Milan, 20 May 2021 - A long journey, rich in contents. While waiting for Print4All, the event dedicated to the world of printing, that will be held from 3 to 6 May 2022 at Fiera Milano, a multitude of initiatives are being organised by the two main associations of the sector, ACIMGA and ARGI, that are organising the event together with Fiera Milano.

Sustainability, ecological transition, innovation, digitalisation, care for the person and professional training are some of the topics of the meetings that will be held during the year leading up to Print4All 2022, the ideal destination of a long journey that we are going to share with the professionals of the entire printing industry.

At a time of deep change, when training and professional skills can make the difference, these events are a unique opportunity to discover how to stay ahead of the change curve and not be caught unprepared, focusing on sustainable innovation.

“LET’S SHORTEN THE DISTANCE” BY ARGI: THE VOICE OF THE COMMUNITIES

The Working Groups of ARGI (Associazione Fornitori Industria Grafica), the Italian Association of the Suppliers of the Graphic Industry, have already held internal discussions to identify the most meaningful topics and tools to provide to the players of the supply chain to face the new challenges and do business in the current scenario. The result is a communication and training programme, which started last April and will continue over the next 12 months in a sort of run-up to the Print4All 2022 event. The claim “Let's shorten the distance” - meaning the distance between the present day and the time when the market will recover, as well as the distance between today and 3 May 2022, when Print4All will start - will identify all the sessions that will be held to explore five main topics representing the sectors of ARGI members and their Working Groups (Plates, Pre-Press, Press Room; Press Offset; Digital Printing; Labels; Finishing). A sixth Working Group is currently being prepared, dedicated to Wide Format & Industrial.

The focus will be on sustainability and ecological transition, efficiency, productive innovation and digitisation, training, employment and social inclusion, technological acceleration and multi-channel integration. ARGI is inspired by and has adopted Next Generation EU guidelines and interprets the most significant areas of development in such a way as to be useful and close to the printing and communication market.

A number of activities are being planned for each sector, that will deal with the relevant trending topics, i.e. innovations useful for business improvement and growth. For each topic, ARGI will produce 3 videocasts, i.e. interviews with testimonials who are experts on the subject, a webinar and special projects such as surveys, glossaries and contests, for a total of 20 appointments and 5 publications, which will accompany the market over the next 12 months.

“FUTURE FACTORY” BY ACIMGA: THE KEYS TO A POSSIBLE FUTURE

Another important step in the run-up to Print4All will be the 2021 edition of the Future Factory, the event organised by ACIMGA in collaboration with ITA-ICE.

After the preview at the end of April, the Future Factory will return in September, this time in presence. The 2021 edition, The future at human service, will deal with the needs of the industry and the main economic, market and vision issues that underlie change. The discussion will focus on sustainability, digitalization, the centrality and role of human resources, servitization. Nowadays, the sector’s business models are shifting towards human-centric perspectives, where service becomes a key component in the sale of a product, which is being increasingly delivered in association with a high level of personalisation. In short, what’s being sold is always more a relational context, which fills technological content with new meanings and new expectations. This human centricity extends to every level, and spreads throughout the production chain, from production to the end consumer, who obtains a service with high added value. The entire supply chain is therefore at the centre of change and it is exactly from an integrated vision that Future Factory moves to intercept the dynamics of this evolution underway.

High-profile international speakers will also take stock of corporate, legislative, socio-economic and production scenarios in order to understand what has changed and where the manufacturing and economic world is going.  The debate, chaired by the Italian journalist Matteo Bordone, will see the participation of Bertrand Badré, CEO and Founder at Blue like an Orange Sustainable Capital; Elisabetta Bottazzoli, Sustainability and Circular Economy Manager; Andrea Briganti, Director of ACIMGA and Federazione Carta e Grafica; Paola Mariani, Associate Professor of International Law at Bocconi University in Milan and Lawyer; Ivana Pais, Associate Professor in Economic Sociology at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore; Paolo Pizzocaro, Exhibition Director of Print4All at Fiera Milano; Alec Ross, Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Bologna Business School.

It will be a significant discussion at global level, which will be taken up at the various stages of the Future Factory's international roadshow and represent a further step towards Print4All 2022.