The Real Future of Print: Leadership, Systems and Sustainability in Valencia

Before the conversations turned to packaging, labels & DTS printing, the Leaders Summit opened FuturePrint Valencia 2025 with a broader set of questions. How does print remain relevant in a digitised, decentralising world? How do we continue to offer effective Leadership in a challenging business world? What does intelligent automation look like in practice? And how can the industry align on sustainability without undermining commercial viability?

Held on April 1, 2025, the summit brought together executives, business owners and technologists from the print industry for a series of discussions designed to challenge assumptions. It was not about what's technically possible—but what’s structurally necessary.

The unique format delivered six 30-minute sessions on key strategic topics, which were then discussed in groups, making for a highly engaging and interactive event.  

The event was opened by Frazer Chesterman Co-Director of FuturePrint with a reminder that we continue to live in a VUCA world and ‘if you do what you’ve always done you only get what you always got’. So for today’s leaders, this event sought to challenge behaviours and develop new strategies.

A Manifesto for a Shared Future

The day began with a clear call to industry alignment. Carlos Lahoz, in charge of Industrial Print Sustainability Strategy at HP, introduced the Sustainable Print Manifesto, a collaborative framework designed to guide measurable environmental progress across the print value chain.

The manifesto, still in draft form, outlines eight principles—from reducing material use and switching to renewable energy to embedding lifecycle thinking and quantifying emissions. It aims to unify what is currently a fragmented sustainability conversation into a single, practical set of guidelines.

Next steps include finalising the framework through broader consultation and launching an open industry pledge. The QR code below takes interested stakeholders to a landing page where they can access the current draft and register their interest in shaping the final version. The final version will serve as a shared benchmark and call-to-action, allowing print to move beyond compliance and toward leadership in sustainable manufacturing.

Beate Van Loo Born: Leadership as a System

Not all complexity is technological. Beate van Loo Born from CFO of Physik Instrumente delivered a rare session focused entirely on leadership—arguing that in today’s VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) world, authenticity has become a structural advantage.

Using the model developed by Avolio and Gardner, they defined authentic leaders as self-aware, transparent, values-driven and capable of processing diverse viewpoints. These leaders don’t chase popularity—they build trust. And trust, in a fragmented supply chain, is strategic capital.

In a world where execution increasingly depends on alignment across partners, clients and teams, authentic leadership is less about authority—and more about clarity.

Philippe Assouline: Data Is Not Insight—Emotion Is

Philippe Assouline, founder of PropellorIQ, continued with a session on a shift from systems to psychology. In a world saturated by rational claims, he argued, behaviour is still driven by emotion. The best-performing campaigns—whether B2B or B2C—don’t just inform. They connect.

Assouline laid out a repeatable logic for communication: identify what your audience needs to feel, not just know. Does your message align with their identity? Their intuition? Their desire to belong? When these are answered, conversion rates rise, customer acquisition costs fall, and engagement becomes sustained.

His reminder to a technically minded crowd: strategy must start with empathy.

Roman Weishäupl: Innovation Requires Fluency, Not Forecasting

Roman Weishäupl of Future Candy took the conversation into the near future—one shaped by AI prompt platforms, spatial computing, and robotics. Rather than speculate abstractly, he showcased specific tools (ChatGPT, Gamma, Krea, Udio) already reshaping creative and production processes.

His prompt to the industry was cultural, not technical: innovation comes from structured experimentation, not theory. Leaders must become fluent in emerging tools—not to replace core capabilities, but to enhance speed, reduce friction, and prototype faster. As he put it, 'AI isn’t the future—it’s the winner’s tool today.'

Amir Raziel: Intelligent Automation and the Fourth Print Revolution

Amir Raziel of HP delivered a structured challenge to the room: digital presses have matured, but print businesses remain constrained by analogue workflows. The gap, he argued, is no longer in print quality but in friction—too many steps, too many silos, too much manual handling.

HP’s answer is a modular platform of intelligent automation. Raziel laid out a future shaped by seamless integrations between brands and PSPs, predictive maintenance, automated job planning, and AI-enhanced quality control. In HP’s customer data, automated floors delivered 27% faster growth and 51% higher press volumes compared to peers​.

This wasn’t just a technical pitch. It was an argument for system redesign. In Raziel’s framing, Print 4.0 isn’t about replacing the press—it’s about reengineering the space around it.

Steve Lister: Sustainability Without Greenwash

Sustainability consultant Steve Lister addressed one of the most pressing gaps in the print sector: how to meet rising regulatory demands while avoiding overstatement. With the EU’s Green Claims Directive introducing penalties of up to 4% of annual revenue for misleading environmental claims, the stakes are high.

Lister unpacked the 'sustainable print tri-lemma'—balancing functionality, cost and environmental value. He warned against vague descriptors ('eco', 'clean', 'planet-friendly') and laid out a data-driven approach to material selection and campaign reporting. 59% of global retailers, he noted, are already investing in more sustainable substrates.

His takeaway: sustainability is being delivered—but only by those willing to do the work.

Minna Philipson: Brand is the Strategy, Software is the Enabler

Minna Philipson, CMO of Gelato, opened her session by challenging the industry’s prevailing narrative—particularly the dominance of machinery and production engineering at events like Drupa. Instead, she made the case for leading with brand, story, and emotion. Drawing on experience from Adidas, Pandora and other global consumer brands, her message was direct: “People may not remember what you say, but they will remember how you make them feel.”

Using Gelato’s Drupa 2024 presence as a case study, Philipson detailed how the company disrupted expectations. While others showcased equipment, Gelato focused on storytelling—turning its booth into a space of emotional engagement, simplicity, and visual clarity. The results were measurable: 3,500 qualified leads, 200 sales meetings, and over 3 million earned media impressions. The lesson, she argued, is that B2B print buyers are still human—and human connection remains the most effective growth lever.

Philipson also laid out key lessons for companies aiming to elevate their own marketing impact: clarity of positioning, authenticity of tone, and the importance of consistency across channels. Brand storytelling, she suggested, is not decoration—it’s infrastructure.

Only after establishing the “why” did she turn to the “how”—introducing GelatoConnect, the company’s print production software platform. Designed to help producers scale on-demand, localised manufacturing, the system reduces inventory, lowers waste, and improves fulfilment speeds through real-time automation. But as she noted, the technology only works if it’s adopted—and adoption requires trust, clarity, and resonance.

The final takeaway was simple: print companies looking to grow need more than efficiency. They need identity.

The Leaders Summit did not promise breakthroughs. It offered something more valuable: coherence. From automation to materials, from leadership to messaging, the day’s sessions outlined a future where print succeeds not by doing more—but by doing more of what matters. That requires not just better machines, but smarter systems, more honest leadership, and a willingness to discard legacy assumptions.

What became clear in Valencia is that print is being redefined—and those who invest in alignment and deliver authenticity, not just focusing on assets, are likely to shape what comes next.