FESPA’s global print expo - the biennial international exhibition for digital wide format, screen and textile print - will become an annual event from 2017 onwards.
The decision has been made by FESPA (the Federation of European Screen Printers Associations), in consultation with exhibitors and visitors, “to provide the global specialty print community with one comprehensive yearly destination event, covering all technologies, processes and applications.”
FESPA Digital, the event focused specifically on digital wide format technologies, will be replaced by this all-encompassing event.
“With this change, we aim to bring clarity and consistency to the global print community,” says Neil Felton, FESPA CEO. “Since 2006, our flagship FESPA event has alternated with FESPA Digital, reflecting the digital revolution that has so dramatically reshaped and revitalised our sector over the last decade. In fact, FESPA Digital has succeeded to the point where it is virtually as significant a landmark in the print event calendar as the original FESPA. Today, feedback from both visitors and exhibitors is that - as digital becomes a mature technology - they would prefer to see FESPA present one annual event, embracing both digital and analogue products and applications to reflect the diversity of their businesses.”
FESPA’s next global print expo – FESPA 2017 – takes place in Hamburg, Germany, from 8th to 12th May 2017, and will feature the full spectrum of screen, digital and textile print. The visitor campaign for this edition launched in January 2017 under the strapline ‘Dare to Print Different’. Beyond 2017, FESPA has now confirmed Berlin and Munich as the host cities for the 2018 and 2019 editions respectively, with both editions to take place in May.
“By unifying our European events and removing the ‘Digital’ distinction, we can focus all our energies on delivering the same great event experience for all participants, every year,” says FESPA divisional director Roz McGuinness. “For our visitors, it ensures that whatever the year, wherever they are in their investment cycle, they can attend a trusted FESPA event in Europe that meets all their needs as a source of information and inspiration.”