The IAPRI Board of Directors has accepted an invitation to have a board representative on the Advisory Board of the Horizon Europe project proposal SUSBOARD (Sustainable and innovative material solutions for packaging and construction), should it be accepted.

IAPRI Board of Directors has changed the IAPRI Operating Policies in the section 6.0 that refers, in the past to the Working Groups to now Communities of Practice (CoP).

ISTA's Advocate Research and Value Delivery Program includes conducting research and collecting data that improves testing and design methodologies for the evolving domestic and global supply chains. The objective of this research project is to measure, the hazards encountered by LTL (less than truckload) freight in their standard handling, transport and delivery environment not adequately covered, or supported by field data, in the existing ISTA 3B standard.

In a project supported by the Swedish Innovation Agency, the RISE research center is working with manufacturers PulPac and AR Packaging to develop and validate 10 product concepts, both packs and other single-use items, created using PulPac’s patented Dry Molded Fiber forming technology.

Germany’s Fraunhofer IVV institute is coordinating the Horizon 2020 CIRCULAR FoodPack project, taking aim at flexible plastics packaging for the hygiene-sensitive food sector, design for recycling, tracer-based sorting of food from non-food materials and other improvements to the sorting and recycling process.

Underlining the critical role that packaging can play in specialized medical applications, a team from Brazil’s CETEA Packaging Technology Center is working on a three-year project to create intelligent and autonomous packaging for human organs awaiting transplant.

In the second of our articles celebrating IAPRI’s 50th anniversary and summarizing the association’s history, we jump back to its origins as an organization with a compact, largely European membership

Our review of IAPRI’s June Conference concludes with a look at two general-stream papers and one sponsor presentation, all of them offering different perspectives on packaging in the supply chain.

The second of our reports on inspiring presentations from the June IAPRI online Conference focuses on two very different areas where technology is offering radical alternatives to traditional methodologies.

You have a fantastic new technology or novel material, but how do you scale it up and demonstrate a route to commercialisation? IAPRI members share their experiences in different areas.

Industry 4.0 has inspired development across the consumer goods, equipment, automation and packaging sectors.

Twelve years on from its creation, this packaging technology platform reinforces the links between R&D, innovation and industry, with a focus on medium-to-long-term strategies.

The role of affiliate members within IAPRI is an important one, acting as a bridge between their own members, when it comes to other associations, and the packaging research and education community worldwide. The Turkish Packaging Manufacturers’ Association (ASD) is a prime example of this – and an enduring one, in the context of IAPRI.

With travel restrictions still in place, IAPRI held its Member Conference virtually. Thanks to the 45 researchers who presented their work, IAPRI held a three day, three track Zoom Webinar with just over 100 attendees. The sessions were recorded and are available to participants to view the ones they missed. We will feature some of the papers in our Conference Spotlight over the next few issues.