This post is mostly speculation, based on an impression so far. It may not matter what happens at a trade show or how much space is booked. ( see previous post on lessons from COMDEX )

But during the last century when hard copy was a large part of communication it was often the case that trends identified at IPEX or drupa were apparent in production within a year or two.

Background - fairly recently drupa considered changing frequency. A print equipment show is expensive to arrange, so every four years in one place has seemed to make sense so far. drupa has a lot of support from litho suppliers in Germany so they can be fairly confidant of a global audience. IPEX has been under pressure to change as some suppliers have decided not to exhibit in 2014. There have been three Cross Media events in Islington so far, presenting print in a context of digital media. In Dusseldorf there was a digi:media event linked to the innovation park - dip - but this was cancelled in 2013 . My guess is that something like digi:media will be a major feature at the next drupa. But timing is difficult to assess.

(If you have got bored in Las Vegas already and expect some development before Barcelona you should realise that the print industry is on another timeline)

Digital printing is getting stronger relative to litho but this is just at the time Kodak, HP and Xerox decide not to exhibit. In the USA it seems to be widely assumed that print is over. Maybe they have other concerns or are convinced that their customers will follow them online. They could be right in this.

The booked stands (booths) that I know about include Epson, Konica Minolta, Screen and FujiFilm. So there will presumably be news on B2 colour, arguably a challenge for litho. Also Komori have some space, booked at a fairly late stage. They are working with Konica Minolta on volume digital printing. Also my guess is that Benny Landa will not stay away indefinitely so he might appear somewhere near Komori.

There will also be a Cross Media event for some of the days but IPEX is mostly about what used to be called heavy metal. It appears so far that digital will be well represented. I realise there are many other suppliers but it looks as if those with digital equipment and a presence at IPEX are mostly from Japan.

This blog post will be revised when a floor plan is available, during the event, and later in the year. Depends a lot on how IPEX is reported.

Previously

http://hellospiders.com/will789gb/hello-spiders-print-shows-somewhere-this-year

july 2011

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http://hellospiders.com/blog/2013/10/29/more-on-ipex-no-show-from-xerox-kodak-at-cmshow13

october 2013

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