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Visitors to London may have already noticed that London’s buses are no longer accepting cash in payment for the fare. Later this year the same will apply to travelling on the London underground as the ubiquitous Oyster Card becomes the main method of payment for both residents and visitors in London travelling on the Transport for London system.

Some years ago when I was chairman of the European Lithographic Suppliers Alliance, I sat in a room in Germany hosting a meeting of the organisation. We had members from Germany, Italy, France, Scandinavia, Spain, Holland, Ireland and the UK.

I am often surprised how little about the history of the printing industry, that some of today’s recruits seem to know. I suppose there is not time to dwell too much on old technology in today’s graphic design and media courses at our centres of learning. In fact for some I suppose old technology is a Compugraphic typesetter or an Apple IIci.

The recent spate of strikes by taxi drivers across Europe to protest at the arrival of the clever Uber taxi app from the USA, reminds me a lot of the challenges we have faced in the printing industry.

News that a supercomputer has been able to fool experts into thinking it was a 13 year old boy and pass the Alan Turing test of artificial intelligence is a reminder of how fast technology is changing and will continue to shape our lives and workplaces. Technology has certainly had a big impact on the printing industry where I have seen many changes since I first joined it in 1976.

Increasing use of tablets and iPads is robbing children of their dexterity and learning skills according to a report from the UK’s Association of Teachers and Lecturers at their recent annual conference in Manchester. It seems that despite having the ability to swipe a screen, today’s infants are losing the ability to play with building bricks and learning to write as a result of early addiction to tablets.

There was a huge amount of confidence in Benny Landa shown by printers from around the world when they saw Nanography^® unveiled at drupa in 2012. Over 400 of them saw enough in a short visit to Dusseldorf to invest in the future technology by placing a letter of intent to purchase a new Nanographic Printing^® press and place a deposit to secure their place in the queue.

As a member of the Star Trek generation, the adventures of Captain James Kirk, Commander Spock and the crew of the Starship Enterprise were a highlight of my week’s teenage TV viewing. I would watch awestruck at some of the technology they used, like the handheld communicators and tricorder mapping system which have turned into today’s reality of smartphones and Google Earth. It seemed so futuristic at the time.