Larger and more representative of the entire packaging value chain, including process and logistics, and with effective responses to the challenge of sustainability. Hispack 2024 will take place from 7 to 10 May at Fira de Barcelona's Gran Via exhibition centre and has already confirmed the participation of the leading companies in the Spanish packaging industry. At the same time, the Spanish trade show has launched several actions to increase its national and international appeal.
Organised by Fira de Barcelona in collaboration with Graphispack Association, Hispack is expected to bring together more than 720 exhibitors and 1,250 brands represented in halls 2 and 3 of the Gran Via venue. A half year to go, the Spanish trade show has already booked nearly 25,000m2 net, i.e. 80% of the planned commercial space, and the confirmed participation of almost 500 companies.
So far, 71% of the firms from the last edition, held in 2022, are back, and around a hundred new companies from the materials, premium packaging, automation and robotics segments have joined the list of exhibitors. There are also companies from 20 countries. In addition to Spain, Turkey, Italy, Germany, France and Portugal are the countries with the most exhibitors so far.
The president of the Hispack 2024 organising committee, Jordi Bernabeu, says: "The trade show faces next year's edition with very good expectations and a wide and well-sectored offer. We will be the only packaging trade fair at European level in the first half of 2024, an opportunity to project the innovation of Spanish suppliers of packaging solutions internationally and to massively attract Spanish demand".
Five sectors
As in 2022, Hispack will structure its commercial exhibition around five sectors: Packaging Machinery & Process with machinery, equipment and technology for the manufacture of containers and packaging, as well as product packaging processes and operations; Labelling & Bottling with machinery and equipment for bottling, labelling, coding and marking; Logistics, Automation & Robotics, with intralogistics, handling, storage, distribution and transport equipment, as well as industrial automation systems; Industrial Packaging, with solutions and materials for secondary and tertiary packaging of industrial products; and Brand Packaging, with materials, packaging, cases, closures, formats, designs, POS and premium packs for brands to differentiate themselves at the point of sale and optimise the user experience of their products.
The director of Hispack, Xavier Pascual, highlights the good response and broad Spanish packaging industry support that translates into "a high level of representativeness and quality of the offer at the leading trade fair in the Iberian packaging market, which a priori is a guarantee of attracting a greater number of visitors with decision-making and purchasing power from different industrial sectors that use packaging solutions, as well as large-scale distribution and retail".
More visitors
Hispack has set itself the challenge of exceeding 27,000 visitors and has already launched different actions to connect with final packaging brands and industrial SMEs from all the Spanish Autonomous Communities, as well as with international professionals with projects to purchase packaging solutions so that they can get to know the offer of Spanish suppliers. In this sense, Hispack expects to grow by 10% in the number of national visitors and 12% in the number of international visitors.
To this end, Hispack is working to identify the 100 large companies that consume packaging elements in each Autonomous Community in order to invite them to the event in a personalised way, facilitating their visit with travel discounts, other incentives and services such as the creation of tailor-made meeting agendas. Hispack also has collaboration agreements with various associations linked to sectors of demand (food, beverages, cosmetics, drugstore, chemical, automotive, construction, retail, etc.) to connect with professionals from companies in these specialties, mainly with a technical profile linked to production.
New internationalisation plan
In the international arena, Hispack is once again teaming up with Amec to carry out its programme of inviting international buyers and specifiers, focusing on Morocco, Tunisia, Poland and Mexico, four markets of interest for Spanish exports of packaging machinery and materials. In addition, the "Why Spanish Solutions" campaign will be launched in these countries to promote the competitive advantages of Spanish packaging machinery and the Hispack show as the best showcase for them. All this, taking advantage of the assets, contacts and experience of previous editions through the Fira de Barcelona and Amec delegations abroad.
As a novelty, Hispack will present Japan as a market opportunity for Spanish packaging, activating channels of industrial cooperation between supply and demand companies from both countries, and generating knowledge about innovation and trends. At the same time, the visiting experience for international professionals will be significantly improved, as the show intends to create a specific agenda of content for them. In this regard, all international visitors have at their disposal the International Business Center (IBC) located in Hall 3 where they will find information and advice to make their visit more effective. They will also be able to participate in networking activities, meetings with exhibitors and seminars on business opportunities.
Sustainability moves packaging
In the activities section, Hispack will feature the "Unboxing" knowledge area, whose presentations will focus on sustainability as a monographic theme covering the entire packaging life cycle. There will be talks on materials, designs, strategies, innovation and the sustainability of packaging applied to end industries. In relation to this last point, the "Best in class" programme has already been launched, which will recognise several client companies of Hispack exhibitors as examples of good practice in the incorporation of packaging solutions with a high innovative and transformative impact on their products and processes. There will also be other conferences and activities organised by Spanish associations such as Aerce, the Packaging Cluster and the Beauty Cluster.
Another outstanding initiative will be the themed itineraries available to visitors to showcase and explain first-hand the innovation presented by exhibitors at the fair. Interested visitors will be able to sign up for guided tours at set times or follow the route on their own, using a map to identify the essential stops.
At the same time, the Barcelona show is also working on the organisation of the "Engineer Day" with the aim of attracting technical engineering profiles linked to the areas of production, operations and R&D in different industrial sectors that use packaging. For this group, Hispack will organise a specific programme of activities to be held on 8 May. On the same day, the Packaging Night will be held, a sector networking event that is expected to bring together more than a thousand people. Prior to this event, the Liderpack 2023 Awards, the most important awards for Packaging and POS in Spain, will be presented.
Finally, Hispack will update the study on the packaging industry in Spain, a bibliographical tool that compiles the main economic and business figures of the sector. On this occasion, the report will also include a Sector Barometer that will take the pulse of the market in terms of business based on the opinions of representatives of companies, experts and entities linked to the world of packaging in our country.