FUTURE BOOK FORUM 2025

Reinventing Publishing Ecosystems
Peter is a business futurist, innovative strategist, bestselling author, and academic professor. He helps business leaders to thrive in today’s markets of AI-enabled tech and human possibility, inspired by the world's most innovative companies.

Peter has been the moderator of the Canon Future Book Forum since the start of the event series, bringing in his experience and expertise as an adviser on the future of business. This year, Peter explored the approach of designing new business ecosystems to reinvent the book publishing business.

Business Ecosystems Inspired by Nature
Saskia is one of Europe's leading biomimicry professionals. With a variety of Fortune 500 companies, she catalyses innovation by enabling others to explore life’s design strategies to develop new ideas into real business opportunities and value models.

Saskia asked, “How can you design your network of partners, suppliers, customers, and competitors in a way that mimics the resilience, adaptability, and interdependence found in natural ecosystems?”, showing how biomimicry can offer answers and inspiration.

Business Ecosystems – Redefining Value Creation in the Book Industry
Julian is a Professor of Strategic Management at the University of Applied Sciences in Berlin, and the co-founder of Ecosystemizer, a knowledge and advisory platform for business ecosystems. Ecosystemizer provides companies with management concepts and strategy consulting, helping them navigate business ecosystems with ease.

In his keynote, Julian explored how ecosystem thinking is reshaping the future of business. He explained why traditional linear models are no longer sufficient and how companies can unlock new growth by embracing interconnected, human-centred value creation.

Consumer First – How adidas Is Using Both Established and Fundamentally New Ecosystems to Create Relevant and Lasting Values for Its Consumers
Christian leads adidas’ Global Brands Project Management Office, an inhouse consulting team, delivering both strategic business initiatives as well as tech transformation programs for the sporting goods brand.

Creating within ecosystems across different sports categories has been part of adidas’ DNA for multiple decades. In his presentation, Christian demonstrated how re -inventing those existing ecosystems constantly as well as tapping into new, hitherto unknown territories is essential for adidas in the race to become the world’s best sports brand.

The New Print Revolution – How AI, Local Production, and the Creator Economy Are Reshaping the Future of Publishing
platform that is redefining manufacturing with its operations in over 30 countries. In 2021, Gelato raised $240m at over $1B in valuation.

At Future Book Forum 2025, Henrik explored how AI, local print networks, and the creator economy are reshaping demand and creating new, scalable growth opportunities across the publishing and print industry.

Publishing Reimagined – Unlocking Value Through Ecosystems and Strategic Partnerships
As CEO of Nahdet Misr Publishing House and EdVentures, Dalia Ibrahim is reshaping publishing and education in MENA – advancing cultural innovation and EdTech to drive learning and youth empowerment.

Dalia explored how smart partnerships and ecosystem design unlock value beyond content – driving innovation, impact, and growth across publishing and learning. (Case Study: Nahdet Misr)

Key Take Aways from the Future Book Forum
Sonia is an entrepreneur, interpreter, photographer, writer, social activist and a lecturer. She established one of the biggest publishing entities in Poland, hosts many functions in the Polish book industry and is the President of FEP (Federation of European Publishers).

Sonia linked the Future Book Forum discussions with the local and global future opportunities identified by the Federation of European Publishers and their impact on the future of the book industry.

Closing the Tech Skills Gap Through Ecosystem Synergies
Ayman is the CEO of Sprints, a revolutionary AI platform that generates personalised gamified learning. He co-founded several deeptech startups, including Avelabs, acquired by Fortune 500 company Arrow.

Together with Nahdet Misr, Sprints harnesses AI to help young talent unlock potential – bridging skills to real jobs and driving growth through collaborative, future-ready ecosystems.

BOOXITE – A New Ecosystem for Sustainable Book Publishing
Hermann is a digital publishing expert with many years of experience within the book-publishing industry. As Product Manager at pagina GmbH, he is currently responsible for the development of the innovative book production platform BOOXITE.

This presentation showcased BOOXITE, a digital book production platform aimed at SME publishers, as a new ecosystem that enables a collaborative approach to innovative and sustainable book publishing and printing.

More Than Compliance: The Digital Product Passport
Dominik is a seasoned expert in the print and media industry. Guided by his conviction that the future of print lies in the dual transformation of digitalisation and sustainability, he is committed to advancing innovative solutions.

More Than Compliance: The Digital Product Passport presents an opportunity for brands – enabling transparency, storytelling, customer engagement, and new business models.

AI + Print-on-Demand: The Next Publishing Revolution
Rhapsody is a global creative and production solutions agency combining AI-driven efficiency and human creativity to deliver impactful campaigns. For over 30 years, Andy helped brands, publishers, and retailers adapt to changing markets, reduce costs, and unlock new creative possibilities.

Andy pointed out how AI, print-on-demand, and digital publishing converge through intelligent ecosystems to transform creativity, production, and sustainability.

Building the Smart Publishing Ecosystem
As Vice President of AI at Rhapsody, Alexander brings to bear years of experience at the forefront of innovation and technology.

In his talk, Alexander highlighted how creativity, automation, and tools like Engine 2.0 connect authors, publishers, and printers to redefine modern publishing workflows.

Books + AI: A Future of Abundance
Julia is former CEO of €35M retailer “Dussmann das Kulturkaufhaus” and €50M publisher “Ullstein Buchverlage”, now pioneering AI-driven innovation for books. Laura co-founded her first startup, a B2B learning platform, right after university and is now exploring AI’s potential for strengthening reading culture.

In AI-powered ecosystems, books can evolve from static into dynamic, personalised, interactive experiences. Julia and Laura explored key questions in the book industry, such as: how can books conquer digital spaces? What new formats can reach new audiences?

Shifting the Paradigm: How Can a Print Business Apply AI to Seize its Blue Ocean Business Opportunity?
Ian led computer print industry research projects in Europe for two decades, introducing multifunction printers, eForms, Managed Print Services and office security. As CEO of Newton Day, he is restyling the world of business with AI.

From weak supply to fragile demand – print’s future lies in linking creativity to profit. In his roundtable, Ian discussed how AI, ecosystems, and new business models unlock growth.

The Future of Value Creation: Combining Data Sources with Next-Gen Layout Software
For 10 years, WirbelWild has focused on visually and content-wise ambitious print products. To achieve this, the company has developed its own award-winning software, which is now used worldwide.

In their talk, Deborah and Tobias covered combining and curating data to create new products and achieve better content utilisation, exploring the key role of layout software and the interfaces required. Experience, opportunities, obstacles.

Can We Implement the Sustainability Ideas of the Publishing 2030 Accelerator with the Help of Ecosystem Thinking?
Jörg is a thought leader, keen networker and believer in state-of-the-art digital technologies. With his 20 years of experience in sales and marketing and his passion for printed books, he supports publishers and book printers alike to shape the future of the book industry together.

The Publishing 2030 Accelerator was launched as a one-year project to test early-stage ideas that would positively contribute to the wider publishing sector’s sustainability. Jörg worked with the participants to find out how the book industry can build on the initial outputs of the initiative and take the next steps, and how ecosystem thinking can support this.