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Good morning.
Last week I wrote that Jan and I were on our way to the US - and we indeed were. However, when Jan and I arrived in Amsterdam, the US security officer told us that we didn't have the right papers, despite checking everything you could even imagine. So the US tour had to be postponed - and we are now excited to see when we can actually leave!

The biggest surprise for me, at least, was the chaos of finding out precisely what is possible and what's not, but that's life in the pandemic!

But let's dig into this week's 'Sunday AM' - and again, thank you for the good feedback!

Morten B. Reitoft

BUSINESS

Today's story is quite interesting - also from a printing industry perspective. It's about a Danish/Global company foundation with the name of Egmont Group. Egmont was founded back in 1878 and was a printing company like so many other printing companies. However, in 1948, just a few years after World War II, Mr. Dan Folke was sent to Walt Disney to negotiate a license agreement for Scandinavia. The deal came through, and in the past seventeen years, Egmont Group has published books and magazines with popular Disney characters. Quite successful and today in countries all over the world. In April 2021, Disney and Egmont extended their agreement - and the successful relationship continues. This story is interesting for several reasons. If we go back to 1948, Dan Folke was employed by Egmont, at the time named Gutenberghus (Gutenberg house). He was born in 1906, and his career gave him positions as a composer, author, director for a famous theater (Bellevue) and later responsible for getting the first Disney deal landed. This is an example of a printing company that probably was looking for opportunities to get more work. Today, the company is a billion euros business, and as a foundation, it gives donations to children and children-related projects. This is also a story about how international relations can take you to the next stage, and I just love this story. To me, this also serves as an inspiration to all of us - and I hope you found it great to read - and maybe to learn from as well?

TECHNOLOGY

Most of you have probably already heard or read about Apple Silicon - some of you have maybe even invested in one of the new M1 macs available. I mention the Apple Silicon in this 'Sunday AM' because Apple and the ARM platform may change many things also in the printing industry. Processing speed is so important in everything, and every time processers have taken quantum leaps ahead, it opens up new products and services. Since the M1 isn't available as an OEM product, it will not be something you see in the equipment you may invest in. Still, the Macs will be used more and more for heaving processing needs in applications you use, such as imposition, planning, rendering, data processing, and more. So keep an eye open. I am a Mac user, and the M1 notebook I have is the fastest Mac I have ever had. The $999 Macbook Air is faster than my $5,000 iMac - and at one point annoying; on the other side, it makes me happy that Moore's law still is in effect. With faster and faster processors, we will see software solutions that today are only available in hardware. That will open for faster development, faster updates, and way more competition to your benefit.

MUSIC

This week's music is truly international. The UK-based musicians Above and Beyond have worked numerous times with the amazing singer Zoë Johnston, and this time the remix is done by Alpha9 or Ary - as the Russian DJ and producer are known. I started playing piano when I was five years old and invested in my first synthesizer when I was thirteen. I have always been fascinated by electronic instruments' sound and how computers can be SO creative working with. I hope you like this song.

BOOKS

I haven't had time to read any new books since last Sunday, but I want to share something with you regardless. I have always wanted to write books - and it's kind of strange that I haven't been able to. I write letters, articles, ideas, all the time - and I have even two almost finished books on my computer that I wrote a couple of years ago—one about web-to-print and one about pricing. I would love to finish these, but maybe I am afraid that nobody would buy them, like them, or maybe I have that pressure on myself. Since I started INKISH also done a few presentations at various events, and I am pretty good at it, in my mind - but I never get invites to speak at international events, so maybe writing a book could establish me as an authority? Who knows? I know many people who have written books, and I have even read some of them - and when reading books, it gives such great insight, since you can read, consume, and interpret at your own speed. I will finish the book about pricing soon - I have to. And if you know of any interested in me giving a speech - feel free to reach out - I am, after all, editor of INKISH :-)

Politics

I am aware that politics is a topic that can turn people against each other - but friends. We need to be able to speculate and talk about everything, so I take my chances again. The conflict between Israel and Palestine is devastating. It's been going on for years, and regardless, it seems like it will never end. I read a story in a newspaper during the week - not related to the conflict in Israel/Palestine. Two people said; we live fine with our neighbors regardless of our different skin colors, political views, religion, etc. If it weren't because of politics and politicians, we would not even speculate about the differences. Conflicts that have lasted for decades can't easily go away, of course, but nobody except the extremists on both sides of a conflict gains anything from conflicts. Whether the conflicts around the world can be resolved or not comes down to being brave enough to accept differences between people and have a will to co-exist respectfully. I feel so sorry for all the civilians that always become the first victims in any war or conflict, and I feel sorry that we as human beings aren't able to find solutions, so we can all live side by side without too many problems. In the current conflict in the middle-east, I am also sorry that media generally report almost impossible to find unbiased information. Some are pro-Israel, and some are pro-Palestine - and I believe maybe the 'truth' is somewhere in between. One thing that I, however, can't understand and that is how any country/state can accept to have para-military groups/organizations that don't act under some law. That is, unfortunately, something seen more and more and that I believe makes conflicts even more difficult to solve!

TRENDS

Why at all being interested in trends? Most can easily imagine that if trends are right, then the trend can be used to forecast consumer behavior and therefore also be used to plan products, services, developments, and activities. When the former COO John Leahy of Airbus presented the aircraft manufacturers' ten-years forecast, it was very interesting since the demand for airplanes (of course) is directly aligned with developments in BNP. Combined with many other data, the aircraft manufacturer used mega-trends to forecast demand on a large scale. With long production times of aircraft, and of course, also, huge investments, companies need the best possible tools to plan. How companies in the printing industry forecast, and what tools they use, I don't know? But I can't help thinking that a lot of technology is driven more by using spreadsheets on current orders and demand than long-time speculations. The currently dominating mega-trends favor digital print (if print at all), personalized, sustainability, shorter time-to-market, and many of the things we see today - but what's next?

At INKISH, we almost daily talk about the next thing.
See you next Sunday!

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