General secretary Bryan Collings said he hoped for another six or seven members in the next year, or, if he was "bullish", another dozen.

The committee will tackle issues like health and safety, colour standards, and collection of industry statistics. It will also give the sector a common voice when dealing with regulations, said Collings, who took over the ESMA general secretary role from David Down on 1 January.

Its remit will cover co-ordination of training resources and activities, promotion of digital printing into new markets such as packaging and textiles and joint funding of market research.

The other companies that have signed up are Oc Display Graphics Systems (formerly Gretag Professional), Scitex Vision, Felix Schoeller Imaging and 3P Inkjet Textiles.

The next meeting of the Digital Technology Committee will take place on 27 February in Dsseldorf. Over 20 delegates attended the inaugural meeting on 31 October last year.

Contact: 01227 282573, bryan.collings@esma.com.

Story by Gordon Carson