• Expect more at drupa: Wolfram Diener (right) with new local agent Gaby Schwager in Australia this week
    Expect more at drupa: Wolfram Diener (right) with new local agent Gaby Schwager in Australia this week
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The Messe Duesseldorf managing director says visitors to drupa next year can expect to enjoy more educational sessions, expert insights, and supporting functions, as well as a greater emphasis on networking activities and gatherings, as the owner of the gigantic exhibition centre invests 140m in upgrading the facility.

The managing director, Wolfram Diener, is in Australia and New Zealand this week to highlight developments at the Messe Centre, and to introduce the new local Messe agent, Gaby Schwager, to the market.

Those developments include the knocking down of halls 1 and 2, famously the Heidelberg halls, and replacing them with a new ultra modern hall, complete with futuristic entrance lobby. The new developments also include the content of drupa, and other shows. Diener said, "Exhibitions at Messe Duesseldorf are evolving, the technology is still the core of the show, but visitors can now expect much more, with educational sessions, market and business insights, and networking facilities on the menu."

Schwager is back in Australia, having worked here up until 12 years ago. She said, "I am proud to be working for Messe Duesseldorf here in Australia. I have been in the exhibition business for 40 years, and look forward to working with exhibitors and visitors alike."

The upcoming drupa takes place next year from June 16-26, with Diener expecting some 1850 exhibitors from 45 countries to be in the 17 halls. Visitor numbers will likely top 300,000 once again.

Next year will be one of the busiest ever for Messe, due to the cyclical nature of the shows. The month before drupa will see the world's biggest packaging show Interpack open for business, it too will take all 17 halls, with approaching 200,000 visitors expected.

Diener told the media that the Messe Centre was in fact originally created by the British Military Government at the end of WWII, as part of the Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of the German economy. Since then drupa has become the most important and biggest event hosted at the Messe centre, which has been in its present location for the past 35 years.

 

 

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