Early doors at InPrint. In my hunt for the first caffeine jolt of the day I am relieved to come across Agfa, who can normally be relied upon for a decent coffee. Tom Cloots – for two years the company's industrial man-on-point – is pumped already. "We want to share our knowledge here with integrators and partners," he tells me. "That's who we're looking to meet at the show."

By all accounts, Agfa will get its wish. Initial reports from the show floor indicate that InPrint has done its homework when it comes to attracting the right visitors: many are from the manufacturing community and few are from traditional wide-format stables looking for a new revenue stream. It's too early for numbers, of course. But this will be refreshing news for those wanting a break from the typical trade show issue.

Ink – or fluid – emerges as a champion theme on day one of this emergent show. Agfa's focus is on low migration, essential for food and drink packaging production on polypropylene. While it can't talk about too many applications, direct-to-shape examples from Wifag-Polytype and the results of a 600-cap-per-minute bottling application are available to view. Direct-to-substrate is reflected, too, in Ecogenio's 1.6m UV-curable prototyping printer, amongst other exhibitors.

The show hasn't been without its launches. Kiian Group's digital wing is majoring on its new K-One ink. Intended for transfer printing to blended and synthetic fibres on machines using Kyocera print-heads, the vendors is looking for uptake in garments, fashion, promotional goods and décor. Meanwhile, its 'Specialty' division has also launched in preparation for InPrint; even with its missing letter, this recognises Kiian's heritage in screen-printing and its continued prominence in functional and industrial workflows.

Xaar is also spreading its wings. Its updated print-head appears to the basis for a series of market-specific technologies, the first of which is the 1002 AMp for advanced manufacturing. Director of marketing Mark Alexander recognises the complexities associated with having a vast array of potential end uses.

"Look at the inks used in the high-speed sintering process, which are IR-sensitive," he explains. "You're using infra-red to heat powder and ink and sinter it. In other situations there are particles in the fluid that need to remain suspended, such as silver nano particle inks for the production of solar cells." In this process, which Xaar has explored with Schmitt, the machine prints 32μ lines and metalises over the top to provide connectivity. "Then there are UV-sensitive fluids for nano-imprint lithography for CMOS devices and hard disc drives with molecular imprinting."

This range of final purposes underpins what's really going on at InPrint. Everyone is hunting for a new way to apply their core or base technology to new areas. For software vendors, such as Caldera and ColorGate, the cross-compatibility of their product simply aids and abets these applications: where control and efficiency are amongst the key indicators, workflow and reporting are fundamental tools in the armoury. In Xaar's case, it's based on a product roadmap that rewards its early vision of, and first-hand experience in, this market – one that is waking up to partnerships.

Yet again, though, we are asked to define industrial. It's easy to see, at InPrint, how industrial can be all things to all people: any of the inks, software, equipment, techniques and technologists themselves could be applied to all manner of manufacturing situations. But what about decoration and personalisation?

An exasperated industry contact provides me with the day's final thought. We agree on a broad definition of 'industrial print': where printing is added as part of an industrial line to add function or essential decoration to complete its purpose. Then we consider the example of the Ikea table. When customised at the store, it's not industrial: that's a consumer application. What, then, about a decorative canvas at the same store? It's produced in a manufacturing line and the decoration is added to the canvas separately to the assembly. Is it not, then, industrial? Must an item be sold in an 'industrial' way, such as business-to-business, to qualify? And when we are trying to move away from volume as a key moniker, how does decoration produced at industrial volume fit in?

InPrint is providing a talking point for these issues and giving many vendors some much-needed extra-industry perspective. In a way, the definition is irrelevant: what's important is that we are finding new processes where print plays a visceral, irreplaceable role.