DUBAI —Details of a brand-new event for the Middle East’s printing industry have been announced. The first Gulf Print & Pack Summit will take place on March 4-5, 2018 at the Roda Al Bustan Hotel, Dubai.

The summit is the only dedicated networking platform to focus on the sector’s cutting-edge technologies, current trends in printing excellence and strategies to boost commercial development. The Middle East print market value is to reach $24 billion in 2017 as forecasted in the Smithers Pira report entitled ‘The Future of Global Printing to 2020’. Overall market value will pass $28 billion by the end of the decade with growth in excess of the of around 3% per annum, meaning the industry plays a pivotal role in promoting economic growth and trade for the region.

Sister event to the successful Gulf Print & Pack exhibition, the summit is targeted at commercial and packaging printers, design professionals and brand owners.

Featuring a full conference program and table-top exhibition, Gulf Print & Pack Summit will examine the issues and opportunities in accessing new markets and discuss the future shape of the region’s printing business. Content-rich, the summit is aimed at allowing local printers to differentiate themselves from the competition within the region and grow their business.

Subjects covered in the two-day summit will include digital print and finishing; workflow automation; new in-line converting technologies; track and trace, logistics and brand security labelling; and new market opportunities in personalization, internet-of-things (IoT) and Industry 4.0 technologies. The summit will be chaired by Tarsus Labels & Packaging group strategic director Andy Thomas-Emans.

James Samuel, events portfolio director, Gulf Print & Pack, said: “We’ve launched this new event after consulting the market and listening to our advisory board which is made up of regional printers, suppliers and media who have all heavily endorsed the event’s creation. The Gulf Print & Pack Summit will bring the major issues facing the printing industry to the fore. In a fast and ever-changing business environment where innovation drives standards and competitiveness, the summit will give printers, large and small, the chance to be heard and focus on what they can and need to do to edge their business upwards.” — SG