Celebrating the Print Industry’s Finest with the IPIA Recognising Excellence Awards 2024

Championing community

The Community Champion category acknowledges IPIA members who demonstrate exceptional dedication and support for their local or business communities. This encompasses their efforts in assisting local businesses, charities, or community groups in achieving their goals, as well as initiating commendable community support projects themselves. This is a perfect category for Konica Minolta to sponsor as we are also passionately devoted to supporting the community and social value ourselves.

Delivering social value means creating additional social, economic, and environmental well-being beyond the core service value. At Konica Minolta, this is a key part of our ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) framework, ensuring we are accountable to the communities where we live and work while delivering products and services to customers. Our commitment to people, places, and the environment is embedded in our global operations and is equally crucial locally. UK employees are encouraged to dedicate one workday each year to volunteering, with a focus on understanding and addressing the most pressing issues in our communities, collaborating for the greatest impact.

Konica Minolta’s support for the Yorkshire-based children’s Cancer charity Candlelighters is an excellent example. Recently members of our team took part in a fund-raising Ready Steady Cook competition organised by the charity at Leeds City College and we are supporting the charity’s annual Christmas Party by donating toys and other gifts for Christmas boxes that are shared with the children.

Another great example is the recent Girls in Tech event which was held at our Client Engagement Centre (CEC) in Houghton Regis in Bedfordshire. Held in partnership with TechGirls, Year 8 students from local schools split into teams to create posters to promote and inspire women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and maths. The posters were then designed and printed using Konica Minolta’s devices.  

Recognition from our peers  

Along with sponsoring the awards, it is also exciting to be recognised by other print industry professionals and Konica Minolta is very proud to have been nominated for the ‘Associate of the Year’ and ‘Innovation Masterclass’ categories this year.

‘Associate of the Year’ includes suppliers of print, finishing, software, ancillary technology, consumables, and services to the print industry. It recognises associates who have supported customers in adapting and thriving in a rapidly changing sector and have demonstrated innovation with new technology and media.

The ’Innovation Masterclass’ award celebrates the innovation, diversification, and resilience of an IPIA member. It recognises how the business has adapted, diversified, or used technology to ensure growth and success, showcasing novel approaches to developing print technology or services that enhance the industry's adaptability, productivity, and efficiency.
Whilst nominations are anonymous, the details are made public. The ‘Associate of the Year’ for instance says: "Konica Minolta have really stepped up in the last year through improving their product portfolio, marketing effort and offering fantastic support to their customers through innovation and end quality of products. We now see them as a critical business partner in our own development and diversification into new markets with their outstanding products and service. It is clear they see the IPIA as an important industry body and interface into the print market."

The ’Innovation Masterclass’ nomination reads: "Konica Minolta’s new showroom has become a great place to highlight the work they produce for the industry. Also making possible for events such as ‘Girls in Tech’, which aimed to support students deciding on their GCSE options and encourage them to think about career paths in STEM sectors, which shows Konica Minolta’s commitment to community incentives, all whilst showing off their impressive portfolio."

The IPIA Recognising Excellence Awards 2024 winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on 3rd December - we wish all the nominees good luck and look forward to the results!