Organisers say the virtual.drupa event last week scored about 600,000 page views from 45,000 unique users.

The web-based ‘global print trade fair’ was held from April 20-23, bridging the gap until the actual event planned for 2024.

DRUPA says 212 exhibitors from 35 countries were joined by participants to present portfolios and innovations at 125 live web sessions attended by an average 140 participants. An additional 130 presentations in five special forums, focussed on key issues and megatrends.

Project director Sabine Geldermann said global players led to an important industry dialogue. “The wide spectrum of target visitor groups, profiles and areas of interest was impressive.

“This also applies to the exhibitors and their product portfolios along the entire value chain.”

She said many participants were already looking forward to the 2024 event and live experiences.

Virtual meeting rooms remain open on April 26-27, with the chat function open until the end of October. In addition, videos and keynote speeches will be available in the video library on demand from next week until the end of December 2021, as will the exhibitors’ virtual showrooms.

Forward events for Messe Düsseldorf include the Print & Digital Convention (Düsseldorf, October 20-21), Indoprint (Jakarta, August 11-14), PackPrint International (Bangkok, September 22-25) and PackPrintPlas Philippines (October 7-9).

Another virtual drupa conference day is planned for this northern autumn (2021).