Benny Landa

Biography

Ben Zion (Benny) Landa was born in Poland. When he was two years old, his family emigrated from Europe to Edmonton, Alberta. While in Canada, Landa’s father devised a new camera using bicycle parts and pulleys that captured images directly onto photographic paper, avoiding the need for film.

Landa studied physics and engineering at the Technion in Israel and psychology and literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He later graduated from the London Film School.

Business career

In 1969, Landa began his professional career at CAPS, a micrographics research company. He helped develop a new micrographic product that earned the company a major contract with Rolls-Royce Aero Engine Division and led to Landa’s appointment as head of R&D.

In 1971, Benny Landa and a colleague co-founded Imtec, an international micrographics company. Landa invented the company’s core imaging technology. While researching liquid toners, he developed a method of high-speed image development which used charged pigmented particles in a liquid carrier.

Landa immigrated to Israel in 1974. Applying the filmless imaging concept developed by his father, Landa founded Indigo Digital Printing in 1977. In 1993 at IPEX, he introduced the E-Print 1000, a digital color printing press. Bypassing the printing plate setup process, the new process eliminated numerous costly and time-consuming steps associated with offset printing. It enabled printing from a computer file directly onto paper and launched short-run, on-demand, and variable data printing into the marketplace. Using ElectroInk, the Indigo digital press applied small liquid color particles and an electric charge to form a thin, smooth, plastic layer on paper. By the 1990s, Indigo became a significant alternative to traditional offset press manufacturers.

In 2002, Landa sold Indigo Digital Printing to Hewlett-Packard for US$830 million. Following the acquisition of Indigo, Landa established The Landa Group for nanotechnology research. Working with nanoparticles, Landa and his team sought to capture environmental heat from the surrounding air and convert it into electricity. Landa’s research group observed that many materials exhibit unusual properties at the nano-level. They used that discovery to experiment with pigment colorants for print production.

Landa created Landa Digital Printing to further commercialize the nanotechnology solution for printing. The group developed a printing ink using the nanopigments, called Landa NanoInk and an offset digital printing process called Nanography.

Landa introduced Nanography and a line of Nanographic Printing presses at Drupa in 2012. The new Nanography technology enables high-speed digital printing with B1 (41 in. / 1,050 mm) format media on all forms of substrates, including untreated paper, films or plastic. Nanography hopes to allow printers to produce short-to-medium run lengths. The cost effectiveness of the process is still to be determined as no live production presses are producing sellable work to date.

Philanthropy

In 2002, Landa and his wife Patsy established the Landa Fund for Equal Opportunity Through Education which has donated more than $50 million in university scholarships. The Landa Fund also supports non-profit organizations in the fields of education and promoting tolerance and understanding between Israel’s Jewish and Arab citizens.

Honorary doctorate degrees

Board memberships

Awards and recognition

In 2014, Landa was named by international accounting firm Ernst & Young as “Israel Entrepreneur of the Year.”

In April 2015, Printing Industries of New England (PINE) presented Landa with its PINE Industry Influencer Award.

Other affiliations