There was a full house at Orkla’s new office in Malmö when Packbridge held its first event of the year. In fact it was more than fully booked and we had to draw up a waiting list. This was a pleasant problem for us, as it showed that our meetings are highly appreciated, but at the same time it was disappointing because obviously we want to be able to accommodate everyone. In the future it’s always a good idea to book in plenty of time. If you missed the event you can see a summary via the video above.

The theme for the day was consumer trends and after Orkla’s CSR Manager, Agneta Påander, had given a description of Orkla’s sustainability work, the audience were then divided into groups to hear various presentations of around 20 minutes each. We have tested this division into smaller groups a few times now and it is greatly appreciated by both the audience and the speakers. Instead of sitting through a number of presentations, groups move to different stations and keep fresh and alert. The smaller groups also make it possible for participants to ask more questions, and presentations become more of a dialogue. For even better interaction and exchange of knowledge between presenters and participants, we encourage speakers to present without resorting to PowerPoint.

The speakers at the Orkla event included Sofia Erixson, packaging designer at Orkla, who spoke about brand owner trends. Among other things, she highlighted the “Millenials” and “Generation Y” as attractive customer groups worthy of closer attention, together with the sustainability trend, with Carlsberg’s fibre bottles and Ecovative’s fungus-based protective packaging being exciting innovations.

Anders Källman, CEO of Multivac, looked at production trends and talked about the problems of adapting existing production lines for new material solutions and how the choice of materials can facilitate inclusive design and easy-open packaging.

Kristina de Verdier, from Kristina de Verdier Design Studio, talked about five prominent trends, such as ‘Sharing is caring’ where consumers are starting to see circular sustainable products not just as good for the future but also as a paradigm shift. Another trend is ‘The Interruption Economy’, where we are all forced to be constantly available and connected. In these stress-filled days, there are now apps that help us to disconnect and relax. One example is the Bunches flower chain, which offers a selection of the trendiest flowers “on the go” in neat card bags from BillerudKorsnäs.

Packbridge’s own Bo Wallteg gave us a journey through a series of global trends that will in some way affect packaging. These included how bioplastics and printed electronics can create more sustainable and secure consumer packaging.

After lunch a brave woman took the stage. Rowan Drury is the founder of Gram Malmö, a packaging-free shop located in Malmö’s market hall. She admitted that it felt a little strange to be in the “lion’s den”, but said that she had found the lions to be really quite friendly and had thus far come away without a scratch. Generally, she is not against packaging, but she is an advocate of reusing and of using only the basic amount of packaging actually required.

On 28 February we are back with a seminar at Visutech in Mölndal, where we will see how the opportunities presented by digital printing technology will change the packaging industry.

Why not sign up for the next event now?

Packbridge currently has over 200 member companies and is a non-profit organisation which is probably also the largest of its kind in Europe. Packbridge was founded in 2010 and has grown very quickly. Our base is located in Malmö, but we have activities throughout the Nordic region. Internationally we have many well-established partnerships, including a number of MoU agreements with companies and organisations in Asia. We also participate in various EU-funded projects.

Top Packaging Summit by Packbridge is a major annual packaging conference. Last year, at the summit, we offered a large number of startup companies the chance to present their concepts to our network and the response was very positive from all sides. This has given us a taste for more, and we are now investing heavily in linking our industry with companies that have new and exciting ideas. We are currently running The Packbridge Challenge, a competition in which the winning entry will receive SEK 50,000.

What’s behind the challenge? It’s simple. We know that our members, industry, startup companies and society all benefit from effective matching.

Both members and startups benefit

Packbridge has long since identified the potential for startup companies or entrepreneurs with ideas that could usefully be applied in the packaging industry. We are confident that our members can benefit significantly from us bringing them together with startup companies and entrepreneurs. And similarly, it is of great interest for these companies to find partners within the industry. Packbridge can help businesses to save resources; we can also facilitate potential outsourcing and help with matchmaking. For Packbridge the Triple Helix concept is a key driving force, and we can match companies within all of these areas.

Through our network and the expertise it contains, we can facilitate and streamline the creation of contacts and quickly pave the way for effective collaboration.

We help the industry to develop

Packbridge is a neutral base, one that helps to drive and develop the industry and open new doors to an industrial world that many startups are not familiar with. Companies that are quick to act upon this soon find many interesting opportunities to further develop their businesses. As an organisation we believe in open innovation and cross-border collaboration. It is essential that more intelligent ways are found to connect larger companies to smaller companies with good, innovative ideas.

For more information or to apply, please visit startup.packbridge.se

 

The Packbridge team known of no better way to start the new year than by welcoming a new member to our network! We are happy to present AVENTICS as a new member!

With over 150 years’ experience and approximately 2 000 employees in more than 90 countries around the world, AVENTICS is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of pneumatic components, systems and customer-specific applications. Their portfolio includes products and services for industrial automation as well as products for markets ranging from food and beverages to life sciences, energy, marine technology and even IoT.

A very warm welcome to our network!

Nyligen arrangerade Packbridge ett seminarium på temat äkthet. Fokus låg på att ge en bild av hur förpackningen kan hjälpa till att garantera en produkts äkthet. Piratkopiering är ett stort problem och något som omsätter oerhört stora pengar. Ibland är det dessutom en livsfarlig verksamhet, förfalskade mediciner utgör en stor risk. Det finns många olika lösningar på detta, men tyvärr ännu ingen smart universallösning som skulle fungera både för varumärkesägare och konsument, och frågan är om den någonsin kommer.

Under dagen gjorde i vilket fall presentatörerna, Christian Håkansson, konsult, Henrik Sternberg, LTH, Glenn Svedberg, Nolato Cerbo, Ralph Mack, AR Packaging, Michael Bäärnhielm, Beneli och Viveka Lahger att vi fick en bra spegling av vad som händer. Avslutade dagen gjorde Giana Carli Lorenzini från LTH.

Precis som när vi pratade e-handel i början av september var upplägget så att deltagarna, ett femtiotal, delades upp i grupper som sedan besökte de olika presentatörerna som alltså fick upprepa sin presentation på femton minuter ett antal gånger. Inga power points är tillåtna för presentatörerna. På det här sättet skapas en större interaktivitet mellan deltagarna.

Grupperna samlades avslutningsvis för en intern sammanfattning av informationen under dagen, något som sedan presenterades för samtliga deltagare. Längre fram kommer medlemmarna i Packbridge att få en sammanfattande rapport från detta garanterat äkta seminarium. Du hittar det som finns tillgängliga idag på Packbridge medlemssida.

Skånska småföretag får nu en chans att få ekonomiskt stöd vid digitalisering. Det går att få bidrag på upp till 250 000 kronor för förbereda och genomföra en satsning på digitalisering av verksamheten.

Pengarna kommer från Region Skåne och syftet med checkarna är att uppnå ökad konkurrenskraft och förnyelse i små företag i Skåne genom digitalisering, till exempel genom att förändra företagens verksamhet, process eller organisation. Det kan handla om allt från att ta fram en digital strategi kopplad till affärsplanen till att identifiera nya affärsmodeller och effektivisera digitala processer och system.

Digitalisering innebär i det här fallet att genom användande av digital teknik skapa nya värden i företaget. Det räcker inte att enbart omvandla något till digitalt format.

Företag kan beviljas mellan 100 000 och 250 000 kronor. Företaget måste själv stå för minst hälften av de externa projektkostnaderna.

Ett skånskt småföretag är i det här fallet ett företag med mellan två och fyrtionio personer,

Mer info och anmälan finns via den här länken:

http://www.skane.com/sv/digitaliseringscheckar-for-skanska-smaforetag