1,350 exhibitors and 79,000 visitors contributed to the success of All4Pack at the end of November 2018. The trade fair at the Paris-Nord exhibition centre is more than just an industry show.
It is about the All4Pack The aim was also to broker successful business deals directly at the event, as the trade fair motto "The Marketplace for Success" suggests. The supporting programme in particular made it clear that the Packaging industry is entering a new era, as the trade fair organisation emphasised in its final report.
The first two days of the four-day trade fair in particular were characterised by a large number of international visitors. 35 per cent of the visitors did not come from Organiser country France. Interested guests from over 60 countries made their way to the exhibition halls. 21 per cent of visitors came from Africa. International delegations also visited the trade fair. Among others, they came from Germany, Cuba, Israel, Taiwan and Turkey.
Twice as many business meetings as two years ago
The organiser Comexposium Group was more than satisfied with the trade fair's function as an exchange for project and investment contacts. Meetings were organised within the framework of All4Pack and led to concrete Business transactions. For comparison: At the previous All4Pack in 2016, there were still 500 "business meetings".
The lecture programme has been redesigned and, according to All4Pack, is somewhat more "selective". On a total of 25 Lecture events more than 80 speakers presented their views on the development of the packaging industry.
Expectations for the packaging industry of the future
A much-noticed forum was dedicated to the White Paper "Changing packaging industry", which All4Pack presented in the run-up to the trade fair. Two surveys were commissioned for this purpose. In cooperation with the European Brand & Packaging Design Association (EPDA), 22 designers from Europe and North Africa gave their opinions on the current demands on the packaging industry. In addition, the opinion research institute YouGov asked 8,253 consumers from six countries about their expectations of future packaging.
[infotext icon] The next All4Pack will take place in 2020The next All4Pack in Paris is planned for 23 to 26 November 2020. 200 registrations from interested exhibitors were received by the organiser immediately after the 2018 event.
http://www.all4pack.com[/infotext]
In addition to major trends such as the development of artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles and the increasing scarcity of natural resources, respondents cited the ageing population as an important framework condition. The Packaging design Designers and consumers agreed that the packaging industry must respond to the fact that users are getting older and older. Packaging should be easier to open. It was also criticised that Packaging imprints are often difficult to read. The consumer survey also criticised the often excessive packaging weights and unwieldy formats.
In relation to the gentle Dealing with natural resources the respondents signalled that they Deposit systems and are in favour of bans on secondary packaging and non-recyclable packaging.
Supporting programme highlighted sustainable packaging
In line with these findings, the 22nd "PETnology European Conference" was set up. The organisers Barbara and Otto Appel hosted their international PET summit in Paris for the first time. This time, the focus was on the circular and solidarity economy, on Ecodesign and technical developments in the field of thermoforming and preforming. The participants included all stakeholders in the industry, from raw material suppliers and recyclers to packaging manufacturers and customers.
This year, Paris was also the venue for the presentation of the "PackTheFuture - The Sustainable Plastic Packaging Award". There were also eleven winners in another competition, the "All4Pack Paris Innovation Awards". Specialist journalists shortlisted 33 of the 300 product innovations submitted by exhibitors. A jury then selected eleven winners in four categories. These particularly innovative products, most of which dealt with the overarching themes of sustainability and digitalisation, were presented in the newly established "Creative Lounge" in Hall 7.
[infotext icon]All German winners of the PackTheFuture Awards 2018Our report on the winners of the fourth PackTheFuture Awards 2018 you can find here.[/infotext]
The Creative Lounge also offered itself as a forum for Trend scouting and inspiration.
The motto "Share your creativity" was particularly well received by 16 French start-ups, who were able to present themselves in their own exhibition area in order to arrange appointments directly with decision-makers from the packaging and logistics industry.
