Once a year, the Frankfurter Buchmesse becomes the Global City of Ideas: the most important international trading place for content, from novels and children’s books to academic databases. Publishing professionals from around the world meet here with partners from the technology sector and from related creative industries, such as film and games; it is here that new cooperation agreements and business models find their first inspiration. At the same time, it’s also a huge cultural event which, for five days every year, turns Frankfurt on the Main into the centre of the international media world. The book fair has long maintained an ardent commitment to the idea of “crossing borders”. For more than 20 years, in its B2B activities, Frankfurt has been open to the digital transition and it’s constantly developing new services and products, such as the Self-Publishing Area, and the Frankfurt Hot Spots – the meeting places for digital innovators. Frankfurt has also been transcending borders since 1976 with its biggest crowd-puller: the invitation to a different country each year to be the Guest of Honour; every country also organizes an extensive international translation funding programme.
With the launch of the Frankfurter Buchmesse Business Club, the fair now offers the ideal business environment for companies, publishers, entrepreneurs, pioneers, experts and visionaries. A prestigious programme of conferences ensures that Frankfurt is the leading source of inspiration for content experts from around the world. During the week of the book fair, national and international events are held, addressing the major topics of the industry. These include Frankfurt Rights Meeting and THE MARKETS Conference. Other elements of the Business Club include networking, consulting, guided tours and business lounges. THE ARTS+, the interactive business festival devoted to the future of the artistic, cultural and creative industries, will continue in 2018. THE ARTS+ aims to exploit the potential of digitisation for the creative economy, while developing new business ideas.
