Over 400 customers were presented with the firm's strategy and shown new products and partnerships at an event in Rome.

"Rome wasn't built in a day, like our professional print team, but our clear ambition is to be number one," said Per Klavsen, head of professional solutions marketing for Europe. "After today hopefully you come away feeling that we have entered the arena."

To date the firm has employed over 100 staff across Europe for its professional print division, which it expects to augment by more than 450 by 2008.

It will reveal further details of its plans at Ipex where it is taking a 1,300m2 stand twice the size of its Drupa stand.

"Ipex is going to be a milestone for Canon, we're going to introduce revolutionary new engines to address high-end production including colour," said Klavsen.

The firm invested 43.9% of its 2004 R&D budget of 616m (865m) in print.

Following Ipex the firm will open a 750sqm European showroom in Brussels in Q3 2006.

Rome was the debut of Canon's deal to supply Pelagon's Webstore e-procurement software as part of its package of "solutions".

"The systems integration offered by Webstore is going to be very important to us," said European solutions manager Mark Lawn.

The firm also showed EFI's digital Storefront and Objectif Lune's Planetpress personalisation software.

Mainland European customers got the first chance to see the Canon iR 125 and 150 black and white machines, which were launched in the UK at Digital Print World last October. The latest UK printer to take an iR150 was Southend-based Formara, which installed one alongside its two iR110s.

Story by Barney Cox