But how has the situation of the publishing industry changed during the past 12 months?

Just a few headlines from last month can illustrate this:

Süddeutsche Zeitung discussed the fact that Apple deleted the app of a swimwear manufacturer because the photos used in the app showed too much naked skin, but at the same time they left a Playboy app untouched.

That shows that there is a big power gap between the big and the small players, and we need to ask ourselves how we can manage to become independent from this phenomenon.

Buchmarkt online reported a few days ago that txtr concluded a sales agreement with Random House, and they argued that »… in the future, only those who offer the best content for a wide variety of different reading devices will have excellent opportunities in this business.«

The growing variety of devices and platforms proves one thing in particular: everybody has to work hard to assess the specific characteristics of their offer and keep it flexible. Everybody in this business has to develop effective processes that cater for many formats. The only way to make this possible is by standardizing and harmonizing business processes.

Börsenblatt reported that some players in the special interest market are successful with specially prepared and formatted content, and they write that during the SIPA Munich 2010 conference, it became evident that »customers of special interest publishers are only willing to pay for content if this content has been prepared and formatted in such a way that it makes their business processes more efficient. ….«

This illustrates a clear trend that publishers have to tailor their content to the individual needs and benefits of their customers. This can only work if this content is value-added content, and it has to be flexible in terms of how I use it (on which device), where I use it, and when I use it.

On the website of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung we recently read about the »The Indians of the Internet«. That was their headline for the bloggers conference ›re:publica‹. They say that »…there were three parallel live streams, summaries of the speeches on many blogs, thousands of pictures on flickr and of course there was an endless flow of short comments on Facebook and Twitter. In contrast to that, on theater stages and at neighboring venues used for the event, the individual statements made about the current digital situation remained somewhat solitary and unlinked. These statements only regained consciousness when digitally rehashed. Something along those lines was probably meant to be the motto of this year’s bloggers conference: ›Nowhere‹: that’s an equation that doesn’t work, because ›Now‹ and ›here‹ together in case of doubt end up being ›nowhere‹.«

Critical distance would be appropriate, but anyway, this development cannot be stopped, and that’s why we all have to interfere in order to take part in decision-making processes.

One of the most interesting pieces of news was published in börsenblatt Spezial | Fachmedien 2010: The headline read »The reader creates his own article structures«. I quote from the article: »Elsevier, with the Article of the Future, revolutionizes scientific publishing. Elsevier has created a new concept for making available scientific content – the Article of the Future (AoF). What are the characteristics of this new format? The Article of the Future reflects changed user behavior on the Net. It detaches itself from the traditional linear format and offers an integrated, networked navigation that allows the reader to forge his or her own path through the text and the embedded media. Various tabs make it possible to choose the pieces of content that are most interesting. …«

These are some of the many answers to the question ›what has really changed in the past few months? ‹.

The challenges the Publishing Industry is facing are constantly growing. – But facing the options and risks of innovation and development in a focused and forward-looking manner has been and will be the only way to create, promote and make popular new applications, new ways of distributing content, and new options for exploiting content and making it accessible.

All these subjects will be discussed today and tomorrow. We will hear about successful approaches and about lessons learned from less successful approaches.

For the first time we will hear – in such a focused way – about the conceptual and scientific approaches to the questions mentioned above. In my opinion, this is very important. University experts have been familiar with the term RDF (Ressource Description Framework) since quite a while. However, applying RDF to support semantic search has not yet happened in the media industry. But there’s pressure to make it happen.

Participants from past years will perhaps remember that as early as in 2005, the company ‘semantic systems’ told us about their approaches to semantic search. And in 2006, Astrid Funck, a journalist, presented the 3D-Printer (three-dimensional printer), which was discussed in Süddeutsche Zeitung only two weeks ago under the heading ›You are the factory‹: »The Fabbing movement makes it clear that remodeling the world by means of a digital revolution doesn’t stop at mobile phones, the Internet and/or processing data at home.«

And because that is the case, I think we should agree with Laura Dawson, who writes in an article entitled ›What my iPad Told Me‹ (published in her newsletter THE DOWNLOAD): »Consumption is increasingly digital. Discovery is almost wholly digital. Publishers need to recognize this, understand it, and figure out how to make it work for them.«

There are still market actors who believe that ›discovery‹ and innovation is something that ›just happens‹. Today and tomorrow we do not only want to prove that this is wrong but we also want to present solutions to how the challenges imposed on our industry can be met – for the benefit of the user.

I would like to invite you to openly discuss the approaches presented to new solutions, new products and a new way of thinking within the Publishing Industry. I also hope that you’ll make use of the various networking opportunities that this conference offers.

A writer for FAZ.net recently wrote when »Testing the iPad«: »… The iPad may create needs we didn’t realize we had. But the essential question is: does it fit into our lives?«

Let’s keep this critical comment in mind when discussing the new and emerging user needs and the respective solutions.

I wish all of you two exciting, fruitful, and enjoyable days at this exciting venue.

Thank you.