Drupa Switches to Three-Year Cycle

Messe Düsseldorf (www.mdna.com) has announced that, after drupa 2016 (www.drupa.com), the international print and cross-media tradeshow will switch from a four- to a three-year cycle. Future events will take place in May of 2019, 2022, and 2025 in Düsseldorf, Germany.

One reason cited for the change is an increase in “focus on innovative technologies, such as 3D printing, printed electronics, and functional printing,” says Claus Bolza-Schünemann, chairman of the drupa Advisory Board and president of Koenig & Bauer Group. “It’s more important than ever before that our customers have an overview of the latest technology and are also inspired to use new business models and solutions.”

The adjustment will also give packaging exhibitors a break in 2020; with the previous schedule, both drupa and international packaging industry trade fair interpack would have taken place in the same year.

The drupa trade fair has been on a four-year cycle since 2000; previous gaps have bounced between four and five years since its second show in 1954.