"Print works" and "print is dead" – these are two views often heard and seemingly incompatible. Showing what print could be like in the digital age is the aim of the new "weiss'raum" concept in Hall 4.0, set to be made available to exhibitors and trade visitors for the first time in 2009. In this interview, Bernd Zipper, technology and strategy consultant from Essen, explains what's behind the concept.

Frankfurt Book Fair: Bernd Zipper, why do we need the weiss'raum?

The Frankfurt Book Fair is the international fair of ideas and contents. We are currently experiencing a fundamental change in the medial environment. The printed word is no longer the sole medium. But in the variety of interaction between new digital and established traditional channels of communication, it can exploit totally new potentials. The Frankfurt Book Fair is the ideal place to discuss and describe this, and the weiss'raum is the appropriate presentation concept – for exhibitors and trade visitors equally.

What is the idea behind the weiss'raum?

Different groups come together at the Fair, for whom we provide a space – a "raum" - in the literal sense for their ideas and their creativity. This space must be open to all, that means it must be international, neutral and flexible in its usability. A place to meet, a place for expert debate, a place for examining and dealing with contents and ideas. Visitors, exhibitors, professionals from the media industry, visionaries and practicians can get together in the weiss'raum. Here, questions will be asked – and what's far more important: there will be answers.

And where does the name come from?

The weiss'raum makes use of design principles borrowed from typography. Weissraum – white space – is the unprinted part of a page. When set well, it improves readability. It helps the reader to concentrate, and so to grasp important contents more specifically and faster. That is why the weiss'raum is being kept totally in white – clear, flexible and with no distractions. The contents will be the topical issues of the day and generally presented by projector. In this way, the weiss'raum serves as a metaphor for the Book Fair's creative space.

What is your view of the media future?

The now and the future of the media are non-linear. In the past, we had the concept of one-dimensional development along a time shaft determined by technological progress. That is now passé – we are seeing the integration of very different ideas, technologies and contents.We have to learn how to deal with this complexity, to exhaust its potentials and to get our bearings. In a venue like the weiss'raum, everyone can meet up and contribute their different knowledge: producers of media technologies, content providers, agencies, those responsible for company communication activities, budding and established specialists in media production and the consumers of media products.

So what does this media future mean for media production?

Many experts predict that print is close to death. I say: print as we have known it in the past is already dead. But print lives and grows. And it does so where print technologies make use of the new opportunities of the internet in production and marketing. Where the printed word is a powerful part of a synergetic media diversity. In the weiss'raum, this can be shown with practical examples already in use, or on the basis of concrete concepts for the future. Here, manufacturers are called upon to provide the crossmedial publication technology, media companies to implement integrated publication, those with an interest in the media and journalists to articulate their requirements. For them, the weiss'raum will be a meeting place and an inspiration.

Information on the concept, topics, programme and opportunities for companies and partners to take part will be available from 8 May on the website www.weiss-raum.com. For queries on terms and conditions and individual options for use, please contact Sandra Winter. (sw@weiss-raum.com)