We’re building a programme around the questions the packaging and print industry is genuinely trying to resolve right now. If you’re working on any of them — in production, in compliance, in data, or in brand — we want to hear from you.
Deadline: Friday 9 July 2026
Submission form at the bottom of this page.
Theme 1 - Print meets compliance: The new brief
Which print decisions determine your PPWR and DPP compliance, and is your supply chain making them consciously?
Substrate choice, ink selection, print process, QR code specification, durability on shelf - all of these are now partly regulatory decisions. We want sessions that explore the intersection of print and compliance from the production floor, not the legal department.
Relevant topics include: PPWR conformity declarations, recyclability and deinking, DPP data carrier specification, GS1 Digital Link and QR on-pack requirements, print durability for data-carrying codes.
Theme 2 - Variable data: Who owns it?
When variable data moves to the production line — who is responsible for accuracy, and how do you prove it?
Retailer QR code trials are live. The data keeps coming back wrong at the till. Batch numbers, expiry dates, unique serialised codes, the question of who feeds the data to the press, who checks it, and who is liable when it’s wrong is live and unresolved. We want honest accounts from production, not aspirational presentations.
Relevant topics include: converter vs brand data ownership, variable data systems and integration, serialisation at scale, deposit return scheme coding, data accuracy in practice.
Theme 3 - Hybrid in plastics: The real economics
When hybrid is the answer — what does the production line actually look like, and do the numbers work?
Digital print is not replacing conventional print. It is integrating with it. The hybrid production line, where a conventional press handles the bulk of the print and digital handles what needs to change, is where most of the industry is heading. We want case studies with real run lengths, real cost comparisons, and real accounts of what made the investment worthwhile — or not.
Relevant topics include: hybrid press economics, short-run digital for PPWR compliance, brand owner case studies, converter investment decisions, where digital begins and conventional ends.
Theme 4 - Artwork and data infrastructure
How do you manage data across a packaging supply chain that wasn’t built for it?
When a wrong artwork version goes to press under PPWR, it’s not just a reprint, it’s a non-compliant product on shelf. The stakes for artwork management, label data systems, and variable data workflows have risen sharply. We want sessions on what good data infrastructure looks like in practice, and what happens when it fails.
Relevant topics include: artwork management at scale, label management systems, variable data workflow integration, ERP and press system connectivity, data errors in production.
Theme 5 - AI in the print and packaging chain
Is AI in your supply chain yet? If not, what’s actually stopping it?
AI for artwork generation, print run optimisation, supply chain forecasting, scope 3 data collection, and predictive maintenance are all real today, not future concepts. We want sessions grounded in deployment experience, not promise. We are also interested in the harder question: if AI automates the tasks, what does the skilled print professional do next?
Relevant topics include: AI in artwork and prepress, supply chain optimisation, scope 3 data automation, skills and workforce implications, real deployment case studies.
Theme 6 - Connected packaging today, not 2030
What does a working digital product passport or connected pack actually look like, right now?
The DPP legislation is not fully in force for packaging yet. But the infrastructure, the standards, and the early deployments are live. We want sessions from people who have built something, run a pilot, or hit a wall, not presentations about what the regulation will eventually require.
Relevant topics include: GS1 Digital Link deployments, live DPP pilots, connected packaging consumer data, QR code engagement at scale, what failed and why.
What we're not looking for...
What we are looking for...
