Seventh Heaven? How drupa 2024 helped to democratize printing

Traveling to Düsseldorf for my seventh drupa, I was imagining what sort of differences I might see after an eight-year hiatus that has seen not only changes in the printing industry but in society as well. Walking the Messe has always been a three-day affair for me, and is that an investment that many in our business will make in this environment? Are in-person events even still relevant in a time where we have information at our fingertips more than ever?

My questions were answered quickly once I arrived at the show. Entering Hall 9, I was immediately taken by the huge Landa space, complete with Benny’s trademark theater setting. Then, looking just beyond the EFI booth, I saw the GelatoConnect signage, welcoming visitors to their bright and forward-thinking space that looked more Apple than Heidelberg.

In our planning meetings over the months leading up to drupa, we discussed how the show is really a Trade Fair, and not a Conference as such. So we decided early to make our booth a mini-conference of sorts, inviting industry leaders like Alon Bar-Shany, Simon Smogur, Paul Hudson, and Cheryl Kahanec to present at our “Scoop Sessions” on various topics throughout the show. Adding to that, Gelato’s CEO & Founder Henrik Muller-Hansen was invited to present at the drupa Cube, where the audience was treated to a great introduction to what the Creator Economy and younger, Gen Z consumers were looking for from the printing industry. 

Not far in Hall 9 was another upstart, Highcon, showing how they have an equipment-agnostic take on digital die cutting that can complement printers regardless of what heavy iron they have in their plants. Across the bridge in Hall 8A, Canon was showing an updated line of presses that covers the entire spectrum of output possibilities.

As with Printing United last year, the upstart fabric printing sector was well represented at the Touchpoint Textile area in Hall 4, with Brother, Kornit and others making the case for printers to enter the B2C community and to take advantage of the move toward sustainable garment production.

There have been plenty of opinions posted about the size and attendance of the show this year. Yes, drupa felt like drupa to me, for no other reason than it was spread out over the entire fairgrounds, requiring comfortable shoes as the complement to whatever was being worn—from suits and skirts, to business casual, to colored polos. But there were indeed less people coming through the gates in 2024—over 30% less by recent accounts, making it the least-attended drupa ever.

Since Gelato is a software company, of course we had a “postmortem” to review drupa as a team to see what worked, what can be improved, and what can be added as we look toward Printing United in September. I was asked for my opinion on the lower attendance numbers and how that impacted our expectations. The answer was easy. The show was simply perfect and a unique opportunity for first-time exhibitors and the industry upstarts that are shaking up the printing industry..

Past drupa’s were primarily about big announcements from the huge players in the industry—Indigo in 1995, Heidelberg/Kodak in 2000, HP in 2012 for example. This year was a bit different, in that information flows so seamlessly these days that early announcements that used to suck all of the air out of the room were less impactful. 

In a world where the big players like Canon and HP have targeted events and experience centers, shows like drupa and Printing United offer a unique opportunity for emerging companies like GelatoConnect to show first-hand how new technologies and workflows can usher in new opportunities for the printing industry.

If you missed us at drupa, be sure and make it to Printing United this fall and see how having a software company on your team can be a driver for your entire business.