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).

The Sustainable Packaging Research group at Victoria University, Australia is currently undertaking research toward evaluating the performance of packaging materials (specifically cushioning materials) that are labelled as ‘green’ or ‘environmentally-friendly’.

A consortium of research organizations, including Materials and Packaging Research & Services at the University of Hasselt (UHasselt), Pack4Food at Ghent University, both in Belgium, and Fraunhofer IVV, Germany, is working with small businesses to develop and assess coatings for paper and board used as food packaging.

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.

Michigan State University just received a $10.8 million gift from Switzerland-based Amcor to fund its School of Packaging. The gift will go towards establishing an Endowed Chair of Packaging Sustainability and support renovations to the School of Packaging building.

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.

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.

Corporate member Intel may be famed for its ‘Intel inside’ tagline, but the company ensures that its Transport Media and Materials Engineering (TMME) group pays just as much attention to what is ‘outside’ in the form of packaging – and remains hopeful that IAPRI’s live events will soon provide valuable support to its research, design and testing.

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.