The week kicked off as usual with the Ink Jet Academy course. Around 30 were keen enough to learn more about this technology to get up for a 9am start on a Sunday morning!
Al Keene, President of IMI introduced the conferences, held at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Lisbon, Portugal.
Mr Ohno of Konica-Minolta was the first Japanese printhead manufacturer to speak. Maybe because of their photographic heritage he stopped talking to pose for the photo.
This started a trend, so here Mr Tachibana of SII Printek also stops and waves.
There were many new announcements at the conference, but perhaps the most interesting was a description of the Kodak STREAM continuous ink jet technology under development, given by Dr Gil Hawkins.
Highlight of each day has to be the receptions - a chance to network with other attendees. On the left Sally-Ann Harrod of IMI Europe wonders which tray of local delicacies to eat next, while right Gerry LaPorte of the US Secret Service talks to his local fan club - the ladies from the Portuguese Police Forensic lab.
And why not laugh? Everyone has a great time at IMI Conferences!
But seriously..... international visionary Mark Hanley of IT Strategies explains why he stayed for two days of the conference this year.
Another new announcement was Ilford's self-seal media. After printing you pass the coated paper through hot rollers and it self-laminates.
Dr Alan Hudd of Xennia pauses briefly during his presentation to reseat his dentures. OK, now we're square for the photographer's stand being 'rebuilt' one evening!
Dr James Balcerski of Sartomer did a grand job chairing the 1st UV ink jet conference. This was the first time we ran this event in Europe and it proved popular. Everything from monomers to machines in 2 days.
Is UV ink jet just for large plotters selling at $250,000? Maybe not in the future. Here Dr Noguchi of Canon shows samples printed with aqueous UV inks from a low-end bubble jet printer.
It was also the year of white inks. Here Dr Rick Larson of Aellora Digital shows the potential for this breakthrough development to print on a wide range of substrates.
Nigel Caiger of SunJet gave a presentation on the use of UV inks to print food packaging.
Carole Noutary of Sericol manages to keep the audience awake during the morning devoted to UV chemistry.
As usual the food at the Sheraton was great. Looks like this might be these guys first good meal for weeks the way they're hoovering up the food!