Staying ahead of the technology curve means strengthening your competitive advantage. That is why we give you data-driven innovation insights into the packaging industry. This time, you get to discover 5 hand-picked startups developing sensor embedded packaging solutions.
Global Startup Heat Map highlights 5 Top Sensor Embedded Packaging Solutions out of 392
The insights of this data-driven analysis are derived from the Big Data & Artificial Intelligence-powered StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, covering 2.093.000+ startups & scaleups globally. The platform gives you an exhaustive overview of emerging technologies & relevant startups within a specific field in just a few clicks.
The Global Startup Heat Map below reveals the distribution of the 392 exemplary startups & scaleups we analyzed for this research. Further, it highlights 5 packaging startups that we hand-picked based on criteria such as founding year, location, funding raised, and more. You get to explore the solutions of these 5 startups & scaleups in this report. For insights on the other 387 sensor embedded packaging solutions, get in touch.
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Is It Fresh digitalizes Food Packaging
A product’s life cycle begins in a manufacturing unit and enters the supply chain network to reach the end customer. However, bulk manufactured goods are susceptible to damage or loss due to the mass handling of products. Moreover, there is not yet one proper mechanism to track every unit of a product, leading to losses due to damage, inferior product quality, and theft. That is why startups develop easy-to-deploy sensor technologies to enable the tracking of a product throughout the supply chain.
German startup Is it fresh develops printed sensors for applications in multiple industries. In particular, the startup provides NFC-enabled sensors for food packaging. This creates records of product details including storage type, requirements for further processing, and more. The sensor tags are custom-integrable in the existing manufacturing lines of a product. This solution enhances transparency during logistics and improves inventory management.
Senoptica Technologies develops Active Packaging to Reduce Food Waste
Perishable food items and other related products are packed with the use of modified atmosphere packaging (MAP). This packaging stabilizes the intra-package environment and increases the shelf-life. Checking for damages in a MAP is usually done by a visual inspection for tears/ holes. However, there is no method to monitor the precise composition of the modified atmosphere of a packaged product. To address this issue, startups develop sensors and chip-based systems that offer a solution to effectively monitor the contents of MAP.
Irish startup Senoptica Technologies provides a sensor-based product packaging solution. The startup’s sensor is printed directly onto the MAP lidding film. This sensor detects the oxygen level in the pack and modifies the color during scanning. This peculiarity allows managers to identify defective MAP components and strengthen the quality control process.
Blakbear offers Sensor Embedded Packaging to Track Shelf-Life
Customers often experience quick spoilage of freshly purchased food products, especially milk and other perishables in daily life. Testing for freshness is done mostly manually, or by blind confidence in the details given in the labels. However, food spoilage is directly measurable through quantifying microbial contamination or indirectly by measuring the byproducts produced by them. To this end, startups are working on deploying sensors in intelligent food packaging solutions. In particular, sensor-embedded smart packs enable individuals to measure the freshness of a food item and effectively reduce food waste on both ends – retails and end-consumers.
UK startup Blakbear designs and develops sensors capable of sensing chemical composition, actively deploying the technology in food packaging. Blakbear’s sensor embedded packaging senses the gas and chemical signals from a package and provides real-time updates on the shelf-life of the product. The patented smart label is easy to implement in any package and is integrated with the Freshness API software of Blakbear. The wireless microbial freshness monitoring solution enables retailers and customers to reduce food waste and save costs.
TrackingPacking enables Real-Time Tracking of Shipped Packages
Porch piracy is a huge issue for the logistics and retail industry as improper shipment tracking methods and theft increase shipping losses. This issue opens multiple challenges to be tackled in the supply chain. For instance, manual operation flaws result in supply chain and last-mile delivery mismanagement and recurring losses. That is why many startups are working on advancing last-mile delivery and asset tracking solutions.
US-based startup TrackingPacking implements the Internet of Things (IoT) technology in the packaging and logistics sectors. Its Smart Package network transforms every box, bag, or envelope into a smart package by embedding the SmartClip. The SmartClip solution enables a user to monitor the inside and outside of a package as well as notifies them in real-time while the package is picked up, dropped, or opened. Moreover, the TrackingPacking network allows individuals to track items thereby providing continuous package security.
Cellr provides Connected Packaging for the Wine Industry
The bottling of wine is a delicate step because the proper maintenance of quality, composition, and oxidation protection is required. Even more so as wine’s value increase with age. Therefore, it is required to maintain an exact and proper record of the bottling. However, many wine manufacturers do not oblige to these strict regulations and/or refill wines from old bottles to sell them to customers. This reduces reliability, leads to variations in taste, and loss of trust amongst customers. Nowadays, untampered digital record maintenance of a wine bottle is possible by embedding sensors directly in the bottle cap.
Australian startup Cellr works on anti-counterfeiting track and trace solutions for the wine industry. The startup embeds its convert solution in the wine bottle lids. This lid capsule records an immutable digital ‘birth certificate’ and automates collection data in the bottling line. The company’s proprietary technology features an integrated radio frequency antenna design and chip, creating a binary state for tampered evidence tracking and rules out the possibility of re-filling. Additionally, Cellr provides an NFC labeling solution for non-polylaminate capsules, which also facilitate encryption during the bottling process.
Discover more Packaging Startups
Packaging startups such as the examples highlighted in this report focus on Biodegradable Packaging, Automation, Nanotechnology as well as Digital Printing. While all of these technologies play a major role in advancing the packaging industry, they only represent the tip of the iceberg. To explore more packaging technologies, simply get in touch to let us look into your areas of interest. For a more general overview, you can download our free Packaging Innovation Report to save your time and improve strategic decision-making.
