In April, we are opening our virtual doors to print enthusiasts from all over the world and can report with joy and proudness that our exhibitor list for virtual.drupa is filling up with renowned key players. They are looking forward to sharing their upcoming products and technological advancements with our visitors and connecting with other industry giants leading innovation in the world of print! Read for yourself why these professionals decided to join us in our digital adventure.
Our Special Event Partnerships for virtual.drupa
In 2021, we are especially proud to welcome these major key accounts as our Event Partners:
“The drupa has been a flagship event for the graphic industry since 1954. With our participation in the virtual.drupa 2021, we are harnessing its radiance effect. We are looking forward to use this platform to bridge the long interval between the last and the next regular drupa event on site. KURZ has big news to share that are relevant for the industry right now. The internationality of drupa allows us to present our innovations to companies on all continents globally. Visitors of virtual.drupa will find, among other things, tangible, viable solutions for circular economy and PET recycling at the KURZ exhibition. Additionally, we will be presenting groundbreaking advancements in digital embellishment. We will be showing a machine from the KURZ Group that revolutionizes digital finishing with easily appliable high-end functions.”
– Walter Kurz, CEO of the Leonhard Kurz Stiftung & Co. KG
The Leonhard Kurz Stiftung & Co. KG joins virtual.drupa as an exclusive Platinum Event Partner. We are thankful for their support and look forward to seeing their contributions!
We also thank DuPont de Nemours (Deutschland) GmbH, Electronics For Imaging (EFI), Eastman Kodak Company and Komori International Europe BV for their support as they join the ranks of our virtual.drupa 2021 exhibitors as Gold Event Partners.
Some of our Silver Event Partnerships are still available and have so far been claimed by BlueCrest Incorporated, FUJIFILM Corporation, HYBRID Software GmbH, Koenig & Bauer AG, Mimaki Europe B.V., OQ Chemicals GmbH and Xeikon Manufacturing NV. (Status: March 17th, 2021)
– Filip Weymans, Vice President Marketing at Xeikon
More Exhibitors Joining us in 2021
Of course, our Event Partners are not the only exhibitors joining us for virtual.drupa 2021. The list of exhibitors is quickly filling up with eager participants!
“drupa is not taking place physically but this is not a reason to stop sharing information. virtual.drupa provides an opportunity for all traditional exhibitors to share their vision for the industry and to outline major innovations helping printers and converters to better answer the needs and pledge of brand owners.
The way brand owners design, pack and distribute goods is evolving at a tremendous pace. Printers and converters need to adjust to a new reality changing faster than expected. By meeting with all the exhibitors, they will be able to understand where the industry is going and which new solutions to deploy to remain competitive.
BOBST intent is to share its vision for the packaging world and to present solutions across the industries we serve. We believe that the future of packaging production will be based on 4 key pillars: connectivity, digitalization, automation and sustainability. During the conferences we will hold, and visiting our virtual booth, visitors will be able to understand where we want to go with them.”
– Francois Martin, Marketing & Communication at BOBST Group
“The company H.C. MOOG was founded in 1950 – and we have been participating in drupa since 1951. In our family, drupa has already been THE event of the print industry back then. Over the decades, our connection to drupa has deepened even more, as it represents the gateway to the (print) world.
For several editions now, Moog has also been involved in the joint Drupa-PrintPromotion World tours. On all five continents, we arouse the greatest enthusiasm for the print & packaging industry, even if visitors are unable to attend the show for various reasons. With virtual.drupa, however, everyone now has the opportunity to do so. This means we can make new contacts who would otherwise be harder to reach. As a manufacturer of printing presses, we see our market globally. For us exhibitors, virtual.drupa offers a platform where we can inform customers and interested parties for many weeks and months to come.
At virtual.drupa, in line with the current trend, we offer upgrades and new developments for our customers. This enables them to update their sheetfed rotogravure presses without having to invest in a new press. We have also developed a new rotary embossing machine for special haptic and optical finishes. Another highlight of this machine is to realize hidden or invisible brand protection. For this purpose, we can apply the 5-fold pressure of a flatbed die cutter. This finishing is also very trendy, because a lot of CO² is saved.”
– Achim Kurreck, CEO of H. C. MOOG GmbH
“In times when face-to-face events, which we all miss, are not possible, we are very pleased that a virtual platform has been created with virtual.drupa including drupa preview as a key part. These formats offer manufacturers, suppliers, producers and interested parties the opportunity to exchange ideas and shape the future of print together.”
– Joerg Hartmann, CEO of Konica Minolta Germany & Austria
“We see virtual.drupa as an event that brings people with enthusiasm for printing together at a time when personal meetings are rare. The print & paper industry is going through dramatic changes and needs to innovate and adapt to new ways of working and fulfilling their customer needs.
The event allows Stora Enso, among other things, to present our services that are specially designed for remote working. Visitors to our showroom can expect an overview of our technical services, to learn about our paper products and to discuss with our experts challenges and opportunities.
We plan to have live demos on soft proofing and to explain how to use the groundbreaking tool in short presentations. Visitors can register to live seminars or book individual product demonstrations.”
– Martin Gercke, Vice President of Stora Enso
“After such a long time without trade shows, we are very much looking forward to an industry get-together. We miss the exchange with the market. We are convinced that virtual.drupa is a suitable format to present ourselves and our products and to get into conversation with the audience. Even if we learned to hold virtual meetings last year, the personal contact is still missing. Of course, a virtual trade show also has its limitations, but it offers extended opportunities to get in touch with the market. Especially since the next physical drupa will not take place until 2024, it is important to have an alternative platform now where interested parties can discover our innovations – these include: The Speed model of our UV web printer Karibu, Neon inks for UV printing – exclusively from swissQprint and the possibility to automatically print double-sided with Karibu.”
– Carmen Eicher, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at swissQprint
“TKM remains loyal to drupa, the world’s leading trade fair in print.
Despite the cancellation of the physical drupa trade show event, TKM GmbH remains loyal to the world’s leading trade show for the printing industry this year and confirms its participation in the virtual.drupa 2021 event. drupa is and remains the world’s leading trade fair for printing technologies. For us at the TKM GmbH, as a leading manufacturer of industrial knives and tools, taking part at this industry meeting point, even virtually, is a matter of course.
Virtual trade shows establish themselves more and more. They are not a last resort, a ‘means to an end’, they are the future. For the TKM Group, the route is clear to see: a quick progression towards a new age of customer service that focuses on a comprehensive and readily available service, unconstrained by the physical location of the service engineer. In this increasingly digital world, a majority of our target audience will gather during the drupa event on a platform that simplifies exchange and digital meetings with stakeholders from all kinds of lobbies for us.”
– Thomas Huhn, CSO of the Paper Division at the TKM Group
“As an association for manufacturers of printing varnish and inks, we have decided with conviction to participate in virtual.drupa 2021. And why wouldn’t we? Trade shows might live from seeing, touching and floating around as well as networking. But all of that is still possible at a digital event, if one leaves behind conventional paths and dares to venture into new territory. The global pandemic has taught all of us to remain flexible, agile and to willingly accept new challenges over the past few months. Messe Düsseldorf has created an innovative digital forum with their virtual.drupa which makes our technological needs feel well taken care of and us feel continually represented. With our competent expert sessions on innovations and our latest advancements in printings inks, we gladly contribute our part to a continually successful future for our industry again.”
– Dr. Martin Kanert, Managing Director of the Verband der deutschen Lack und Druckfarbenindustrie e.V. (VDL) and Gunther Gerlach, Chairman of the Executive Board of Epple Druckfarben AG
“drupa was, and remains, the industry’s international meeting point. It brings people, exhibitors and innovations from all over the world together – even digitally. W&H will be presenting innovations focused around ‘efficient production, sustainable products and Packaging 4.0’ at virtual.drupa. In addition to W&H CI flexo and gravure printing presses, visitors will be able to learn more about the latest automation and assistance systems. We are looking forward to having a lively exchange.”
– Hermann Veismann, Head of Windmöller & Hölscher’s Printing Division
“Winkler+Dünnebier (W+D) is a manufacturer of envelope machinery as well as digital printing and inserting systems, working in the industry for over 100 years which makes them THE partner of the mailing industry. Haptic communication, in the form of Direct Mail produced with our systems, is an important addition to digital communication and we are looking forward to being part of virtual.drupa 2021.
Printed and embellished ‘one-to-one’ communication is personalized and individually customized for the recipient. At the same time, the high level of automation is a guarantee for the utmost integrity in the processing of personalized data. This makes it one of the most effective forms of customer approach as a part of targeted communication. We have experimented with virtual events as an alternative to classical presence events for the first time over the past year and are confident, as a participant, that virtual.drupa will be just as highly frequented.”
– Frank Eichhorn, CEO of Winkler+Dünnebier GmbH
Additionally, Dr. Markus Heering of the VDMA has spoken out about the necessity of an international drupa event to help the print industry to recover from the effects of the global COVID-19 crisis in a guest contribution back in August 2020.
What showcase are you most looking forward to in 2021? Is there any exhibition you never want to miss at a drupa event? Tell us all about your favourites in the comment section and follow our digital adventure on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Header picture © Maximilian Beck
