Amcor opens new European Innovation Center in Belgium

Amcor, a global leader in developing and producing responsible packaging solutions, has expanded its packaging innovation centers around the world. In addition to existing centers in the United States, South America and Asia Pacific, the company has now opened the Amcor Innovation Center Europe (AICE) in Ghent, Belgium. AICE will pioneer new material technologies to make packaging more sustainable and performant, while focusing on designs that stand out in stores and improve consumer ease of use.

"The launch of the Amcor European Innovation Center is a significant investment in the direction of more sustainable, circular and innovative packaging," said Michael Zacka, President of Amcor Flexible Packaging Europe, Middle East and Africa. "The center brings together the brightest minds in packaging design and materials science with the most advanced technologies to provide our customers with complete brand solutions from concept to commercial launch."

At its European Innovation Center, Amcor supports brands from concept to shelf using its Catalyst approach. This flexible, collaborative and creative co-development approach creates packaging solutions that take into account a brand's market, consumer needs, sustainability and recyclability requirements, and the customer's existing production lines.

"We want to design packaging that consumers love and that is better for the environment," says Noemi Bertolino, Vice President of Research and Development. "The packaging needs to look good and be easy to open, dispense and seal. It also needs to fit into current and future collection, sorting and recycling infrastructure. At AICE, we can test packaging against these requirements. For example, in our Customer Engagement Center, we can test whether a child-resistant medication blister pack is easy to open for an adult with arthritis."