Record-attended Dresden Packaging Conference points to strategies and solutions for sustainability and digitalization
We can only do it together! And everything is interconnected. At the 29th Dresden Packaging Conference on 5 and 6 December 2019, more than 200 engineers, technicians, traders and scientists explored strategies for tackling the challenges of closed-loop economics and digitalization and turning them into opportunities.
Once again, this platform for networking and dialogue, which is organized by the German Packaging Institute (dvi), also lived up to its reputation as a point of contact between businesses and students.
At a time when issues such as plastic, pollution, diesel, climate change, packaging and recycling are in the focus of public attention, it’s more important than ever to engage with one another and strive for suitable solutions.
“Frank Richter, an honorary citizen of Dresden, once made the shrewd remark »Communication can go wrong. Non-communication will go wrong.« At a time when issues such as plastic, pollution, diesel, climate change, packaging and recycling are in the focus of public attention, it’s more important than ever to engage with one another and strive for suitable solutions.” Winfried Batzke, Managing Director of the dvi, kicked off the Conference with a welcome address that met with overwhelming approval. Both the speakers at the event and those taking part in the presentations and network talks were unanimous in emphasizing the role of teamwork, which is crucial not only with regard to sustainability and closed-loop economics but also when it comes to digitalization.
“It’s quite clear how everything is interconnected. Alexander von Humboldt, who you could say invented expert networks in the first place, was right about that”, says Batzke. “It’s the German Packaging Institute’s job to provide impetus and bring the right people together. The German Packaging Conference showed once again how that can actually work in practice. It brought together an incredible set of shrewd and generally great people; apart from being a source of considerable specialist expertise, it also paved the way for vital contacts and basically helped rediscover the fun we get from looking at packaging from new angles.”
As part of the Conference, 34 students of packaging-related subjects from Germany andAustria were also in attendance under the motto “The world of packaging in 2025 – are weready?”. “The Dresden Packaging Conference will be celebrating its 30th anniversary nextyear. That makes it the oldest such conference anywhere for the packaging industry and the one richest in tradition. At the same time, it’s probably also one of the youngest: not simply because it addresses issues that are in tune with the heartbeat of today, but also because we explicitly involve the next generation. It’s a win-win situation for businesses and students alike”, Batzke explains.
For a detailed report and picture gallery of the Conference, which was supported by StoraEnso, Interseroh Dienstleistungs GmbH and Gerhard Schubert GmbH, follow the link on the dvi website. The 30th Dresden Packaging Conference will take place on 3 and 4 December 2020.