FESPA Nederland TREND event: your business in 2030

Club FESPA Online spoke to Eduard van Hoogendijk, Director of of FESPA Nederland, about building on the success and insights of the FESPA TREND event.

Now an essential gathering for the print and sign industry in the Netherlands, FESPA Nederland’s annual TREND event took place last month in Barnevald. The theme this year was the ‘Vision of a print and sign business in 2030’. In essence, FESPA Nederland Managing Director Eduard van Hoogendijk was asking a question to all business owners: ‘How quickly are you able to adapt to new circumstances?’ The event aimed to prepare attendees to begin a new phase of innovation and entrepreneurship to build a strong and sustainable business ready for whatever 2030 brings.

The event, marked as always by keynote speakers, breakout sessions and networking time, was at its core a masterclass in how to run a print business in challenging economic and technological times. This epitomises how FESPA Nederland continues to position itself as a proactive leader building and capturing knowledge across all segments of the supply chain.

“We had a successful event, with more attendees [over 260] and more sponsors than last year, and higher satisfaction ratings,” says Eduard. “We had massive 3D screens this year on the main stage, around 28 metres by eight metres, and lots of other panels around the venue, which really helped with accessibility and exposure. And we also had a dedicated app for event participants, trendevent.nl.”

Eduard thinks that the Netherlands is a microcosm of broader trends in the European market. “The Dutch market is maturing,” he says. “A lot of mergers and acquisitions have occurred, and the influence of the bigger companies continues to grow. Manufacturers are buying other manufacturers; distributors are buying other distributors. For smaller firms, it’s getting more difficult to find your added value as a supplier of printed, designed products.

“In addition, a wave of technology is coursing through the industry: not only AI but robotics too. Sustainability measures are now tied up a lot more with politics and that will affect the speed of change.”

As in many European countries, print businesses with ageing owners are facing succession crises because the industry still lacks the visibility to appeal to younger people. “Those printers in their sixties find that their children don’t always want to carry on in the family business, so they merge their businesses with another, which adds…