Every year, the Packaging Cluster brings together the representatives of the member companies of the organization at its Annual Assembly, a meeting point for the packaging sector that presents and debates the key issues to define the future of the cluster. On this occasion, the meeting was held on the 17th of June in a virtual way, given the impossibility of organizing face-to-face events due to the health crisis, with about 90 participants.

Artur Costa, CEO of Carinsa and President of the cluster, began the session by welcoming the associates present. The president revealed all the work that the entity had done to face the confinement due to COVID-19 and the results obtained so far, thanks to the effort made by all the members. He also stressed the importance of instruments such as clusters in times of crisis such as the current one, which offer support and strategic solutions to the sector.

Alex Brossa, Cluster Manager of the Packaging Cluster, explained the agenda for the session and proceeded to read and approve the previous act. After its validation, the Cluster Manager presented the Activity Plan for 2020, with the changes that occurred in the last period, where the entity has had to adapt to the health and legislative requirements of the pandemic, and constantly update the agenda according to the evolution of the alarm state, where between 2 and 3 weekly sessions have been carried out.

And it is that prior to COVID-19, the cluster organized and promoted various conferences that should be highlighted. At the beginning of the year, an intercluster was held with other catalan clusters organizations and a Pre MWC 2020 conference, with experts in new technologies, to open up the face of the Mobile World Congress. Also, one of the most relevant events in February was the co-organization of the National Packaging Congress 4.0. within the framework of the Pick & Pack, with more than 7,000 visitors to the fair and a great welcome in its first edition. On the other hand, we also carried out Kick-offs of the European Safe Smart Food project in Austria and the last of the face-to-face activities was the opening of the new cluster offices on the 9th of March.

During COVID, the cluster had to reinvent its plan of activities to offer the service virtually through webinars of interest to the packaging sector and the industry, as a whole, as well as actively collaborate in improving the situation. As mentioned in Alex Brossa's presentation, more than 16 webinars were held so far with the Catalan clusters, where around 3,000 people participated, with high participation by the cluster partners. 25% of the sessions were organized by the entity, with an average participation of 175 people per webinar.

Apart from these intercluster sessions, the Packaging Cluster held 5 seminars with specific themes in the packaging sector where different members participated as speakers. These sessions discussed sustainability, e-commerce, different material typologies, sector trends, packaging for the meat sector, etc ...

In order to post-covid activities, the aim will be to maintain the line for specific conferences, such as the one held on 7th of July on 4.0 technology applied to the world of Packaging.

After the activities, the economic memory of the cluster was shown, with the good results obtained that legitimize the stability of the entity at a financial level, and the 22 new members that have joined the Packaging Cluster in the last year were presented: AIS Vision  Systems, Buergofol, Concentrol, Duni, Embalex, Enprom, Eurofins, Fuelium, I3D eco packaging ideas, Ignasi Clotet, IFLEX, J2  Servid, Juvasa, KUKA, Leca  Graphics, Masterpack, Multivac, Protecnos, Saica Natur, TGB, TPL and Venture Electronics.

Marta Vallbé and Alvaro Quintanillas, from the strategic consultancy Loop New Business Models, closed the Annual Assembly with their presentation on the value of packaging in the creation of categories, since it not only allows you to encapsulate the philosophy of your brand or differentiate yourself from the competition, It also synthesizes the usage, business and operational model.

Loop New Business Models, closely connected to cluster organizations due to its strategic change value, exposed some of the current trends and challenges facing packaging and design, such as sustainability, diversity of materials or the introduction of new technologies in packaging. To see the presentation again, visit our Youtube profile here.