What another memorable occasion for the Australian Institute of Packaging which was represented at this WPO Board meeting and WorldStars presentation by Pierre Pienaar. Not only are these meetings of value to the greater packaging industry in Australia but globally.

There is lots of networking happening and it is always interesting and encouraging to renew old acquaintances and meet new member countries attending these meetings from around the world. May I take this opportunity to thank the AIP Board for opportunity to represent Australia at the Dusseldorf meetings.

These sessions were attended by Argentina, Austria, Australia, Brazil, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Lebanon, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, Ukraine and USA.

Australia continues to be well regarded at these meetings where our opinion is sought as we are represented on a number of sub-committees, e.g. Education, Strategy, Marketing, Sustainability and Save Food.

The WPO continues to be financially sound with education portfolio taking a priority in relation to funds for training being spent in developing countries.

Worldstars

This remains a key area of Marketing for the WPO. All member countries are encouraged to become directly involved in promoting and encouraging entries from one’s own country. The WorldStar Competition is one of the major events of the World Packaging Organisation (WPO) and is the pre-eminent international award in packaging.

WorldStar illustrates the continual advancement of the state of packaging design and technology and creates a living standard of international packaging excellence from which others may learn. The WorldStar Competition is the main revenue source for WPO and its success is an important component in financing our global packaging training programmes. This year there were 292 entries, Sustainability 34 entries, Marketing 17 entries and Packaging that Saves Food 12 Entries.

An emphasis is always to grow the WorldStar sales and global influence. In an effort to grow the categories, the following was discussed:

• Packaging Material and labels would be introduced in 2018.

• Packaging machinery and process for future consideration. The Board believed it would be very difficult to judge and the machinery manufacturers did not recognise the award. IOM3 would undertake more research on this category.

WorldStars Student Awards

The WorldStar Student Awards, promoted by the World Packaging Organisation (WPO), is an international packaging design competition for students – undergraduate or graduate – from countries around the world who are involved in projects in the field of packaging – structural design and/or graphic design.

Through publicity of WPO’s global publications, student winners are provided with the opportunity to gain professional acknowledgement and entrance into a career as a packaging professional. The winner announced in Dusseldorf was Jacky Tien, from China.

Education

• WPO Recognition and endorsement of Packaging Education and Training.

• On-line internet based training.

• Various members of WPO use different forms of online internet based training.

• The WPO global accreditation program, Certified Packaging Professional.

• (CPP) continues to grow, globally and in Australia it has really gone from strength to strength.

The Short course based approach of the WPO will continue to build the capacity of member organisations whilst providing a good educational experience for attendees, and focus will be on:

• Asia.

• Africa.

• Eastern Europe.

• Central Americas.

• South America.

The flagship of the WPO Education program, the Residential Training Program continues to show the strength of the WPO across the globe. This year training has already been in Iran, Indonesia, Nigeria and the coming months it will take place in Kenya, Vietnem, China and Italy.

The WPO has commenced a Train the Trainer Program. The regions targeted are:

(A) Africa, Madagascar, Seychelles, Maldives.

(B) South/East Asia (Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand).

(C) Eastern Europe/sub-Continent (e.g. Croatia, Turkey, Iran, Hungary, Czech Rep, Bangladesh).

(D) Western Europe.

(E) South America.

Marketing

All member countries have received their membership certificates and are encouraged to display these at meetings, seminars, conferences, congresses, or any place where recognition can be gained.

WPO News: the AIP was congratulated on being so organised in supplying news on a regular basis. They continue to always look for articles of interest and news items.

Linkedin membership to WPO Linkedin has grown to over 3000 and members are encouraged to join up, as it remains a good way of keeping in contact and spreading information on WPO.

Sustainability

Dr Johannes Bergmair reported on the Packaging that Saves Food Exhibition at Interpack 2017. There were 15 WPO members and two WPO Regional members exhibiting:Australia, Brazil, Croatia, Czechia, India, Hungary, APO, Austria, Finland, The Netherlands, Mexico, India, Iran, Germany, South Africa, Spain, Lebanon/ Morocco/Egypt/Tunisia. It was important to try and keep the exhibition intact for future use. Also important was that if information is used from the Save Food Exhibition, that the Interpack name receives attribution as a source.

General

WPO is becoming more involved in countries across the globe, great education opportunities exist more now than ever before, Marketing is really putting the name out in the open across all continents. Financially sound with good leadership into the future. The AIP has become an important player on this world stage where our opinion, ideas and advice constantly sought.

WPO should establish a facility to manage International Packaging Congresses around the world. This World Packaging Congress would be a WPO branded initiative. The website requires updating, should be interactive and have a facility for administration by means of a password, this will make it easy to update.

Lifetime Achievement Award, there had been 11 entries and four recipients were chosen by the judges. They are: Sergio Haberfeld, Brazil; Søren Østergaard, Denmark; Dharmatilake Ratnayake, Sri Lanka and Anne Emblem, UK.

President-elect

The President, Tom Schneider informed the meeting that the WPO Executive had received one nomination for the position of WPO President for 2018-2020. The person nominated was Mr. Pierre Pienaar and the board unanimously accepted the nomination and voted in favour of appointing Pierre Pienaar as the next WPO President.

By Pierre Pienaar, FAIP, CPP