'How many drupas have you done now?' is a common question heard in the aisles of the Messe Düsseldorf as the behemoth print show emerges, like a celestial object, for its fortnightly stint every four years. The answers typically vary between one ('ah, you're new') to eight ('ah, you're Sophie Matthews-Paul'), with rare expressions of surprise reserved for those very few who have made it to, say, 13 (venerable journalist Kurt Wolf).

This was my second, but from even this limited vantage point drupa 2012 had a different flavour. The big news heading into the show was the emergence of Benny Landa's Nanotechnology. Two things are clear about Landa: he is driven by innovation, not money, and he understands marketing. The Landa Corporation amphitheatre was packed for each of its presentation sessions, hosting hundreds of attendees and featuring live demonstrations of the S- and W- series presses, along with excellent AV visualisation of the ink lay-down process.

Key to the Nanography process is NanoInk, nano-pigment particles which are ejected to a precise destination on the heated blanket conveyor; the water carrying the minuscule colourant droplets evaporates, leaving a dry polymeric film which Landa claims is half the thickness of offset images, and significantly neater around the edges. This image is, without pre-treatment or post-drying, applied to the paper, bonding instantly. The advantages are obvious in terms of speed, double-sided printing and immediate finishing, and control is also a significant factor in the Landa equipment.

Using a tablet-style UI and thinking through the challenges in the operator environment have made a printer which – dare I say it – is actually quite sexy, as well as accessible. Displaying key status updates in large fonts for visibility across the printroom, for example, recognises how printers' production manpower has reduced, and enables a single operator to control multiple machines much more easily.

But when the Landa effect had worn off, the most significant development was the mass coming-to-market of Memjet. The Océ-branded Project Velocity from Canon, the hitherto unnamed Fuji Xerox product from Caldera and the Xanté Excelagraphic 4200 were all on display; while they have been some time in the making, Memjet's vice-president Jeff Bean says that it was always meant to be a partner product (or enabling technology, if you choose to see it that way), and that these are natural product lead times. The jaw-dropper is the speed at which these machines produce; Velocity, in its present form, can output 500 A0 prints per hour.

Key to Memjet's rapidity is the creation of a single 222.8mm (8.77") print-head with less silicone density than competing technologies, and changes the cost dynamic in key high-speed markets like CAD/GIS and, potentially, signage. The argument becomes, of course, about cost over the product's lifespan, but Memjet's ambition is to create a 'smaller footprint in a digital world'. "Super-fast affordable colour shouldn't be a surcharge," adds Bean.

Project Velocity was only part of the Canon-Océ line-up, whose big news was the finalisation of the merger process. Realignment is expected to be very fast at the territory and channel levels, but Canon's messaging for drupa focused on its Insight Report. David Preskett, European Professional Print director for Canon Europe, is particularly passionate about the future of print in a multi-channel world, and the role that Canon's products – and services, like its Essential Business Builder Program – can have as print adapts itself to modern life. This doesn't just mean how information typically consumed through print is redistributing onto electronic media, but also tailoring products like ColorWave to be more of a 'business in a box', with fast ROI and improved media compatibility.

An analysis of major digital developments at drupa would be far from complete without comment on HP's additions to the Indigo range, especially the 10000. While the print giant made the vast majority of its announcements before drupa, its stand – which was packed, with some 70 engines on display – enjoyed a huge amount of attention for its demonstrations of this particular seven-colour B2 machine.

While the Indigo 10000 differs from some of the machines mentioned above in that it is now market-ready, the marked commonality in these major announcements is the creation of machines that are broader and more versatile, but with a divergence in terms of the underlying technical assembly that drives them. This is representative of the general movement of print in new directions, and the drive to satisfy consumers who now print what they need, rather than buying as a commodity.