Smart Packaging

Also known as intelligent and active packaging, smart packaging is seeing enormous growth in the packaging industry today.

According to Grand View Research, smart packaging revenues came in at $10.8 billion in 2015 and are expected to reach $26.7 billion by 2024.

From a consumer perspective, smart packaging offers many value-added benefits, including enhanced unboxing experiences, eye-catching visuals, product preservation and protection, authentication, security, and connectivity.

For brands and companies, a new world of communication is opening up.

With the opportunity to track consumer behaviors with more convenience, this type of packaging offers a more tailored experience to your target market allowing businesses to meet consumer demands more effectively.

While smart packaging doesn’t offer new shapes to our classics, it does reshape the purpose and capabilities of packaging, allowing the packaging industry to explore the unknown.

We may see the implementation of two primary technologies: printed electronics and nanotechnology.

Printed Electronics

Printed electronics are seen in the form of near-field communication (NFC); radio-frequency identification (RFID); ambient intelligence; smart LEDs/OLEDs; and compact power sources, screens, sensors, and data storage offering consumers a level of interaction never seen before.

Advanced materials and printed electronics with smart LEDs/OLEDs will bring a new level of product interaction, infotainment, digital sales aids, and online connection.

In simple terms – sensor activated screens that are part of the packaging design and huge part of the customer experience.

Recently, Karl Knauer and INURU GmbH partnered to create an illuminated Coca-Cola label using printed OLEDs, receiving the German Design Award for their innovative work.

As we get closer to 2028, augmented reality technology will find its way to packaging, offering a compliment of visual, tactile, and auditory elements to vastly enhance the quality of prototyping and production for producers and experience for customers.

Nanotechnology

The nano coating market is seeing the most substantial growth at nearly 25% CAGR, with anti-fingerprint nano coating at the top of the list for several industries, including packaging.

Nanotechnology will also be used in the reduction of packaging waste and sustainability, with bio-nano composites having the potential to replace non-biodegradable, petroleum-based plastic.

With the swipe of a card or scan of a smart device, for example, packaging will provide:

• advanced tracking

• theft protection

• additional information

• dynamic visuals

• online connection

• integrated product interaction

• active monitoring

• And many other innovative features

Over the next few years, nano-materials with protective properties will be used in hygienic and antibacterial packaging, particularly for medical, pharmaceutical, and food products.

Along with innovations such as the use of discarded packaging chips in the production of lithium-ion batteries, we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg with nanotechnology and we can expect a wave of more innovation coming our way in the future.