The hottest venue at next year's drupa (www.drupa.com), set for May 29-June 11, 2008, is the drupa innovation parc (DIP). Located in Halls 7.0 and 7.1 at the north entrance to the Fairgrounds in Düsseldorf, Germany, this state-of-the-art space will total 36,000 sq ft and showcase about 160 exhibitors. The defining tools of tomorrow will be presented–only the most innovative solutions in the print industry will be demonstrated.

DIP is best described as a “microcosm of innovations” and features eight themed sections. It is particularly well suited for start-up companies and smaller-sized firms as an ideal venue to highlight their cutting-edge developments. The products exhibited will cover the gamut of print solutions, from web-to-print applications to workflow through to creative image retouching.

Drupa project manager Manuel Mataré describes the dynamic potential of DIP: “The basic idea is to give smaller firms a strong jump start. In the future, their software innovations may be hugely important for the entire industry, as was demonstrated by the DIP premiere of 2004; it's difficult now to imagine the print industry without a lot of the applications that were demonstrated for the first time in the DIP in 2004.”

A time-saving guided tour for DIP 2008 is a completely new service. Visitors, accompanied by a competent DIP employee, will receive a strategic overview of Who's Who in the exhibition area and of all the innovations while also getting the option of going directly to a particular specialist area that interests them. This service will save drupa attendees from spending hours searching for what they need and enable them to conduct targeted networking.