Making its European debut at FESPA Digital 2012, Print Shop Live! recreates a fully functional, live print shop environment, enabling visitors to see a real production workflow close up, with expert commentary from participating companies and independent experts.

The prepress workflow on show will include colour management software from GMG, together with ripping and preflighting tools from Onyx. Output will be demonstrated across multiple print devices from suppliers including Epson, HP and Mutoh, showcasing a wide array of print technologies for conventional and textile applications. As the exclusive media partner for Print Shop Live!, Ilford will demonstrate a variety of substrates in its biodegradable Biomedia range. FESPA's Global Finishing Partner Esko Graphics will contribute its Kongsberg cutting solutions to demonstrate this aspect of wide format print finishing.

Visitors can register free of charge online to take fully hosted tours of Print Shop Live!, accompanied by global inkjet expert Sophie Matthews-Paul, with regular tours also available in Spanish, hosted by industry commentator Juan Diaz Diaz. Printers may also choose to submit their own artwork in advance to be printed live during their tour.

Duncan MacOwan, FESPA's Head of Events and New Media has spearheaded the project for Barcelona and explains: "Technology is still the driver behind many of the opportunities open to wide format printers. The biggest challenge can be to assess how best to integrate new technology with what they have already to achieve the best outcome for their business. With Print Shop Live!, we'll show how straightforward it can be to seamlessly bring together the different production stages, optimising productivity and operational efficiency across multiple applications to offer the most comprehensive service to customers."

He adds, "Print Shop Live! was a huge hit with visitors when we introduced it at FESPA Americas in 2011, and our research suggests that this is exactly the type of interactive, educational content that visitors want from FESPA. The participating vendors are collaborating closely to give visitors informative insightsinto the real-world potential of digital print, and we're all excited to see this innovative attraction come together in Barcelona."

For more detail on all the individual solutions on show within Print Shop Live!, to register for tours, or to find out about submitting your own artwork, visit www.printshoplive.net