Visitors to the World Publishing Congress in Amsterdam are being invited to linger longer for the new World Printers Forum event.

The inaugural two-day conference is being held on the last day of the global newspaper trade show, and the day following, October 15 and 16.

WAN-Ifra’s World Publishing Congress – still also known as the IfraExpo – takes place from October 13-15.

Among speakers for the region are Kasturi Balaji – director of publisher of The Hindu Kasturi & Sons Ltd – and Saranga Wijeyarathne, marketing director of Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Newspapers. Balaji is chairman of the WAN-Ifra’s South Asia Committee and the author of a new report on newsprint waste management.

WAN-Ifra deputy chief executive – and the organisation’s print production guru – Manfred Werfel says the forum will provide a global platform for the exchange of ideas and best practices: “There are still a lot of ideas to be discovered in print, which continues to provide most of the revenue for newspaper companies,” he says.

“Though newspaper companies are focussing much of their development work on digital platforms, it’s important not to forget print.”

The WPF is a new initiative intended to guide WAN-Ifra’s activities in newspaper production, materials and sustainability. Werfel says this will include promoting the unique value of print, encouraging the creation of innovative products, as well as developing new business models for print and operating printing plans as independent profit centres.

The inaugural conference will focus on innovations in print from around the world, strategies for operating printing plans as independent profit centres, savings derived from environmental improvements or “going green,” and the latest developments in digital printing.

It is one of several conferences taking place in during the World Publishing Expo, at which more than 8000 visitors are expected. Full details are at http://www.worldpublishingexpo.com



Other speakers include:

• Martyn Eustace, managing director of European initiative Print Power and Newvizion Consulting, who will address misperceptions surrounding print and how to correct them;

• Rodd Winscott, president of Chicago-based Topweb and an advocate of digital printing. “If we are going to continue to offer our clients the most cost effective and innovative method of producing their newspapers and other media related products, we must offer the digital option,” he says.

• Paul Egglestone, digital coordinator of the Media Innovation Studio at the School of Journalism and Media at the UK’s University of Central Lancashire, who will speak in a session entitled ‘Future Print: Interactive newsprint and the Internet of Things.’ Interactive paper is a type of ‘smart’ paper that is responsive to a human touch, which means sheets of paper can turn into interactive displays.

• Bjarne Tormodsgard, editor-in-chief of the local newspaper Hallingdølen in Norway, will speak in a session devoted to visual story telling.


• Muharrem Yasar, quality and coordination manager of Zaman newspaper in Turkey, who will present a case study of the newspaper’s colour quality control

• Bénédicte Gercke, paper and energy category director at the UK’s News International, and newsletter publisher Karl Malik will co-chair the event.