A showcase of products and technologies, an incubator of ideas, a laboratory of contents. These are the exhibition areas and services that will characterize the next edition of Print4All (Fiera Milano Rho, May 3-6, 2022) to consolidate its role in the changing world. The projects of the organizers and the road map of the approaching events.
A new idea of “transversal” exhibition, which aims to present to the entire reference community all printing and converting technologies for different application areas – packaging and labeling, but also commercial, editorial, industrial and whatnot: everything is printed… In 2018 Print4All debuted with this identity and the strong idea of overcoming the verticalization of traditional B2B platforms with a clear objective: to encourage the contamination between technologies, the creativity of business people, the formation of a favorable humus for innovation and information exchange.
The idea was very popular – as highlighted by both the record-breaking redemption numbers and the attempts at “imitation” – and is even more valuable today, after the upheavals that the trade fair sector has undergone due to the pandemic.
This is the conviction that unites the talks of the three stakeholders gathered to present (online on May 25) the next Print4All, repositioned to May 3-6, 2022, in order to take place in a situation of rediscovered normality. Knowing that this format will be put to the test in changed conditions: most of the trade fairs will be held in 2022, which, in spite of the “non-belligerence” policy adopted up to now, will compete for the presence of visitors and exhibitors in the space of just a few months.
The post-pandemic fairs: projects in comparison
But it is precisely this renewed competition between trade fairs that inflames the organizers of Print4All, aware of their own fertile diversity. Andrea Briganti’s considerations in response to questions from the audience are emblematic: “At the end of April, just a few days before our fair,” says the Acimga director, “Labelexpo Europe will be held in Brussels. The historic “vertical” that represents one of Print4All’s identity segments has an advantage from several points of view: it takes place earlier, it “brings” with it all the exhibitors already involved before Covid, it is a long-standing event with a great reputation. Precisely for this reason, says Briganti, it will be an interesting test of the various trade show models, given that today both internationalization and traditional verticalization are being put to the test by the dual tendency to exhibit local products and to overcome specialization in order to serve users who propose an increasingly cross-market offer.
What is certain is that Print4All 2022 rests on solid foundations, with committed and collaborative partners (Acimga and Argi, owners of the brand), an interesting program of introductory events and an organizer (Fiera Milano) that is putting in place unprecedented services, the expression of a new way of understanding and experiencing exhibition spaces and relations, in presence and remotely.
Thematic areas, meetings, new online opportunities…
Paolo Pizzocaro, director of the event and manager of Fiera Milano, recalls the internationality of Print4All (40% of exhibitors and 20% of visitors in 2018 were foreign), its natural vocation as a Mediterranean hub and its centrality, not only geographical, in Europe. But the 2022 edition, informs the manager, it will also be promoted in more distant countries which, for different reasons, represent crucial markets for exports of this supply chain, with strategic involvement of Agenzia ICE.
The event will occupy two central pavilions (9 and 11) of the fair, within a broader proposal, thanks to the renewed contemporaneity with Ipack-Ima (packaging) and Intralogistica Italia, encouraging “cross” visits between different and complementary fairs. The commitment is to encourage the integration of business and content inspired by the trends that guide development – digitalization, sustainability, industry 4.0, servitization, multichannel….
In concrete terms, this will give rise to thematic areas – dedicated to corrugated cardboard, online printing and more – with related meeting jobs hubs. Many news in terms of services and digital: from digital signage, 70 LED walls that will provide live updates in the neighborhood; to the My Matching platform for finding business partners and organizing appointments between exhibitors and the 100 top buyers selected in collaboration with ICE.
At the same time, a rich program of training and information is being defined, that will be also accessible from the special APP. Because, “naturally”, the activities at the fair will find extension to the new digital platform made available by Fiera Milano, which, in a single context, will host the service portal for exhibitors, all the information for visitors and a new digital catalog that will offer new and suggestive opportunities for presentation and marketing.
Click here for information about exhibiting at Print4All 2022
Acimga’s roadmap: community and internationalization
Acimga is fully committed to the development of the sector’s culture and internationalization, in support of a sector that generates 50% of its turnover abroad. The activities implemented, starting in 2020 with the Print4All Conference in streaming (more than 1400 international auditors) and the first stages of the themed Roadshows, continue this year with the involvement of a growing number of public and private subjects. Here are the main stages:
- the roadshows (supply chain networking conducted in streaming on individual markets with the participation of member companies, ICE and local diplomatic representatives) continue with the recent stop in Russia and the next ones in Spain, Israel, Morocco and Poland;
- Print4All conference 2021, dedicated to the Future Factory and inspired by the great themes of a human-centric and sustainable development, will be held in September also in presence, with the involvement of brand owners and communicators;
- during the conference, the second meeting will be held between the Italian manufacturers of Acimga and the Germans of VDMA, engaged in an original co-marketing action that will exploit the major trade fair platforms and will land at Print4All. This is the concretization of a project conceived by MAECI with its German counterpart, which saw Acimga as the first association to set up the comparison table during Virtual drupa (with an introduction and thanks from the undersecretary Manlio Di Stefano);
- in autumn, Roto4All and Cardboard4All will also take place, the meeting and updating days of the Acimga specialization groups dedicated to corrugated cardboard and rotogravure printing.
Argi shortens distances and works on more than one table
Argi represents the producers and distributors of machines and systems for the Graphic Industry that, as Enrico Barboglio, secretary of the association, recalls, are often multinational companies operating on the domestic market. For this reason, Argi has named the program of events connecting with Print4All “Let’s shorten the distances”: between countries of origin and of outlet with a landing at the 2022 fair. The project is to activate a production chain that needs to work together to do business, creating reasons for meetings between those who provide technologies and ideas and those who use them. To do this, Argi has set up 6 working groups dedicated to plates-pre press-printing room; offset printing; digital printing; labels; finishing and wide format&industrial. Their purpose is to stimulate discussion on the addressable subjects of the Next Generation EU: sustainability and ecological transition, efficiency, productive innovation and digitalization, training, employment and social inclusion, technological acceleration and multi-channel integration. Synthesis documents of this work will be presented to visitors of the fair.
During the 12 months from now to Print4All, for each strand of topics Argi will produce 3 videocasts with interviews to testimonials who are experts in the topic, a webinar and a series of special projects (surveys, glossaries, contests…), for a total of 20 engagements and 5 publications.
