The Trade Fair

The Empack Fair is one of the most significant events of its kind in all of Scandinavia. Scandinavia is also the most dynamic and environmentally advanced market in Europe, offering opportunities to engage with interesting business partners, customers, experts, and innovators.

The Empack fair focuses on the entire packaging industry chain – from development and production through filling and automation to integration into supply chains. Empack took place alongside the Logistics & Automation exhibition, which offers a practically oriented platform emphasizing innovative packaging and logistics solutions.

This year, EMPACK hosted more than 60 exhibitors, mainly from Scandinavia, highlighting the regional importance and role of the fair as a key platform for meeting stakeholders in the packaging and logistics sectors.

Four Czech companies participated in the fair, representing innovations in sustainable packaging:

• CirkArena – a new R&D center focused on the circular economy and the use of waste materials;
• Stabilplastik s.r.o./Nortech Solutions – a manufacturer of transport pallets made from municipal plastic waste with a significantly lower carbon footprint;
• Alfa Plastik, a.s. – a traditional producer of food packaging with an emphasis on recycled and bio-based materials;
• Myco s.r.o. – a deep-tech company developing packaging based on mycelium biocomposites, awarded the Red Dot Design Award 2024.

Accompanying Program

On the eve of the fair, the Embassy hosted a workshop on its premises, providing participants with deeper insights into Swedish trends, (EU) regulations, certifications, and research activities in packaging technologies. The workshop created a space for knowledge sharing and fostering future cooperation.

Presentations were delivered by leading Swedish experts in packaging technologies and the circular economy from the Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE) and the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH):

• Sandra Pousette, Dino Muhic, and Therese Johansson from RISE introduced participants to the expected development of the regulatory framework and presented trends, research project results, and examples of sustainable innovations in packaging;
• Prof. Amir Rashid (KTH) presented concepts of circular production systems and their role in transitioning to a sustainable economy;
• The workshop concluded with a lecture by Kateřina Strömsholm, President of the Czech-Swedish Chamber of Commerce and Honorary Consul of the Czech Republic in Malmö, who shared her experiences and recommendations regarding Czech companies entering the Swedish market and participating in local tenders.

RISE experts offered Czech companies the opportunity to join ongoing R&D projects, which the institute carries out in two- to three-year program cycles. These projects focus, for example, on increasing packaging durability during transport or developing and testing sustainable alternatives to fossil-based packaging components – such as bio-based barrier materials or foams made from natural fibers. Additionally, the Embassy, in cooperation with RISE, arranged an optional visit for Czech companies to RISE’s experimental production line near the fairgrounds during both days of the fair.

The workshop was followed by a briefing in the form of a working lunch hosted by the Czech Ambassador to Sweden, Radek Matula. In addition to the fair participants, the lunch was attended by the Deputy Ambassador and Economic Diplomat Jaromír Vejrych, Director of CzechTrade Scandinavia Michal Sontodinomo, and President of the Czech-Swedish Chamber of Commerce Kateřina Strömsholm.

Jaromír Vejrych, Deputy Ambassador and Head of the Politcal & Commercial Section of the Embassy