Drupa floorplan published

Drupa organisers have published the floorplan for the 2020 show and unveiled a raft of new services and tools to help visitors plan their trip to Düsseldorf next June.

The floorplan shows many similarities to the 2016 event, with HP and its partners once again set to occupy the whole of Hall 17 and many other exhibitors also remaining in the same halls they occupied four years ago.

Heidelberg, which exhibited in Hall 1 in 2016, will be situated in the new Hall 1, a 12,000sqm pillar-free space with a 15m clear height that has replaced what were Halls 1 and 2.

The development, which follows a €140m (£124m) investment programme, also includes a new south entrance that will feature a 2,110sqm foyer space that can be used as an event space, and a 20m-high projecting roof canopy made of translucent fibreglass.

Heidelberg will occupy around a third of the space in the new building, with partners including Masterwork, Polar and IST Metz situated around it in the space.

Hall 8B sees Fujifilm and Xerox remaining as neighbours while BlueCrest, previously known as Pitney Bowes, has taken a stand in Hall 8A, moving from Pitney Bowes’ 2016 position of Hall 4.

Major continental online printers Including Helloprint, FlyerAlarm and Cimpress companies WirMachenDruck and Pixart will also have a big presence this time around.

Drupa will take place from 16 to 26 June 2020 at Messe Düsseldorf and tickets to the show can now be purchased online from the Drupa Ticketshop.

Also now available online is a database with profiles of all of the exhibitors, including their range of products and services and further information.

Drupa director Sabine Geldermann said: “We want to give visitors the opportunity to plan their arrival, departure and stay in drupacity Düsseldorf at an early stage.

“Visitors can find useful information for travel planning on the Drupa website. When they buy an online ticket, they also benefit from reduced admission prices and free access to local public transport in the Rhine-Ruhr and Rein-Sieg transport associations during their stay at the fair.”

A redesigned Drupa App, which will feature an interactive hall plan and constantly updated Drupa news that will integrate content from the Drupa Daily show newspaper for the first time, will be launched next month.

Additionally, organisers have also launched a new intelligent matchmaking tool, which features an algorithm that analyses visitors’ search queries and areas of interest and derives personalised suggestions for further exhibitors and visitors.

“This matchmaking function enables our visitors to quickly identify exactly those of the expected 1,800 international exhibitors with whom they would like to make contact at the trade fair,” said Geldermann.

The tool can also be used to get in direct contact with exhibitors or other visitors and to arrange appointments before the show opens its doors.

“With the early opening of the Drupa ticket shop and the free provision of the Drupa app, we want to make trade fair planning as pleasant, intuitive and efficient as possible for our visitors,” said Geldermann.

The event will feature around 400 new exhibitors, and the exhibition grounds “are almost fully booked” according to Geldermann, with the current booking level above that of the 2016 show.