Graphispag analyses trends impacting the print business

How can printing companies attract more customers? What impact do artificial intelligence and personalisation have on productivity in the printing industry? What formulas are there for printing in a more sustainable way? These are some of the questions that will be answered at Graphispag’s ‘Impulso -Diálogos’ space which, from 1 to 3 October, offers more than twenty conferences, round tables and presentations with the participation of 60 speakers.

Sharing knowledge and experiences carried out by companies in the sector and activating sectoral debate to revalue the printing and visual communication business are the main objectives of Graphispag’s ‘Impulso-Diálogos’ conference area, which will occupy a central space in Pavilion 2 of Fira de Barcelona’s Gran Via exhibition centre. This area will be a must for all graphics professionals and companies using printing and visual communication services who are looking for information and inspiration on trends, investments in technology for process automation, sustainability and new ways of selling printed products.

Artificial intelligence and personalisation

Two of the big topics on the Graphispag 2024 conference programme are artificial intelligence and personalisation in the graphics industry. Juan Blanco of Grafiklandia will help discover how to transform the day-to-day work of the graphics company with advanced AI applications and tools that maximise quality and productivity and help create personalised graphics products. Blanco will also dedicate a session to entrepreneurship and diversification without investment for professionals and graphic companies that want to incorporate personalisation.

In addition, together with the Gremi d’Indústries Gràfiques de Catalunya (Catalan Graphic Industries Association), technology consultant Enrique San Juan will analyse the state of AI integration and its potential for transforming graphic communication processes, both in the creative and pre-printing areas and in the management of printing presses, including workflows, administration and commercial management and communication with customers. On the other hand, successful cases of AI application in the field of visual communication will be presented by representatives of the Audiovisual Cluster of Catalonia and EGM.

Boosting the graphic future

For a graphics industry in constant change, Graphispag proposes several conferences designed to relaunch the business of printing services companies. In this sense, the consultant Jaume Casals will offer an overview of the major trends that are impacting the sector and that mark the innovations in technologies and materials presented by suppliers at this year’s European trade fairs and which will be on display at Graphispag. This presentation will serve to identify the attitudes of the graphic arts company to face the future.

To help access this innovation, representatives of Neobis and the Gremi d’Indústries Gràfiques de Catalunya will be talking about funding and subsidies available to companies in the graphic arts sector.

At the same time, the Gremi d’Indústries Gràfiques together with Pla Associats will offer an updated overview of the printing industry in our country and a proposal for the future of the sector based on a new collaborative and circular production model in which printing companies optimise and share technology and human capital.

And in a context of oversupply, digital transformation and artificial intelligence, the printing industry must also reinvent the way it sells the printed products it manufactures. The keys to this will be provided by the consultant and sales expert Mónica Mendoza, who will talk about omnichannel commercial strategies to attract new customers.

Diversification or specialisation can also be other options for relaunching the graphics business. In this sense, Eurecat and the Functional Print Cluster will present printed electronics as a market niche to be explored with examples of companies that have opted for functional printing materials, inks and technologies to create new products with high added value in fields such as health, electronics, textiles, mobility, construction, photovoltaic energy and packaging. There will be another session on security inks to protect documents and products by SICPA.

Green printing

Sustainability will be another major theme at Graphispag, as will be seen in the exhibition with more efficient equipment and materials and inks with a lower environmental impact. This will also be discussed at the conference and, more specifically, the online platform for the sale and purchase of Repaper materials will be presented, promoted by Gráficas Rey, Ipe Industria Gráfica and the Gremi, designed to enable graphic arts companies to manage their surplus materials (paper, vinyl, reels and other substrates) in a sustainable way, making them available to other companies in the sector.

Likewise, at the proposal of the magazine Newspackaging, the sustainable printing of containers, labels and packaging will be discussed together with Dilograf and Aktiva Design. In parallel, the branding agency Wylma Blein will moderate a session with the participation of brands, printers, agencies and sustainability consultants, as agents responsible for bringing together and implementing solutions in the production and printing of increasingly responsible packaging.

Design in print

The Col·legi de Disseny Gràfic de Catalunya and the magazine Gràffica, together with designers and printers, will be discussing the crucial issues that mark the process of translating an idea into a printed product, as well as innovative and sustainable printing systems, finishes and supports for large-scale graphic and visual communication projects. There will also be a session that will highlight the value of printing in the construction, management and promotion of brands, based on the explanation of practical cases and results obtained, coordinated by Aebrand and ipmark magazine. The same professional association, taking advantage of the coincidence with Liber, is proposing a round table at Graphispag to analyse the design of the editorial project in the virtual world.

Design will also be present at the conference on packaging printing proposed by Pressgraph together with the designer Carles Sala from Bulldog Studio. In addition, the possibilities of printing applied to interior design will be discussed with specialised designers and printers at a round table coordinated by the Col-legi de Dissenyadors d’Interiors i Decoradors de Catalunya and the magazine Diseño Interior.

Also noteworthy in the programme of the ‘Impulso-Diálogos’ space is the round table framed within the Hacking the Icons project on the value provided by the application of digital printing in different sectors of the manufacturing industry such as furniture, consumer electronics and home accessories, among others. Representatives from industrial design agencies and graphic technology suppliers will take part in this session.

Barcelona, September 2024

CHECK OUT GRAPHISPAG PROGRAMME here