A stellar line-up of speakers is taking shape for the upcoming AIPIA World Congress in Amsterdam. These already include leading global online retailer Amazon and major brands such as AB InBev and Unilever. Held in the Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam, 14-15 November, it is a go-to event for the Smart Packaging sector and brings together stakeholders from the active and intelligent packaging industry and users to share information on trends and the latest connected and active technology developments.
This year, the Congress is co-located with the Sustainable Packaging Summit. Both will benefit from the synergies that are being identified between the sustainability agenda and smart technologies, which can aid the recycling and reuse of materials and packs, as well as help to deliver messages about the environmental agenda to consumers.
Major technology providers Crane Automation, OMRON, and Zebra Technologies are Platinum sponsors of the Congress and will exhibit some of their latest innovations as well as make keynote presentations. They will be joined by other leading smart packaging technology developers such as Antares Vision Group, AlmaScience, STMicroelectronics, Securikett, Toppan, and Wiliot, with other important companies set to confirm very soon.
Eef de Ferrante, managing director of AIPIA, commenting on the line-up, said, “We have some familiar returning faces who are always at the forefront of smart packaging innovation and so, always with something new to say, as well as some fresh faces to add their own unique take on the way our industry is developing.”
“With more than 20 demonstration booths, top quality panel sessions featuring some of the thought leaders in the sector, plus an exciting Brand Challenge from AB InBev, the Congress is set to be a very dynamic and disruptive event. Running at the same time as the Sustainable Packaging Summit also adds a different and highly relevant dimension to the proceedings,” he added.
“In the coming weeks, we will reveal more details of the presentations and panels and confirm the Brand Challenge topic and scope. But much of the agenda can be seen already on the AIPIA website and this will, as usual, be updated in real-time as details are finalized,” explained AIPIA’s communications director Andrew Manly.
AIPIA and WPO to collaborate and share ideas
AIPIA, the Active & Intelligent Packaging Industry Association, is a global Smart Packaging hub with more than 1,800 members in over 50 countries across six continents. As reported elsewhere in this issue, the AIPIA and the World Packaging Organization (WPO) have signed a memorandum of understanding to further their collaboration in sharing ideas on smart packaging and the science that underpins it.
This will include WPO supporting AIPIA on the technology of material science, which is particularly important in active packaging. In turn, AIPIA will support WPO’s agenda of encouraging sustainable and appropriate packaging innovation.
AIPIA to support Pack.NXT Conference in Mumbai on 18 January 2024
The Amsterdam-based AIPIA is again supporting a Smart Packaging event in India and South Asia called PACK.Nxt and organized by Packaging South Asia, IppStar, and Threefold – a full-day in-person event. AIPIA previously supported and took part in the joint IppStar and Messe Dusseldorf India Packaging Design Innovation and Technology (PDIT2) conference at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi in December 2019, and the jointly organized AIPIA-IppStar Smart Packaging for South Asia full-day virtual event in March 2021.
PACK.Nxt, the smart, active, and sustainable packaging event in Mumbai will address the themes of brand protection, authentication, anti-counterfeiting, and supply chain efficiencies, especially in food, beverages, pharmaceuticals, and sustainability. Smart and active packaging can extend shelf-life, reduce microbial and bacterial growth, and monitor the real-time condition of perishables as well as create a more efficient supply chain by better use of data, which can make a major impact on delivering nutrition and saving resources.
The Mumbai conference will also address the role of smart packaging in designing recyclable packaging and its recycling. The industry and consumers need smart packaging solutions more than ever to sharpen the processes and deliver the correct information, messages, and motivation. Sustainability needs to get smarter!
We have seen smart packaging adoption and implementation cases in the country over the past two years and the initial response for PACK.Nxt registrations is excellent. The time and place seem right for a serious look at technologies and solutions that make the supply chain and packaging smarter. PACK.Nxt has again received the support of ASPA, the Authentication Solutions Providers Association, and returning sponsors such as Fasciculus with others likely to be announced in the coming weeks.
