The recent IMI Europe Ink Jet Conference, held in Lisbon, featured a number of speakers who identified key growth trends in the ink-jet industry, in particular textile and ceramic tile printing, as well as disruptive technologies including waterless ink-jet.

Howard Baldwin of Fujifilm Dimatix stated that there are currently 600 ceramic tile printing ink-jet print lines in situ and estimated that 500 more systems will be sold in 2012, adding an estimate of 10,000 ceramic tile decorating lines internationally which could benefit from ink-jet systems, and that half of these will convert by 2015.

Meanwhile, Konica Minolta Inkjet Technologies president Akiyoshi Ohno estimated added value by printing in the textile industry to be around €40bn (￡34bn), and Stork Prints's Jos Notermans said digital printing will make up around 14 percent of textile printing.

Twenty-one speakers gave sessions at the IMI conference, attended by over 110 delegates.