Overview

The conference

In recent months we have seen a rapid change in scenarios both at a regulatory level and about sensitivity to environmental issues, as well as a rapid evolution of technology and production and distribution processes, with knock-on effects on many sectors, starting with the goods we buy and the packaging that protect them, conveying information into our homes.

How is packaging changing? What about the buying, use and recycling habits of packaged products? How is the industry evolving towards sustainable and, at the same time, innovative packaging? What role does technology play?

As Advanced Design Unit - University of Bologna, located in the heart of the Emilia-Romagna Packaging Valley, we strongly believe in the role as mediator of Design. We mediate between the interests of the production system and those of consumption, between knowledge and disciplines, between man and the environment.

There are many actors involved in this changed scenario: companies, which are required to adapt quickly, consumers and their habits of behavior, administrations and the ability they will have to accommodate new needs and facilitate change processes driven by innovation.

Design is one of the main enabling tools for redesigning packaging from a circular point of view. It is also an important enhancement tool for an innovative packaging industry. Last but not least, Design has the responsibility of being a communication medium for a sustainable culture also in the packaging sector.

The results of the research carried out by the Advanced Design Unit on packaging innovations at a global level and on the drivers that push this sector towards the future will then be presented during the day of the Symposium to the scientific and economic community. There will be an opportunity to hear important case studies from international guests, and to learn what they have done and will do to change the world of packaging. Space will also be given to the excellence of the Emilia Romagna Region, the European Packaging Valley.

The day of the Symposium will be the occasion to launch the creation of a Permanent Observatory on Innovative and Sustainable Packaging based at the University of Bologna.

The Future of Packaging Design intends to observe the transformation taking place through a day of study, a subsequent publication and the creation of a Permanent Observatory, in order to know, understand and propose models of sustainable innovation, create a national network of actors and operate as a reference center in the packaging sector, so that it is innovative, sustainable and driven by Design.

State of the art: why are we talking about Packaging Design?

We have known for years that traditional patterns of linear consumption ("disposable") are severely constrained by the impending decrease in available resources. Moreover, the increase in demand from the world's population (it is estimated that we will reach 9.6 billion by 2050) is leading to an excessive and unsustainable use of resources. The theme, which was already quite popular, at least since the Paris Agreement on Climate Change (2015) and then with the United Nations Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development (2015, "17 Sustainable Development Goals"), has moved in the last year from institutional environments to the streets, thanks to bottom-up movements such as the #Fridaysforfuture that underline the urgency of taking drastic decisions and changing patterns of production and consumption to benefit - among other things - climate change.

Design takes over in this panorama as a tool capable of redesigning packaging (and not only) with a view to circularity, as a resource to support a packaging industry that wants to be innovative, as communication medium for a widespread sustainable culture.

As researchers (but also educators, designers, citizens) of the Advanced Design Unit we propose ourselves as the promoter of these themes, to understand the contemporaneity of these themes and propose models of possible futures.

Actions

We mean:

identify Italian and foreign surveyors capable of transmitting signals of innovation in this sector, along the entire packaging value chain;
mapping current practices and possible futures, known paths but also emerging, transversal and relevant issues, in response to legislative guidelines and changes in the ecosystem underway at the global level;
census, file, map and interpret the excellent cases of innovation and sustainability in the field of Packaging with a design-driven approach;
to cluster the subjects that all over the world - in the academic, corporate, institutional and associative fields - are implementing new models, products and services, to tell us about their experience and create a network;
to leave a trace of the research and to concretize the relationships born in these months in the form of a Symposium to dialogue and open a collective reflection on a theme already of great international interest;
create a Permanent Observatory on Innovative and Sustainable Packaging driven by design to bring together the most important actors and stimuli on the phenomenon, and propose itself as a reference center in the sector on a national scale.

Over 80 Italian and foreign observers:

Agnese Gualandi - Università di Bologna, Italy; Alberto Calleo - Università di Bologna, Italy; Alessandro Fortunato - Università di Bologna, Italy; Alessia Giuliato -Tetra Pak, Sweden-Italy; Alexandre Carvalho - DuPont, Italy; Alfredo Bozzo - Master Packaging, Università di Parma, Italy; Angelo Fienga - Cisco System, Italy; Anita Lenzi - Tetra Pak, Sweden-Italy; Annalisa Bianchi - Smurfit Kappa, Italy; Antonella Cavazza - Master Packaging, Università di Parma, Italy; Antonio Iannone - thefoodcons, Italy; Beatrice Lerma - Politecnico di Torino, Italy; Mirko Bergantin - Master Packaging, Università di Parma, Italy; Bia Luz - Exchange4ChangeBrasil, Brasil; Christian Casaroli - Gucci, Italy; CL Lam - OOObject, Hong Kong; Claudia De Giorgi - Politecnico di Torino, Italy; Claudio Corradini - Master Packaging, Università di Parma, Italy; Claudio Dall'Agata - Consorzio Bestack, Italy; Copelli Jessica - Master Packaging, Università di Parma, Italy; Daniele De Cia - NiEW, Italy; Davide Borghi - Tetra Pak, Sweden-Italy; Davide Braghiroli - Tetra Pak, Sweden-Italy; Dolly Daou - L'École de design Nantes Athlantique, France; Doriana Dal Palù - Politecnico di Torino, Italy; Elahe Rajabiani - Almacube, Italy; Elena Zonta - Favini, Italy; Elisa Dallari - Tetra Pak, Sweden-Italy; Erik Ciravegna - Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile; Fabiana Ielacqua - épicees, Italy; Federica Brumen - Comieco, Italy; Federica Zerbini - Università di Bologna, Italy; Ferri Pier Luca - Master Packaging, Università di Parma, Italy; ; Francesca Priora - Tetra Pak, Sweden-Italy; Francesca Saviotti - Università di Bologna, Italy; Franco Fassio - Università di Scienze Gastronomiche di Pollenzo, Italy; Gabriele Molari - Tetra Pak, Sweden-Italy; Gavino Boringhieri - Nice Filler, Italy; Giorgio Dall'Osso - Università di Bologna, Italy; Giovanni Casalegno - Bpi Eu, Italy; Giulia Pignatti Morano - Tetra Pak, Sweden-Italy; Giuseppe Domenico Padula - Università di Bologna, Italy; Grazia Barberio - ENEA, Italy; Iannello Maria Chiara - Master Packaging, Università di Parma, Italy; Ilaria Tarozzi - Università di Bologna, Italy; Jessica Casagrande - Karton, Italy; Ludovica Rosato - Università di Bologna, Italy; Marco Bozzola - Politecnico di Torino, Italy; Margarida Azevedo - Escola Superior de Arte e Design, Portugal; Margherita Paleari - Margherita Paleari Design Consultant, Italy; Maria Alessandra Castellino - Master Packaging, Università di Parma, Italy; Maria Elena Dore - Università di Bologna, Italy; Marlon Hiralal - Aurelius Enterprise, Netherlands; Maryam Asadzadeh - Master Packaging, Università di Parma, Italy; Morena Consiglio - Tetra Pak, Sweden-Italy; Nicholas Freddi - Champion Europe, Italy; Paola Demartini - Esko, Italy; Paraskevi Tarani - Creativity Platform NPO, Greece; Patrizia Marti - University of Siena; Paula Martinez - Avery Dennison, USA; Raquel Pelta - Nut creatives, Spain; Rebecca Chesney - IDEO, USA; Roberta Ghezzi - Sealed Air, USA; Roberto Cavallo - E.R.I.C.A. Società Cooperativa, Italy; Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez, Notpla, UK; Sara Cimini - Master Packaging, Università di Parma, Italy; Saverio Ermanno Lorè - Hooro, Italy; Silvia Barbero - Politecnico di Torino, Italy; Simona Antonini - Bologna Fiere Cosmoprof, Italy; Simona Grande - Food Innovation Program, Italy; Simone Bergami - Pelliconi & C, Italy; Sonia Massari - Università Rome Tre, Italy; Sonia Piazza - NABA Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, Italy; Tommaso Maschera - Plug and Play Tech Center, USA; Tommaso Rovinelli - Università di Bologna, Italy; Valentina Downey - ADI associaizione per il disegno industriale, Italy; Valentina Folli - Valentina Folli Studio, Italy; Valeria Stacchini - Città Metropolitana di Bologna, Italy; Veronica Battiata - Master Packaging, Università di Parma, Italy; Vincenzo Errico - Master Packaging, Università di Parma, Italy; Vito Loconsole - Tetra Pak, Sweden-Italy; Vittiglio Valeria - Master Packaging, Università di Parma, Italy