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• The Energy Efficient Cluster of Catalonia (CEEC), the Foodservice Cluster, the Catalan Wine Sector Cluster INNOVI and the Packaging Cluster organized the Strategic Immersion 2020 conference, which created a disruptive space with live presentations and where more than a hundred B2B meetings took place between the participating professionals and the current top trends were exposed.
• In the second day of the Strategic Immersion they treated the current tendencies of the sectors of each one of the clusters organizing of the event.
The second day of the Strategic Immersion 2020, virtual meeting Intercluster, focused on dealing with current trends in the sectors of each of the clusters organizing the event: Energy Cluster of Catalonia, Foodservice Cluster, Wine Cluster INNOVI and the Packaging Cluster.
Regarding the session aimed at dealing with the packaging sector, mainly the changes that will be in the Post-Covid sector19 were discussed. Smithers Pira expert Adam Page explained the trends in the packaging industry which are leading to new business models, new developments and brand owners committed to finding new solutions in the market. The importance of integrating sustainability into the leadership and culture of companies as a lever for innovation and competitiveness was also put on the table, according to Sonia Ruiz, founder of NOIMA, Meaningful Strategies for Sustainable Transformation.
In this same field, it was detected that collaboration and corporate activism are needed that define the value model close to circularity and social innovation. Similarly, leaders with a strategic vision and a prospective perspective are needed.
At the round table it was explained how in France, the company Danone provides the ferments so that anyone can make their own yogurt at home. This is a sustainable way to reduce household waste, according to Pedro Ruiz, Environmental Sustainability Engineer at Nestle, who said that “the packaging of the future will be marked by features that improve its recyclability in line with ecodesign, such as less inks or glosses, for example”.
In the presentations and round tables belonging to the sector of efficient energy management, Santiago Blanco, of DNV GL, argued that “the energy transition finds difficulties in sectors such as transport, as it has a much slower transformation and also in the domestic systems like the heating and the electrointensivos, to industrial level”. For his part, Miguel Rodrigo, IDEA, explained that “to achieve the energy transition we need to involve all citizens”. According to Manel Torrent, ICAEN, “in Catalonia we have all the fronts open in relation to the energy transition (building, mobility …) and we must respond quickly to each sector from the Government. The sectors want to do things and wait for the government. In Catalonia we are already behind, because we have a complex country problem: only 8% of energy is renewable”.
At the roundtable on circular economy, it was concluded that any economic system must take into account the resources of the planet. So far a linear economy has developed: extracting, producing, consuming and rejecting, but now we are in the “end of this era” and a transformation is needed. As for the roundtable on energy digitization, it was agreed that digitization is not a technological change, but a social one because it has gone directly to people’s needs.
In the interventions referring to the wine sector, it was found that women have substantially increased their wine consumption and that it is a very good time to advertise, as competitors are not doing so. Maurici Olivé, from DAMM, explained that with regard to strategic changes, it is necessary to move from large industrial investments to technological changes, that is, digitalisation and investments that allow companies to anticipate market changes. “For DAMM, digitization begins in the field, where all the agronomic data obtained through remote sensing systems have been integrated into a single platform”, according to Olivé.
For his part, Raúl García, of Inèdit, has highlighted that with regard to the packaging, only with small changes in materials or in the conception of this can reduce the impact. In addition, it also made a major impact on the analysis of the product life cycle “as a tool to substantially reduce the impact it has on the environment”.
According to Carlos M Gasol, of Inèdit, the ReWine project, a four-year demonstration project with European funding (LIFE), reuses bottles for the wine sector. “Through this process it has been possible to demonstrate a significant reduction in the carbon footprint. Therefore, it is important to keep this in mind as a solution to be implemented as soon as possible”.
Finally, on the challenges and opportunities of the foodservice sector, the reality and evolution of retail in foodservice was shown through examples that were carried out over the years. Emphasis was placed on family work and the importance of issues such as sustainability and the circular economy. In his speech, José Luis Cabañero, Eatable Adventures, explained the innovative idea of Eatable Adventures emphasizing the importance of startups in innovation and adaptation to change that is experiencing today’s society.
Finally, sustainability issues were addressed in the field of packaging. The new models and formats of work that have in the company Inèdit in the face of the next years in the matter of sustainable and circular containers were presented. Next, the project on packaging that will be carried out next year 2021 with the Packaging and Foodservice clusters was shown. And, finally, Mar Güell, from the Sustainability Department of Danone offered the vision of his company in this field, explaining the B Corp system of which they are part and is linked to the idea of Shared Value that from Europe and the Foodservice Cluster is intended to strengthen.
