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| Visitors From 50 Countries Expected At Scanpack 2009 In a few weeks the doors will open on one of Scandinavia's biggest and most diverse packaging fairs – Scanpack. Almost 500 exhibitors from 25 countries will gather at the Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre on 20–23 October for the packaging industry's event of the year. "It's clear that the industry is looking forward to meeting up in Gothenburg. It is three years since the last fair, and interest is growing day by day, " reports Siv Edlund, Senior Advisor. "We're expecting visitors from around 50 countries!" Romania is planning to exhibit for the first time, and the Baltic states led by Lithuania will have their own pavilion at the fair, as well as India. Japan will be represented by two delegations of visitors from its packaging industry. "After a fairly slow start due to the recession, the pressure has really built up, " says Siv Edlund, who will be attending her 13th (and final) Scanpack. "The industry as a whole is in a much more optimistic mood than it was in spring." "The recovery isn't complete yet, but there are many signs that Scanpack 2009 will be almost as big as the previous fair in 2006 in terms of both exhibitors and visitors. That would have been difficult to believe as recently as a couple of months ago." The new additions this year include a complete store where RFID is being used in a number of different applications, including active shopping trolleys and shelving, intelligent mirrors that display text and a checkout that uses RFID technology. A simple warehouse will also be set up next to the store to demonstrate how RFID works at every stage of chain. "Visitors will also be able to attend free seminars on various aspects of this technology, including of course profitability. It is only a matter of time before RFID replaces barcodes completely, " predicts Siv Edlund. Will bioplastics replace common plastics as packaging material? This is one of the questions that will be answered at Scanpack. Do you know why you choose a particular packaging from the supermarket shelf? Presumably not, but the packaging industry does. The Packaging Media Lab will be showing off its "Eyetracking" project and demonstrating that packaging design plays a much more important role in your choice than you think. How difficult can it be to open packaging? More difficult than it should be – at least for the hundreds of thousands of people who have impaired movement in their hands and fingers. Chalmers Institute of Technology will be represented at Scanpack for the first time, in the guise of professor Ulrike Rahe, who will be discussing new solutions with the industry. write your comments about the article :: © 2009 Exhibition News :: home page |