Heidelberg cancels drupa 2021 participation. On 8 July 2020, Heidelberg announced that it will not participate in the drupa 2021 trade fair, and instead will focus on a new way of communication with its customers using virtual and regional events. The virtual event will use a livestream technology as well as face-to-face meetings at its corporate headquarters in Germany. Heidelberg has already had positive experience of using digital channels in its presentation of the innovations that had been planned for this year’s drupa.
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. There are some other companies that are in a wait and watch mode.
Innovation Week
“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 kick-off will be at the ‘Innovation Week’ from 19 to 23 October 2020. Under the slogan ‘Unfold your potential’, Heidelberg will present a wealth of product innovations that focus on packaging and commercial, including autonomous printing, end-to-end solutions, Smart Print Shop and Push-to-Stop. The Innovation Week will take place via livestream as well as face-to-face at the Wiesloch/Walldorf location. “The Innovation Week will now enable us to communicate with our customers as soon as possible and to present our innovation offensive,” says Hundsdörfer.
Face-to-face meetings at Print Media Centers
The company will continue face-to-face meetings at the unique Print Media Centers in Wiesloch/Walldorf, Atlanta, Shanghai, Sao Paulo and Tokyo, where it can engage with its customers specific needs directly on-site. At the centres, Heidelberg will offer all of its customers and other interested parties market-specific access to product and solution demonstrations, a multitude of possibilities for direct communications with applications specialists as well as extensive training courses.
Covid-19
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 long-time 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.
