The leading event will focus on the mega trends of 2025: mass customization in combination with artificial intelligence are the key to true customer centricity. If you want to remain at the forefront of the print industry in the future, you need to harness the transformative power of artificial intelligence in order to respond to customer needs in a more intuitive, agile and cross-media way. Numerous renowned speakers will be addressing what is needed for this on the OPS stage – the OPS will once again fulfill its promise to the industry as an important source of inspiration.

Renowned speakers and a familiar face

The organizers are particularly proud that they were able to secure visionary Christoph Gamper, CEO and Co-Owner of Durst Group AG from Brixen, as a keynote speaker for the OPS. Since joining the South Tyrolean machine manufacturer in 2013, Christoph Gamper has driven Durst’s transformation from a traditional mechanical engineering company to a fully integrated solution provider that covers the entire value chain of digital production with software, hardware and services. At OPS, his focus will be on revolutionizing the industry – after all, mass customization and inkjet will set the pace for the market in the future. But no implementation is possible without the right team. In his keynote speech, entitled “Technology is nothing without people – Europe’s opportunity in digital printing”, Gamper will share his experiences, thoughts and principles. In his presentation, he will shed light on how digital printing not only follows trends through personalization, precision and sustainability, but also shapes them. He will explain why now is the right time for Europe to lead rather than wait.

This year’s line-up also includes a perspective from another market, the United Kingdom to be precise. As CEO of Onlineprinters and Solopress, Simon Cooper is a true force in the international online print industry. On the OPS stage, he will talk about how automation and cultural transformation led Solopress to be named “Print Company of the Year 2024” by the trade magazine Printweek and how innovations are implemented at Onlineprinters.

In the context of customer centricity, social commerce has become indispensable. As an entrepreneur, content creator and storyteller, Florian Hommeyer will share on the OPS stage his ruthlessly honest experiences of building several profitable online businesses. As an expert in authentic digital business with over 110,000 followers, he wants to inspire the OPS audience to use social media as a tool for business success.

As an independent consultant, Leon Mehlau knows his way around the world of no-code automation and AI solutions. The Swiss is known as Levanty and will speak at the Online Print Symposium about why the success of a company depends on the degree of automated processes, especially in the field of mass customization.

In 2022, he presented his business model during the Insight Pitches, he was a partner at OPS23 with his company Hoodie Hoo and in April of this year, Johannes Kautz will once again be on stage at the Science Congress Center. Successes, hurdles, growth: Johannes Kautz is co-founder of Hoodie Hoo and has had to overcome many hurdles in the company’s rapid success story. He will reveal exactly what these are in his presentation.

The annual industry update by Bernd Zipper, CEO of zipcon consulting GmbH, will also deal with hurdles, challenges and opportunities. The pioneer and onlne print expert will not only bring facts and figures to the table, but will also analyze exciting trends in his usual entertaining manner – and provide an outlook for the new year in online print.

Co-organizer Jens Meyer, Managing Director of Verband Druck und Medien Beratung GmbH, will provide a further outlook: “The Online Print Symposium 2025 is characterized by radical changes: AI is resetting the rules of the game and opening up completely new possibilities for product innovations and the way we address customers. We are proud to once again have real trailblazers as speakers – progressive thinkers who are already showing how automation, smart data strategies and individualized customer journeys are redefining the industry. If you don’t change your mindset now, you will miss the chance to be at the forefront!

Insight Pitches: Application deadline for start-ups ends soon

The OPS doesn’t just offer a stage for the established big players. The coveted Insight Pitches, in which start-ups present their business models, will once again be a special highlight this year. Where else do newcomers to the industry get the chance to present their business idea to the most important decision-makers in the industry in a 10-minute pitch? This is where fresh entrepreneurial spirit meets many years of experience – it is not uncommon for exciting collaborations and synergies to emerge at the Online Print Symposium. But beware: Despite the extension, the application deadline for the Insight Pitches ends on 14 February, so interested parties should be quick and apply on the OPS website: Application Start-ups – Online Print Symposium 2025.

Partner line-up – the who’s who of the industry

In addition to all the speakers and start-ups, the Online Print Symposium has been supported by committed and loyal partners for many years. Sappi Deutschland GmbH remains a reliable sponsor of the leading event as a platinum partner, as does the Initiative Online Print e.V. as an advisory partner. But that is by no means all. This year, rissc solutions GmbH, ctrl-s GmbH, Gelato AS, Probo Print GmbH, Printess GmbH & Co. KG, Tessitura GmbH, Konica Minolta Business Solutions Deutschland GmbH, The New Crispy Mountain GmbH, Nobelus Europe Ltd, Canon Europe Ltd and Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG are also on board. Among the supporters are CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA, mediaprint solutions GmbH, portavice GmbH, CF Card Factory GmbH, prinux GmbH and Komori International Europe B.V.

If you would like to attend as an OPS partner with your company, you still have the opportunity to book a partner package on the OPS website: Tickets & Prices – Online Print Symposium 2025. In addition, there is currently still the opportunity to book supporter tickets – while stocks last. So it pays to be quick.

The organisers

zipcon consulting GmbH is a global consulting company for the communications, print and media industry with a focus on online print and digital transformation. The company sees itself as an independent and comprehensive technology and strategy consultant. zipcon also produces market studies and various case studies for e-business print, mass customization and multichannel publishing. Leading companies in the online print industry rely on the expertise of this company. www.zipcon.de

The Bundesverband Druck und Medien e. V. (bvdm) is the umbrella organization of the German printing industry. As an employers‘ association, political trade association and technical trade association, it represents the positions and objectives of the printing industry vis-à-vis politicians, administration, trade unions and the supplier industry. The bvdm is supported by eight regional associations. Internationally, it is organized through its membership of Intergraf and FESPA. The printing industry currently comprises around 6,500 predominantly small and medium-sized companies with more than 100,000 employees subject to social insurance contributions. www.bvdm-online.de