Behind this ambitious slogan lies more than just an exhibition – the thinking behind the ‘dip’ is that it will be a point of reference and information hub for print buyers, media pros and Internet businesses as well as printers.

Aside from Web-to-print, the spotlight at ‘dip’ will also be trained on PDF and XML publishing, document management, print and publishing, digital imaging, online communications and JDF. Each of these topics will be addressed in a separate theme park tailored precisely to the relevant technologies’ requirements, presenting them in visitor- and target-group-specific terms.

The main sponsor of this conceptual space in Hall 7 is Hewlett Packard but it has only come together because of the willingness of other partners like Océ, Heidelberg, Kodak and Agfa to work together to provide a stage for some real awe-inspiring stuff from young companies supplying the print and media industry with really innovative digital solutions.

To help you navigate your way around, the ‘dip’ is split into eight different sections or ‘parcs’:

• print and publishing
• JDF experience
• PDF and XML production
• creative production
• document management
• online communication
• digital picture
• print buyer integration

To give you a taster of what you can expect from the various sectors lets take the print and publishing parc –this will cover the whole publishing remit, with desktop tools, workflow and editing systems, colour management and proofing solutions, server applications and solutions for professional scanning. As you might expect CIP4 will play an active role at the JDF experience parc presented by Heidelberg, and highlight JDF functionality across the other Drupa halls.

The creative production parc will hone in on things like computer generated imaging, typography, creative image retouching as well as professional illustration, while the print buyer integration parc will show solutions and applications for Web-to-print, print-on-demand, campaign planning tools, online catalogue production and production integration software so it’s worth sticking you head round there if you have the time just to see what your customers are learning about!

Other features of the innovation parc include the ‘dip’ lounge sponsored by Rockwell Automation. This gives you somewhere to sit down with smaller companies participating in ‘dip’ and have a chat about their products and how you can integrate them into your workflow.

Before you get to that point you might want to take advantage of a ‘dip briefing’, a talk which takes place each morning on stage 1 in the foyer of Hall 7 and provides an overview of activities in the parc. Stage 1 will also be used for different talk programmes and video presentations each day on innovations and suppliers exhibiting in the ‘dip’. Expect some of these to be in German but the afternoon slots will culminate in the English language ‘4teeTime@dip’ talk show. In the evenings, the stage lights will turn on, illuminating mainly country-specific events. On stage 2, in the JDF experience parc, the curtain will rise on a full-day line-up of talks and seminars tackling the topic of JDF and process optimisation.

Watch out too for the daily ‘dip’ newsletter which will come hot off Océ’s presses on site, and perhaps consider one of the ‘dip’ tours on offer this time around that give you a good insight into the many small innovations.

“We feel proud that so many partners have stepped forward to support us and the ‘Drupa innovation parc presented by hp’ concept,” says Drupa project director Manuel Mataré. “Within Drupa, ‘dip’ acts not only as the hothouse for cultivating new talent in the form of small exhibitors but also an information hub that provides visitors with a chance to experience trends up close and personal and above all to grasp them.”

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