The
eternal city of Rome has been chosen by Finat as the venue for this year’s
European Label Forum. The association’s flagship event will be held on 3–5 June
2020 at the Sheraton Roma Hotel & Conference Center. Apart from zooming in
today’s volatile business conditions, a major focus will be on sustainability
in response to worldwide developments and the demands on all manufacturers for
more environmentally friendly working processes and products. Thirdly and
finally, the leadership culture of the label industry in the face of generation
change will be addressed.
The
annual European Label Forum (ELF), which offers not only the latest market
update and informative presentations, but also a fantastic opportunity for
networking, goes to Italy for the 2020 edition. As the main event in the label
converting calendar, ELF brings together business leaders, managers and young
professionals from the whole value chain. Details of the engaging programme
aimed at providing attendees with the knowledge and tools to maximise the
potential of their businesses have now been revealed and is available online.
Peer-to-peer
sharing of experiences
Following
the successful launch last year, the converter-only roundtables will return to
offer participants the opportunity to debate the industry’s hot topics. The
peer discussion sessions are aimed at small and mid-sized converters, who will
convene the day ahead of the main programme to talk about the challenges and
issues they face. This is a unique chance for owners and managers of label
printing companies to share experiences and together analyse the trends that
are affecting them in their daily work.
Disrupting
the shopping experience
After
the official welcome from Finat President Chris Ellison and Elisabetta
Brambilla, President of GIPEA (the Italian self-adhesive label producers’
association), the opening keynote will be given by famous entrepreneur Oscar
Farinetti, who will share his road to success with the attendees. He is the
creator of Eataly, a unique Italian food marketplace concept comprising
restaurants, cafés and food outlets where shoppers can browse a wide range of
high-end products, drink coffee or even take a cookery lesson. The company made
it onto Forbes list of most disruptive brands in 2015 and today has over 40
branches worldwide, while Farinetti himself is a highly regarded trailblazer
for his unconventional working methods.
Europe in
turmoil?
Helping
the audience understand the dynamics of the current political and economic
climate, professor Andrea Boltho, who is Emeritus Fellow of Magdalen College,
Oxford, and Director of Oxford Economics, will offer an analysis of the general
European economic outlook and drill down into market figures. He will look at
the uncertainties caused by trade wars, political turmoil and the new forces of
the Eurozone, and how they affect all businesses. This will be complemented
later in the day by Finat’s detailed annual European label market update and
the findings from the six-monthly Radar report.
Business,
sustainability and culture
Interactive
themed sessions will be offered as three concurrently running tracks in the
afternoon on day one. Under the headings Business, Sustainability and Culture,
there will be a plethora of presentations (with Q&As) homing in on the
topics that are affecting the industry, including Industry 4.0, recycling,
intelligent packaging, digital transformation and culture change.
Day
two continues with a case study on how to combine fair trade and environmental
sustainability, before some of Europe’s leading brand owners sit down for an
in-depth panel debate. They will discuss how they as providers of label and
packaging solutions can play a role in driving sustainability and look at the
demands and opportunities for recycling and the reality of recyclability.
The
concluding keynote from motivational speaker and cultural expert, Pellegrino
Riccardi, picks up on the issues of diversity and cultural awareness to help
business owners understand the potential and untapped value of their workforce.
As always, there will be social events for the members to complement the
learning sessions, including the option to visit the Vatican museum and meet
for dinner after the formal closure of the forum.
