Packbridge highlighted the packaging industry at a seminar in the parliamentary

Märta Stenevi (MP), Regional Council of Region Skåne, 1st vice president of the regional council

Packbridge CEO Johan Mårtensson was at a parliamentary seminar on 10 February where the topic was the national food strategy and the FoodKIC! The aim was to highlight the importance of stronger collaboration between the packaging and food industries.

At the meeting were also Lund University, Region Skåne, the Skåne Food Innovation Network and Livsmedelsföreningen, amongst others. The government’s participants included Rural Affairs Minister Sven-Erik Bucht, who stated that this venture has clear support from the government.

Packbridge is part of the Nordic branch of FoodNexus, which is one of five European centres in the consortium that will apply to the EU organisation EIT for more than 100 million euros over 7 years to fund a future innovation alliance .

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), based in Budapest, is an EU body which works to improve collaboration in the knowledge triangle of education, research and innovation. The aim is to create a more competitive Europe through both increased innovation and increased entrepreneurship. Investments are made through KICs (Knowledge and Innovation Communities). Each KIC promotes collaboration between companies, universities and research institutes.

Sweden is at the forefront when it comes to packaging, both in terms of research and development, and in terms of production and exports. To provide a perspective, one can compare the use of consumer packaging, which is estimated at 1.3% of total European consumption, with production of the same, which is approximately 4.5%. Production is more than three times as high as use. To give another view, this can be related to Sweden’s share of the total EU GDP, which is 2.5%. The packaging production share of this is twice as large as the share of GDP, indicating a very strong position.

For further information, please contact Johan Mårtensson via johan@packbridge.se or on +46 (0) 766 456 535.