Ink jet technology - what's the next big thing?

We've seen inkjet's dominance of the large format graphics market, and more recently the rapid growth of inkjet ceramic tile printing. Inkjet is present in just about every print market but hasn't achieved the same level of penetration - yet. The question therefore is, what is the next big thing?

Many experts think the $266B packaging printing, $110B commercial printing, $34B textile printing and $13B industrial printing markets* are possibilities.  Mike Willis, Managing Director of IMI Europe adds: "Even though inkjet entered all these markets years ago it has only had a significant effect in specific parts of each market. It's perhaps a mistake to predict from the early adoption of products whether there will be rapid growth and disruption, it's more subtle than that."

With this in mind, IMI Europe has put together its 22nd annual Inkjet Conference, to be held in Barcelona 5-7 November. The event will include presentations on commercial, label, packaging, textile and industrial printing. Landa Digital talk about the commercialisation of Nanography, and Heidelberg on why they are going digital. Konica Minolta will be talking about their B2 press development with Komori, and FFEI will be speaking about the requirements for label printing. Fujifilm Dimatix's CEO will be reviewing the future for industrial printing markets, and Xennia will present the status of textile printing.

What about new printheads? STMicroelectronics will describe their thin film piezo MEMS developments and Alchemie will disclose their plans for digital decorating. Nor are inks forgotten, with presentations from FFIC on aqueous inks and colorants for commercial and packaging markets, and Toyo Ink on advances in ink formulations. In total there are 20 presentations over two days, and the full programme can be found at www.imieurope.com

* Market estimates courtesy of IT Strategies are worldwide user expenditure

About IMI Europe

IMI Europe is the front-runner in providing education and strategic overviews of the entire inkjet industry. We helped drive the growth in non-office applications for inkjet, particularly during the major growth phase occurring since 2000. Our conferences and courses, mainly about inkjet technology, focus upon the development and commercialisation of technology, attracting the leading component suppliers, integrators, OEMs and key end users to the best value networking events in the industry.

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Press contact:
Kirsty Inman
Sales & Marketing Assistant
IMI Europe Ltd
Email: kirsty@imieurope.com
Tel: +44 1223 236 920
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