The first in a series of interviews with FuturePrint Virtual Summit speakers, we spoke to Francois Martin, Global Marketing Director at Bobst, about the overall impact of COVID-19 on print and packaging, what the post-COVID industry might look like, and how consumer demand will be altered by the pandemic. Don’t miss Francois’ session, ‘A Vision for the Future of Print & Packaging Production’,  on June 2nd.

The FuturePrint Summit Schedule Launches today with nearly 70 speakers and over 30 sessions across three days 2-4 June. Check out the schedule here.

The event is free to attend and designed to help the print sector during this difficult period of uncertainty and stress. The website enables delegates to easily navigate and build a schedule of sessions and the system enables replays but only for registered delegates.

For anyone who didn’t catch the ‘Future of Events’ Webinar, here is an Interview we did with one of the contributors Stephen Brooks. Stephen Brooks was formerly Chairman of the Mack Brooks Exhibitions Group one of Europe's largest privately-owned exhibition business with 45 trade shows per year in 4 continents in predominantly industrial sectors from rail, to print, to converting to metal manufacturing.
After leading its significant growth, Stephen exited the business in 2019 as Mack Brooks Exhibitions was acquired by RELX.

In this article, Sunil Gupta, Memjet’s President and CEO talks about the challenge of transition and leadership after the very sad and sudden loss of Len Lauer in April.

In this article, we talk to Richard Romano of WhatTheyThink and get a view of the story behind WhatTheyThink and the inside track on how the US market is coping during the COVID-19 Crisis.

The inaugural FuturePrint Virtual Summit, taking place from 2-4 June, continues to gather support from across the print spectrum as the concept of a ‘not for profit’ event platform proves popular. Comprising of more than 20 unique sessions, with 30 plus speakers from Europe and the US, the summit will bring together global experts and thought leaders from the world of commercial, packaging, wide-format, and industrial printing.

The impact of the crisis on events has been stark, sudden and may be long-lasting.

Whether recovery is U shaped or V-shaped, once the health challenge is solved, it is difficult to know whether the world of events will ever be the same again?

In Part 2 of ‘Managing the Crisis’ we discuss how we can meet the challenges of marketing for companies in the Print Industry with the postponement of key exhibitions and conferences like FESPA and DRUPA? And with a view to the future we ask how the industry can work together in a more collaborative way to help us kick start business?

Meteor Inkjet Ltd takes digital printing of labels, packaging and books to a new level with the launch of eLab Pro, a scalable industrial inkjet RIP solution in a complete, plug and play package.

An extensive report ‘Decorative Inkjet’ has been launched and made available written by Richard Darling and with contributions from Carsten Brinkmeyer of Hymmen. To download your free copy of the report then download here.

The report addresses the economic reality of inkjet in particular compared with rotogravure for inkjet printing of papers in the wood decoration sector. This, Richard Darling of Ricoh believes is essential in order to succeed at gaining acceptance by the major manufacturers in this area. This article features an excerpt from the report.

Innovation NEWS : UV curing innovator Integration Technology Ltd has introduced a high-power portable UVC rapid sanitiser to its newly-launched Portable-UV range.

Target applications include ambulances and blue light services, buses, aircraft and cruise ship cabins, train carriages, and other public transport, and hospitals, schools, offices, and hotel rooms. Find out more…

For all of us we are now facing the most unprecedented period of time. National Governments have adopted different approaches to dealing with the crisis with mixed success and we expect businesses to be the same. We are using this time to plan our next move, whilst watching and waiting until business returns. In the few days running up to our webinar and discussion which is planned for the 30th April – we asked our FuturePrint partners how they each plan to face the challenges that lie ahead for us all with a particular focus on the ‘Future of Print’ in this enlightening two part article – Managing the Crisis and Rebooting your Business.

Leading Graphics Arts PR and Marketing business, The Bespoke Group, has collaborated with FuturePrint Virtual Summit 2-4 June as its consulting partner and will organise the event’s daily ‘Breaking News’ broadcast.

Jenny Matthew is the Event Director of Sign and Digital UK. In this interview, Jenny speaks to Karis Copp about returning to Faversham House, the current trends that are influencing next year’s show, her passion for visual communications, and how digital innovation can enrich the events industry.

On April 13, Len Lauer, CEO of Memjet, passed away unexpectedly at his home in La Jolla, California. He was 62 years old. Lauer was named the CEO of Memjet in 2010 and assumed the role of Chairman in 2012. All at FuturePrint and FM Future wish Mr Lauer’s family and the Memjet team strength during this especially difficult time.

The variety of inkjet applications has exploded in the last 5 years, with inkjet being used as the key part of many different manufacturing processes. With an ever-widening choice of print heads to suit application needs of print speed or droplet size, it is the ink chemistry and surrounding print process that then defines the key design inputs to the final production machine. It has, therefore, become more and more important to able to test for materials suitability at a feasibility stage of any substantial R&D project and that learning is catalysed by innovative use of commercially available laboratory-scale equipment. In this article, we explain why it is important to prototype early in a project and gives some examples of what we’ve done at DoDxAct.

Ricoh Additive Manufacturing technology is used to provide 40,000 face masks for the NHS in the UK to help the fight against COVID-19. The rapid prototyping facility helped design effective protection but which also fits comfortably avoiding cuts and bruising allowing the professionals to do their job effectively.

Rosie Whitelock is Managing Director of book printing business Bonacia and founder of Women in Print UK. In this interview, Rosie speaks to Karis Copp about leading and growing a business, how Bonacia champions young writers and entrepreneurs through publishing, the importance of a fun company culture, and why she founded the initiative Women in Print UK.

In this interview, Karis Copp talks to Steffen Ohr who is Vice President, Innovation at Sihl, a producer of media for digital printing. In this interview, Steffen talks about how Sihl serves its varied customer base with its innovative media solutions, the future of digital inkjet in packaging, Sihl’s environmental responsibility, and the future of the business.

UK Innovator Inca Digital has officially joined as a FuturePrint partner joining 10 other leading print tech businesses in this growing community dedicated to the development of advanced print technology.