While the world has evolved to leverage the power of the digital age, today’s consumer products and packaging largely have not. Information is conveyed on-package through traditional printing and labeling methods, which is limiting to commercial transactions, consumer education and use, and enabling recycling. What if packaging had the power to carry limitless digital information that could be accessed at all points of the product’s lifecycle, and used in a way that would better close the loop for packaging, reducing plastic waste and increasing the availability of quality recycled content? 
Digital watermarking is a means to give virtually any media or physical object a unique, “digital twin” identity to create a Digital Product Passport. Industry and governments see such digital identities as improving product sustainability, boosting material and energy efficiency, enabling new business models and circular value extraction based on data sharing.
What if a package could tell consumers the story of a fair-trade coffee farmer, whether the package is recyclable or not, or other sustainability attributes by simply pointing their smart phone at the package?  What if a package could tell the recycler if it is a food-contact quality container so it can be recycled back into food-contact applications?  What if a package could be recycled despite featuring some of the designs, like full shrink-wrap labels, that currently limit recyclability? 
How digital watermarking may be the technology solution for these questions is the subject of the HolyGrail initiatives, facilitated by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and in HolyGrail 2.0 driven by AIM (European Brands Association) and ‘powered by’ the Alliance to End Plastic Waste. More than 175 brands, retailers, printers and plastics converters, recyclers, trade associations and NGOs, such as the World Wildlife Fund, have joined to demonstrate the deployment of watermarks to more accurately sort packaging waste as well as the economic viability of the business case at large scale.
This presentation will share with conference participants the latest insights and metrics from the various HolyGrail demonstrations, which have included over 700 industry participants. Visuals will show how plastics can now be detected with never-before accuracy in the sortation process, while overcoming the existing issues such as separating food versus non-food containers, carbon-black packaging, full-body shrink sleeves, and multi-layer flexibles. Also shared will be inclusion of digital watermarking in current EU declarations, such as harmonizing extended producer responsibility schemes. Although much attention has been focused on the technology for sortation, it also provides a means for consumers to merely point at an object and be told how to properly dispose based upon their geo-location or municipality’s acceptance guidelines.
Larry Logan | Chief Evangelist of Sustainability Solutions, Digimarc Corporation

Integrating reusable packaging with intelligent labels opens up new digital capabilities, generating item-level data can be measured, aggregated and assessed to determine sustainability insights and operational performance of the system. Digitisation provides new ways to engage with stakeholders and consumers to share impact data and provide actionable insights and recommendations to optimize the reuse network and improve the environmental impact of products and facilities.

With new innovations from Avery Dennison with atma.io, a connected product cloud platform and PragmatIC’s ultra-cost-flexible integrated circuits, it now becomes more viable than ever for high-volume packaging to be smart and connected through RFID, delivering end-to-end digital supply-chain traceability. Enabling dynamic visibility allows for improved decision making that reduces the carbon footprint associated with the logistics network, routing products effectively, extending the product life cycle (keeping materials in-use longer) which in turn has a significant impact on reducing carbon emissions, solid waste, energy and water pollution relative to single-use packaging schemes.

Josh Young, Development Manager, Pragmatic
Pedro Garza | Market Development Manager, Avery Dennison Smartrac

Plastic pollution is a widespread global threat, and because of this, this problem has increasingly been treated with great urgency and concern by the international community. However, today we depend on this material in so many sectors and eliminating it 100% is a long-term challenge. Saying this, how can we improve the "Plastic Economy"? How can we encourage each company to be responsible for its waste and to collaborate, so that plastic does not end up in our environment?
To face that issue, Nozama has launched the Plastiks’ Platform, to achieve our mission of connecting People, Organizations and Companies with Plastic Recovery Projects around the world to fight global plastic pollution by offering an ecosystem that gives everybody an equal opportunity to take verifiable environmental action.
Plastiks is tokenizing the data of recovered plastic and creating NFTs from the invoices generated by recovery projects and recyclers around the world. These NFTs confirm that certain types and quantities of plastics have been recovered, and become what we call "Plastic Recovery Guarantees" (PRG) - also known as Plastic Credits.
These PRG NFTs will then be available on our marketplace and can be acquired by companies that are producing or using plastic, but that want to commit and sponsor plastic recovery somewhere in the world. Companies that purchase these NFTs will have this information open, transparent and accessible on their sustainability profile in the Plastiks Marketplace, that uses blockchain technology to provide such proof of recovery and accountability.  On the other hand, plastic recovery projects will earn extra income from the sales of these PRG NFTs and will provide the narrative of how this extra income is helping them increase and improve plastic recovery.
Fernanda Accorsi | Marketing & Communications Director, Plastiks

Pepin Gelardi | Partner, Tomorrow Lab

Join us for an informative session and panel where we will dive into the latest IoT solutions that are driving innovation for all aspects of Smart Packaging turning the standard Supply Chain into a Value Chain. We will hear perspectives from industry leading organizations with innovative technologies that are pushing the barriers within Smart Packaging through RFID and BLE technologies and the solution stacks that intersect. Industry leaders from Identiv, Wiliot and Bluebite will be joining us for this panel.

Panelists Include:

• Amir Khoshniyati, Vice President and General Manager, Transponder Business, Identiv
• Louis Parker, Sales and Partnerships, Wiliot
• Mikhail Damiani, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Blue Bite

Counterfeit and diverted goods adversely impact trade, consumer safety, and brand reputation. As a result, demand is high for anti-counterfeit packaging. Our speakers will share insight into how the world's largest consumer goods brands are addressing the counterfeit challenge headon with a powerful combination of product digitization and innovative packaging. Millions of products around the world lack any digital presence, leaving companies in the dark about the lifecycle of their products including where they exist in the supply chain. Without a singular source for product data, companies lack actionable intelligence to fight counterfeiters. Insights-based brand integrity is shifting the weight of power back to brands and consumers. Through product digitization and supply chain visibility, consumer goods brands gain critical intelligence to ensure the authenticity of products, reduce costs, and increase operational agility.

Nathan Henson | Global Director - Global Design Solutions, Sealed Air
Curt Schacker | Global Head of Digital Printing and Packaging, Digimarc

This session will discuss all the ways that smart packaging can be utilized to enhance a brand and product, and even further, increase the customer’s experience and their further engagement even after purchase.

In today’s eco driven world there has seemingly never been a better time to launch a sustainable package offering. Consumers—particularly Millennials—increasingly say they want to select brands that embrace purpose and sustainability. A recent report revealed that certain categories of products with sustainability claims showed twice the growth of their traditional counterparts. However, a paradox remains at the heart of green business few consumers who report positive attitudes toward eco-friendly products and services follow through with their wallets.
Re-Universe has been pioneering Digital DRS (Deposit Return Schemes) using on packaging comms and is now driving forward with schemes based around reusable packaging. In this presentation Tony will explain how by utilising smart packaging re-universe has achieved return rates of 94% in the world’s first Digital Deposit Return pilot in Dublin Ireland. With learnings driven by enhanced consumer engagement with deposits and Tony will explain how Evian used tech to drive recycling at this year’s Wimbledon Tennis Championship. Tony will also explain what is coming down the line in terms of consumer engagement and where the future is heading.
Tony McGurk | Chairman, re-universe

Today’s consumers crave elevated and relevant experiences. Connected products and packaging have become a new sales and communication channel that cuts through today’s digital noise and can be controlled end-to-end by brands. Learn how to employ engaging consumer experiences through connected packaging that deliver the right message to the right consumer at the right time.
Findings of the recently released Blue Bite 2022 Connected Packaging Trend Report reflect consumers’ changing attitudes, habits and brand interaction preferences that reveal actionable insights to make informed decisions about packaging design that brings value to consumers and brands.

• Tell your story directly to consumers, create new product commerce opportunities, provide transparent sustainability and overall brand protection.
• Leverage first-party data through 1:1 data collection
• Utilize connecting technologies like QR Codes and NFC within packaging to engage consumers throughout the entire product lifecycle with exclusive and customized content, authentication, and more.

Mikhail Damiani | Co-Founder and Managing Director, Blue Bite

This panel will discuss the ever-growing need to continue to enhance the customer experience to increase loyalty and overall customer happiness. We will dive into how smart packaging can help with this, discussing current new innovations and contemplate what is on the horizon.

Panelists Include:

• Chantal Emmanuel, CTO and Co-Founder, Limeloop
• Moustafa Sharawy, Account Manager, Niantic
• Mayo Akindele, Chief Innovation Officer, Nomad Spirits Company