Demand-led Innovation Scoping Study: Future innovations in the packaging industry
New project report! As part of its 'Transforming Foundation Industries’ challenge, Innovate UK has commissioned Oakdene Hollins to assess the potential for demand-led innovation in the packaging sector. This study is looking to showcase the products that fall into the category of ‘demand-led innovation’ and to provide an estimate of the transformative impacts these products could have on the market. To accomplish this, Oakdene Hollins conducted a workshop and a series of interviews with representatives from trade associations, prominent brand owners and retailers in the UK, including Co-op, Waitrose, and Nestlé. The main goals of these interactions were to identify the major challenges faced by these organisations and to identify innovative solutions that could tackle these challenges.
The insights presented in this report highlight the industry's perspectives on the key challenges they face. This approach was applied throughout the supply chain, with industry stakeholders identifying three crucial demands in the sector:
Accurately identifying low-impact resources and production.
Mainstreaming reusable and refillable packaging.
Expanding kerbside recycling schemes to include flexible films.
Innovations to tackle each of these challenges were mapped onto an impact matrix to showcase the level of impact on carbon emissions versus the ease of implementation – therefore determining the requirements needed by industry towards implementation.