IPA Vice President Giovanni Hoepli’s Speech at the 35th International Publishers Congress

Good morning everyone,

Thank you all for being here on this second day of this 35th International Publishers Congress. Thank you to our Malaysian colleagues for bringing us all together here and for the excellent welcome so far.

Ladies and gentlemen,

You may know that I come from a publishing family. The publishing house carries my family name. Ulrico Hoepli. Ulrico Hoepli being not Italian but Swiss. Anyway, that is a different story.

The Hoepli family business and IPA go back a long way. 130 years ago, the company's founder, Ulrico Hoepli, was at the 1st International Publishers Congress in Paris in 1896 and also 120 years ago, he took part in the 5th International Publishers Congress, in Milan, in 1906. The brother of my great-great-grandfather, Ulrico Hoepli, hosted one of the social gatherings during that Milan Congress. Back then many attendees at the Congress were family businesses. A tradition that continued until the latter half of the last century. In the past, we were a family of families. Congresses would be the occasion for wives and children to come.

I attended 4 Congresses: in 1992 New Delhi; 1996 Barcelona; 2004 Berlin: and London in 2016.

Family has always meant a lot to me. And right now family means a lot to me. I would like to dedicate this speech to my father, Ulrico, who passed away just under a month ago.

Because you all here are also my family. This occasion is about bringing us closer together. And we need to be close.

The theme of our congress is 'Publishing Intelligence: Sustaining Forward'. The world of publishing has changed many times since movable type was created and industrialized. Publishers, in all our diversity, have found new ways to use new technologies to achieve a very simple mission. Get the best books to the right readers.

This is publishing intelligence. We have engaged with every technological change. And we have done that to sustain forward. And I know I won't stop. I know you won't stop. I know we won't stop.

Yesterday's sessions demonstrated it. Last night's Prix Voltaire ceremony underlined it. The sessions today will go even further.

Ladies and gentlemen, my book family, when I was elected as Vice President of the IPA, I insisted it was thanks to teamwork. And we need that teamwork now. We need that combined publishing intelligence:

To seize the opportunity of AI while protecting copyright;
To protect the freedom to publish;
To promote a sustainable business that cherishes our planet;
To bring joy to children and adults, boys and girls, opening a book full of magic;
To support each other in the hardest times;
To celebrate each other at the best of times.

Ladies and gentlemen, my extended publishing family, thank you for your support. For your support of IPA. For your support of our Malaysian colleagues at MABOPA.

I hope we can keep working as a team, to use our publishing intelligence, to sustain forwards.

Thank you