AdPack2 brings the European intelligent packaging industry closer to the American, Canadian and, soon, Chinese international markets.

The team of AdPack2, formed by the representatives of the 6 European clusters InovCluster, Plastiwin, SCS, Nanoprogress, BlaticNet-PlasmaTec and Packaging Cluster, have realized the first Fact Finding Mission in Chicago and Toronto.

The Fact-finding Mission has been a previous investigation in the field of work, in this case in the United States and Canada, to find new contacts and collect market data. This information will allow us to generate a Mission with more added value for our members (scheduled for 2019), with a specific agenda already worked on and visits to companies and other organizations.

This first Fact-Finding Mission, organized by the consultancy SPI, has lasted one week, coinciding also a few days with the largest packaging fair in the country of Central America. Thus, from October 14 to 16, the PackExpo trade fair was visited in Chicago, where there were more than 2,500 exhibitors. During three days, each cluster encountered different entities, explaining the project between hands and looking for interested parties and possible collaborations. Among the companies visited are the Universities of Indiana, Michigan or Clemson, which have studies of Packaging Engineering and subjects in active packaging; packaging associations from around the world such as World Packaging Organisation, CCTI, IMFA, ABRE and APPMA; and other small and large companies that manufacture packaging and especially packaging machinery.

In the logistics base of Congebec, the facilities are at -16 Cº.

Jumping to Toronto, from October 17 to 19, different companies and organizations from the packaging sector were visited. The three companies that we visited were WG Pro-Manufacturing Inc. co-packers of food products with BRC Safety certification and manufacturers of a line of walnut-free biscottis; and Congebec and Conestoga Cold Storage Limited, both providers of logistics solutions and frozen product warehouses, given that the largest volumes of these frozen products are distributed throughout North America from the northern area of Toronto (known as GTAA).

Michael Graydon, president of the FCPC, welcomed us with open arms to the offices that represent more than 150 companies in the food sector.

We also visited the Food & Consumer Products of Canada (FCPC) association, which gathers more than 150 companies in the sector and acts as a bridge between its members and government policies and trading. And finally another association, PAC (Packaging Consortium), the counterpart packaging cluster in North America. PAC convened a dozen of its members to participate in the meeting (Atlantic Packaging, Tuku Inc, Canadian Food & Wine Institute of Niagara College, The Institute of graphic communications and printing, Jones Packaging, Sun Chemicals…) among them , was also the president of the IntelliPack group, an alliance created between members of PAC to develop active and intelligent packaging through electronic inks and other intelligent materials.

These meetings have brought us closer to the American and Canadian markets, not only in the cities of Chicago and Toronto but also to others where there is potential market for the intelligent and active packaging industry. The next Fact-Finding Mission takes place in Shanghai, the week of November 12, with an agenda made by ACCIÓ.