Together with the Bundesverband Druck und Medien and Fogra, Bernd Zipper, CEO of zipcon consulting, launched the Online Print Symposium in 2013. It was designed as an event devoted entirely to online print, from the business model through to the technical implementation. That closeness to research shaped the character of OPS from the very first edition: grounded in expertise rather than in promotion. Nothing about that has changed since.

Everything else has grown: from the Hilton Munich Airport by way of the Science Congress Center in Garching to the Alte Kongresshalle, and from a German-speaking industry gathering to an internationally recognised platform that draws speakers and attendees from all over the world. In 2026 the symposium became the ONLINE PRINT SUMMIT (OPS).

The organizers are zipcon consulting GmbH from Essen and Verband Druck und Medien Beratung GmbH near Munich. One of them comes from strategy consulting, the other is rooted in association work. Bernd Zipper and Jens Meyer are jointly responsible for the concept, the organisation and the direction of the event, and almost every decision is taken by the two of them together.

Since 2026 an advisory board with industry representatives from several markets has also been advising the people behind OPS. It meets several times in the run-up, contributes topics and reviews the programme critically. Not as a figurehead, but so that what makes it onto the stage is what genuinely moves the industry forward.