Nineteen engineering students from ten countries have completed Sidel’s Nextgen Innovation Lab, a three-week programme exploring real-world challenges in packaging, sustainability and automation, held at the company’s Octeville-sur-Mer site in the north of France.
The programme brought together university students to collaborate with Sidel experts on industrial challenges spanning sustainable operations and packaging, digital technologies and industrial AI, robotics and human-machine collaboration, computer vision and AI-based inspection for quality, and mechatronics and intelligent machine control.
Designed to strengthen connections between academia and industry while encouraging the next generation of engineering talent, the three-week programme combined technical workshops, site visits, customer engagement and hands-on project work. The group of 19 worked in teams to develop proof of concepts, prototypes and business cases, before presenting their final results to a panel of senior Sidel leaders and technical experts.
The programme concluded with an awards ceremony recognizing achievements across five categories: Best Overall Innovation, Most Customer-Centric Solution, Most Disruptive Concept, Most Inspiring Speech and Most Ready-to-Apply Solution.
“Innovation happens when different perspectives come together. The Nextgen Innovation Lab created a unique environment where young engineers could collaborate with Sidel experts, challenge existing thinking and develop solutions to real industrial challenges,” said Ko Hoepman, executive vice president of equipment, innovation and portfolio at Sidel. “Throughout the programme, participants demonstrated impressive creativity, technical expertise and collaboration, bringing fresh perspectives and enthusiasm that made this an inspiring experience for everyone involved.”
“I didn’t realize there was so much innovation and such a wide range of expertise behind the manufacturing of the products I use every day, and that’s been a very pleasant surprise,” one of the young engineers commented. “My first impression of Sidel was very good. It’s clearly a company that values its talent, from engineers to operators.”
“It’s refreshing to work on real industrial challenges while having direct access to experts who are so open to sharing their knowledge,” another added.
The Nextgen Innovation Lab forms part of Sidel’s wider commitment to developing future engineering talent, strengthening relationships with universities across Europe and encouraging fresh thinking to help shape the future of sustainable packaging solutions. According to the company, the programme has already had a lasting impact, with several participants expressing interest in continuing their journey with Sidel.