Registration has opened for Packaging Innovations & Empack 2027, which will be held at the NEC Birmingham on 24 and 25 February. Described as the UK’s largest packaging and processing event, it will run under the theme ‛Innovation in Practice’, with a focus on helping brands and manufacturers turn ideas into practical, scalable solutions.
The 2026 edition attracted 8,021 unique visitors, more than 500 exhibitors and representatives from over 3,000 brands, according to the organizers. The 2027 program will include live demonstrations, debates and business opportunities.
The organizers noted that the industry faces more regulation, more material choices, more technology and growing pressure to improve sustainability and productivity, which is making decisions harder. The challenge, they said, is separating promising ideas from practical solutions that can deliver at scale. The theme is intended to connect these questions with the people, technologies and expertise able to answer them.
The event will bring together brands, suppliers, designers, manufacturers, machinery specialists, co-packers, regulators and other experts to examine how advances in packaging and production translate into commercially viable solutions. The aim is to help businesses validate ideas, navigate complexity and make more confident decisions about what comes next.
Sema Tezel Basbug, head of marketing at Packaging Innovations & Empack, said, “The packaging industry is not short of ideas. The challenge is working out which ideas can make a meaningful difference and how to put them into practice.
“Can a new material run on existing machinery? Can an innovation improve performance as well as sustainability? Can it meet regulatory requirements? Can it be produced at the right cost and at the scale a business needs?
“Those are the questions behind ‛Innovation in Practice’. We want to create an environment where people can interrogate innovation, learn from those already implementing it and leave with greater confidence about what could work within their own business.”
The first confirmed speakers span global brands, engineering, technology, healthcare and entrepreneurship. They are Youssef Riad, senior engineering product manager at Mars; Jane Skelton FIMMM, head of packaging innovation and creative at Nichols; Toby Horne CEng MIET LISM, vice president at Siemens; Vinicius Sales, global design leader at PepsiCo; Emil Stickland, co-founder of Kocktail; Michael Privette, chief development officer at the Arthritis Foundation; and Raj Kumar, global packaging lead at HelloFresh.
Exhibitors include Amcor, Mondi Group, Aptar, Coppice Allpack and Smith Anderson Group. First-time exhibitors include Pirlo Group, PACKLAB, Novatec, Eurofilm Mantzaris and TemperPack Technologies.
Several new and expanded features are planned for the exhibition floor. A new Advice Clinic will offer visitors one-to-one access to industry experts to discuss specific challenges, explore potential solutions and identify next steps. Regulation in Practice will bring together Pack UK, UK Packaging PRO and industry experts to examine what evolving policy and compliance requirements mean for packaging design, sourcing and production.
Expert-led Discovery Tours will help first-time visitors and small and medium-sized enterprises navigate the event and identify relevant innovations and suppliers. An enhanced Exhibitor Innovation Gallery will showcase materials, technologies and packaging developments through displays and guided tours.
Empack Tour 2.0 will take visitors closer to machinery, automation and production technology, showing how solutions can address manufacturing challenges. The tours are intended to help manufacturers benchmark technologies and assess their potential within their own operations, from improving efficiency to reducing implementation risk.
The Production Line Stage, formerly the Supply Chain Stage, has been refreshed and will cover smarter manufacturing, automation and operational performance. The Smart Packaging Zone will explore opportunities emerging from connected, intelligent, data-led packaging.
The Future Trailblazer Awards will return to recognize emerging industry talent, with a new Mentor of the Year category for those supporting the next generation. Pitch the Co-Packers, delivered in partnership with the BCMPA, will also return, connecting start-ups with the co-packing expertise needed to scale.
Basbug added, “Bringing the whole packaging journey together matters. Packaging Innovations explores what is possible, Empack focuses on how it can be delivered, and Contract Pack & Fulfilment helps businesses understand how they can scale.
“Our ambition for 2027 is simple: come with a question, a problem or an idea and leave closer to an answer.”
