GEC is the only exhibition, together with Drupa, which offers a complete overview of systems, machinery and equipment for graphic arts and converting, and is listed as one of the leading international appointments in the Eumaprint calendar. Eumaprint is the federation that represents the national associations of builders of printing, converting and related machinery and that regulates and coordinates international fairs in the industry. 

Beginning this year, the exhibition will be held every four years based on the new international trade fair calendar that has been adopted to keep abreast of the ever faster pace of technological innovation. 

GEC 2003 has won over suppliers of technology for the graphic arts and paper converting industries: as of 30 September 2001, well ahead of the exhibition itself, 300 companies have confirmed their participation, booking about 50% of the available area. 

GEC is an important reference point not only for Italy, one of the richest and most dynamic European markets, but also for a wide geographical area including Southern Europe, the Mediterranean basin, the emerging economies in Central-South America, Balkans, Eastern Europe and Russia. 

As confirmation of the exhibitions prestige, IFRA, the most authoritative international company for research applied to the newspaper industry, has chosen GEC 2003 to hold the annual Ifra Italia congress, the most important event in the field. It is organised in collaboration with FIEG (Italian Federation of Newspaper Publishers) and ASIG (Italian Association of Newspaper Printers).
GEC 2003 will devote ample space to established printing and converting technology as well as new technologies for pre-press, digital printing, large format printing and in general, all systems directed at the world of communications. In this way, a new type of visitor joins the traditional public. 
Visitors to GEC 2003 will be:
?printers and binders
?paper converters and packaging producers
?transformers of paper and cardboard
?publishing houses, publishers of dailies and periodicals
?advertising and communication agencies and studios
?photographers and studios specialising in photography and photo retouching 
?press houses and services
?copy centres
?in-house printing centres in large-scale companies and institutions. 

Exhibition sectors

• Systems, equipment, softwares and products for conventional pre-press

• Systems, equipment, softwares and products for digital pre-press (Computer-to-Film, Computer-to-Plate, Computer-to-Cylinder, Computer-to-FlexoPlate, Computer-to-Sleeve).

• Digital systems for data management, filing and transfer. 
  Machinery, systems and equipment for the paper, cardboard and plastic film industry. 
• Paper and plastic substrates, inks, varnishes and chemical products for printing and converting. 
• Machinery, equipment, systems for publishing, newspapers and commercial printing and packaging with procedures for letterpress, flexography, offset, roto-gravure, silk-screen, chalcography, olography, tampon printing and others. 
• Digital printing systems (Computer-to-Press, Computer-to-Print, Computer-to-Paper, Book on Demand) and large format ink-jet printing.
• Machinery, equipment, systems for firms, continuous forms, notebooks, notepads, labels and security printing. 
• Automatic systems for in line monitoring and control and laboratory control instruments. 
• Machinery, systems, equipment for coating, resin coating, lamination, embossing, and reel cutting and winding. 
• Machinery, systems, equipment and materials for converting, binding, finishing, wrapping and dispatching. 
• Machinery, systems, equipment for converting flexible and rigid packaging, for board converting and tissue products. 
• Systems and equipment for palletization, lifting and conveyance. 
• Engineering, plant design, consultancy and service companies.
• Associations, schools, trade press.