Fespa is introducing a mobile app to help those attending Fespa Global Print Expo (23-26 May, Messe Munich) navigate their way around the show. This is one of a number of updates and introductions from the event organiser, including the launch of a new show, Fespa Middle East.
The first iteration of the new annual exhibition will take place at the Dubai Exhibition Centre, 29-31 January 2024.
Fespa CEO Neil Felton said: “The Middle East is a very important, growing market for Fespa. It’s a market that continues to show solid year-on-year growth. Major vendors have been expressing a strong appetite for a content-led Fespa event in the Middle East for some time, matched by demand from the leading speciality print service providers.”
Felton said this demand was reflected at the first Fespa Leadership Exchange (FLEX) Summit in Dubai earlier this month, where “regional print industry stakeholders responded enthusiastically to the idea”.
Asked if the FLEX programme may be extended beyond the Middle East – possibly to Europe – Felton said: “I think we could do this around the world, so yes.”
During an update briefing to the press Fespa highlighted other developments too, including a new online sustainability hub hosted on the Fespa.com website. It will include a video series with Fespa technical lead Graeme Richardson-Locke, and access to the Planet Friendly series of eco guides among other things. This will replace the live sustainability conference programme at Fespa Global. The full conference programme for the show’s new Personalisation Experience is expected to be published this week.
Felton pointed out that Fespa has had 1,778 responses from across 120 counties to its latest Print Census, which will be published later this year – the topline summary of which will be shared at Fespa Global. The last time the census was undertaken was 2018.
He also pointed out that over £5,000 has now been raised by the Fespa community to help the victims of the Turkey earthquake, and called for more donations. These can be made at: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/fespa
