RyPax Wing Fat Inc., “RyPax”, the pioneering molded fiber packaging specialist, and E Ink Holdings, “E Ink” (8069.TW), the leading innovator of electronic ink technology, announced today that they will be showing smart and sustainable packaging prototypes for pharmaceutical applications at the AIPIA World Congress, taking place November 18-19 at the Amsterdam Conference Centre Beurs van Berlager in Amsterdam, Netherland.
The smart packaging market was valued at USD 35.33 billion in 2018, and is expected to reach USD 44.39 billion by 2024, registering a CAGR of 4.19% over the forecast period of 2019-2024. As consumers become more technologically savvy and demand more data, they expect more from the products they purchase. Smart packaging helps to engage these consumers by providing them assurance about the authenticity of the product, giving easier access to product information, and supporting their efforts to go green.
E Ink’s ePaper is a digital display that can show critical information on the product in both text and graphics, adding clarity to user instructions to improve patient adherence, and to alert the user about product status or warnings to ensure the drug is safe to use. ePaper serves as the ideal electronic communication medium by integrating with electronics, such as sensors, to monitor and verify the product status, and to create a connected, interactive user interface on the product or packaging. With its thin, durable, and flexible structure, ePaper displays can be easily added onto the current packaging without significantly changing the box or bottle’s thickness or weight; or it can be incorporated as a module into reusable packaging.
“RyPax is proud to form a strategic partnership with the market leader for ePaper displays, E Ink, to pioneer the use of their smart packaging technology on our sustainable packaging. As consumers become more technologically advanced and socially aware of the need to be green, the integration of E Ink displays on our reusable and refillable RyPax molded fiber packaging can help support sustainability efforts while providing easy access to product information,” said Alvin Lim, CEO of RyPax. “We envision this exciting integrated packaging solution to be rolled out to our pharmaceutical and electronics clients as soon as next quarter and we look forward to providing our clients with enhanced value and improved product packaging efficiency.”E Ink’s ePaper film consumes minimum power while displaying always-on information and can be powered by wireless energy harvesting (battery-less) or by using a thin battery with longer battery life. E Ink’s new low-voltage (5V) film further decreases the power required for label updates, and allows battery-less or paper battery powered flexible smart labels.
“We look forward to creating with RyPax the next generation of smart packaging solutions to assist our customers with their reduce-and-reuse initiatives. Instead of printing out all pages of pharmaceutical booklets in every language, we can reduce paper waste by displaying and “reprinting” market-relevant or personalized content in one single ePaper display,”said FY Gan, Executive Vice President of Sales Center at E Ink. “E Ink displays can show messages sent through smart features such as monitoring and alerting, and deliver on-product, relevant content to enhance the user engagement. This is a game changer for not only the pharmaceutical industry, but for a wide range of smart packaging applications to deliver the best customer experience.”As one of the pioneer digitalized, smart pharmaceutical packaging providers in the China market, RyPax and E Ink are seeking partners to co-create the ecosystem for smart and sustainable/reusable packaging. The Companies are hosting two presentations at the AIPIA World Congress: “Batteryless smart label with ePaper display” by E Ink on November 18, and “Sustainability in smart packaging: offering a wholesome consumer experience while going green” by RyPax on November 19.
