Heidelberg has sent a press release this morning (8 July 2020), which says that its participation in next year’s drupa exhibition is “canceled due to the unforeseeable effects of Covid-19.” The company plans to focus on new virtual trade fair concepts and regional events. The company is planning an ‘Innovation Week’ from 19 to 23 October 2020, to be live-streamed from its Wieslock-Walldorf demonstration center next to its main factory near Heidelberg, Germany.
As far as we know, Heidelberg is the third company to opt-out of the postponed drupa 2021 event scheduled to take place from 20 to 30 April 2021. Bobst and Xerox have already announced that they will not be taking part, and we know of some other companies that are in a wait and watch mode.
Heidelberg’s press release says that he trend towards ever shorter innovation cycles in the print media industry has accelerated very quickly. Customers thus need to be informed about the latest trends quickly, flexibly and on an ongoing basis.
The Innovation Week will be an event that combines live streaming and face to face from 19 to 23 October 2020 with a catchline – ‘Unfold your potential.’ Heidelberg plans to present packaging and commercial, including autonomous printing, and its end-to-end solutions, Smart Print Shop and Push-to-Stop that were to be shown at this year’s drupa.
“We will be investing more in new, virtual trade fair concepts to ensure closer and more individual customer communications as well as in regional events in our growth markets. This means we will be able to consistently align ourselves with our customers’ expectations,” says Rainer Hundsdörfer, CEO of Heidelberg. “The Innovation Week will now enable us to communicate with our customers as soon as possible and to present our innovation offensive.”
Face-to-face dialogue will continue to be the focus at the Heidelberg’s Print Media Centers in Wiesloch-Walldorf, Atlanta, Shanghai, Sao Paulo and Tokyo. At the centers, Heidelberg offers all of its customers and other interested parties market-specific access to product and solution demonstrations, discussion with application specialists, and extensive training courses.
Covid-19
The company observes that Covid-19 has accelerated the move towards digital and local events. “Although there is no way of knowing what the impact of corona will be next year, Heidelberg has to make a decision now. So the company has decided to not participate in international trade fairs next year and will thus not be taking part in drupa. In 2021, drupa will be a very different event – global travel restrictions and hygiene regulations mean significantly fewer visitors and constraints on communication. Traditional international trade fairs with busy booths and halls will very probably be difficult to implement and will likely lose their status as global meet-up events for customers and manufacturers. As a longtime partner to drupa, Heidelberg will be happy to continue to offer its experience when it comes to bringing future trade fair concepts into line with new digital possibilities and customer requirements.”
