At last!

Editorial by Stefano Lavorini

We are tumbling back to "almost" normalcy with enthusiasm reaffirming, perhaps even hastily, that pleasure of sociality of which we have been deprived for a long time.

That man is still a social animal is clearly testified by the two in-person trade fairs that took place in late April and early May: Cosmopack and IPACK-IMA.

They were indeed valuable opportunities to rediscover (in case you had forgotten) that companies have a soul, that of those who lead them and those who work in them, that they are made up of people who need to get to know each other, exchange opinions, talk about work, but also share convivial moments.

Precisely because of this, perhaps, the reality went beyond expectations in both cases, with so many operators in the large packaging community moved by the desire to make new projects because life is life beyond Covid, the energy crisis, raw materials price hikes, and war: «And those who experience tournaments and combat together/Gain rigorous and deft limbs« (T. Tasso).

In chronological order, Cosmopack (Bologna, April 28-May 1, 2022) was unabashedly a success, sealed by a national and international turnout that in quantity and quality filed away the two editions of the fair that did not take place due to force majeure.

The organizers made a determined move by reintroducing some musts, including the eighth CosmoFactory, which offered the opportunity to witness live the production of a cosmetic product directly on the show floor, and which this year developed the concept of diversity, as well as the Cosmopack Awards, the prizes for innovation in the production chain, and the Cosmo Talks on the evolution of cosmetic packaging.

But BolognaFiere Cosmoprof was also able to reshape its exhibition offerings with interesting outcomes, replacing the Chinese and Taiwanese companies that were unable to take part in the event due to restrictions caused by Covid with new and dynamic Italian and foreign companies.

Of what was offered by all sectors of the beauty supply chain-packaging, machinery, contract services, trends - we report extensively in this issue of the magazine and in the special "Great beauty returns to Cosmopack" on our websites.

Only two days later, experienced not without some apprehension, we found new reasons for confidence right on from  the first day of the opening of IPACK-IMA and Pharmintech (Milan May 3-6, 2022), which animated the Milanese limelight together with Intralogistica Italia, GreenPlast and Print4All.

Indeed, the packaging industry's first major live trade show again recorded decidedly satisfied exhibitors and visitors. Getting back together was almost a moment of collective euphoria, and the many events on the calendar were, by and large, well attended.

So many ideas, so many projects, so much effort, so much work....

While awaiting the next report on the new features seen at the events, we point out, taking them from our busy agenda, the awarding of the Best Packaging 2022, an event organized by Packaging Meeting and promoted by Istituto Italiano Imballaggio, in partnership with Conai and Ipack-Ima. Also presented during the meeting was the Algorithm developed by the Ethical Packaging Charter Foundation, a tool intended to help companies frame and measure and improve the performance of their packaging in terms of sustainability.

Still speaking of contests, there was also an evening dedicated to the winners of the Worldstar Global Packaging Awards with more than 300 people from all over the world.

Last but not least, the presentation of the white paper "Flowpack: the maximum with the minimum. High protection with low impact," which is the brainchild of Riccardo Cavanna (Cavanna SpA) and was edited by the Polytechnic University of Turin.

We at Pack-Media also tried to do our bit.

The second edition of Packaging Speaks Green, the international forum dedicated to the development of the culture of sustainability and circular economy, went well, as witnessed by the numbers: more than 400 participants and 46 speakers, 20 of whom were international, enlivened the meetings with panels, debates and case histories. The objective of the conference, organized with the support of UCIMA, Amaplast, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ice-Agency, was to provide new tools and methods for the design, use, recycling and reuse of sustainable packaging.

Not satisfied with this, our publishing house, in collaboration with the communication agency Intono and the support of the company Applied, thus created the TG at the fair "Pack News": 5 quality episodes that told day after day about the protagonists, news and themes that livened up the chief processing & packaging sector fair. Projected on 2 video walls at the fair and promoted daily via newsletter to over 130 thousand contacts, it is still available on our websites italiaimballaggio.it and packmedia.net.

Everything okay? I would say so.

It's just a pity (and that's an understatement) for the simultaneousness of the Milan event with the Cibus fair that was taking place in Parma on the same days, which certainly didn't make life any easier for the marketing men of the food companies, who on the one hand were applying to be visitors and on the other were exhibitors.

Let us hope that such unpleasant coincidences will not be repeated, not least because, already knowing the dates of the next edition of IPACK-IMA (May 27-30, 2025), no one could be justified in talking about randomness.