Considerable interest in Brazil for OpenUp

Johan Mårtensson from Packbridge and Amanda Magnusson from the Skåne Food Innovation Network were in Brazil at the beginning of summer. They encountered many interesting people and companies, looked out for new trends and attended a trade fair, but above all presented the work of OpenUp at the Forum FLEX 2015 conference.

The background to the trip was an invitation to present OpenUp to the Forum FLEX 2015 conference, which was organised by ABIEF, an organisation with a focus on flexible plastic packaging. The conference was held in São Paolo, in conjunction with the annual Fispal Technologica conference.

Interest in innovation and collaboration among conference participants was considerable, partly because the flexible packaging market in Brazil is not exactly booming at the moment.

Before the OpenUp presentation, Patrick Teyssonneyre, Director of Innovation at Braskem, gave an interesting presentation. Braskem was named by Fast Company as one of the 50 most innovative companies in the world in 2014, and the company is now behind products such as the bioplastic that Tetra Pak currently uses in its fully biobased packaging. Patrick talked about how Braskem applies open innovation and uses collaboration to remain successful in an increasingly competitive market.

Interest in the work of OpenUp, and lessons learned from it, was substantial at the conference. After the presentation there were a number of interesting discussions, including some with representatives from Braskem, Nestlé and Unesp. ABIEF, who extended the invitation, were very happy and now wish to initiate further cooperation.