The Fedrigoni Group is setting up a 3,000 square metre "Innovation Centre" next to its Verona office in Italy. The investment, which will include a share of public funding through NRRP funds, will be fully operational in the first quarter of 2024.
"We believe that without continuous improvement there is no future," said Marco Nespolo, CEO of the Fedrigoni Group "and this improvement certainly comes through R&D, but also through the exchange of experiences and collaboration between different skills, in order to have the widest possible perspective and seize all opportunities," said Marco Nespolo, CEO of the Fedrigoni Group.
"The Innovation Centre aims to be the home of innovation for the world of special papers for packaging and creative communication, of labels and premium self-adhesives — a physical venue where to bring together the best talents, inside and outside Fedrigoni, and the most advanced technological solutions to develop specific projects, products and applications that support customers in the environmental transition.
"Some examples are RFID sensors for smart papers, not just for labels, or durable paper alternatives to plastic, including papers that are tear-resistant, grease-proof, water-resistant and translucent. These papers are made from renewable fibre sources and many of them are made from completely recyclable raw materials," Nespolo added.
The Innovation Centre will consist of four closely complementary areas:
The first will house the group's Research, Development & Innovation team, with laboratories for the analysis of new raw materials, starting with recycled fibres and alternatives to cellulose; state-of-the-art machines for testing and prototyping innovative treatments while minimising environmental impact; printers for digital printing tests, including the HP Indigo 7K Digital Press printer for which Fedrigoni will be the competence centre for Italy in partnership with HP Indigo; and a fully automated sample warehouse, unique in the world, which will collect over 8,000 samples of special papers.
The second area — multi-functional and modular — will be dedicated to FedLab, the incubator-accelerator of new ideas to be transformed into highly sustainable products, services or processes, also through an ecosystem of best-in-class actors, partnerships and collaborations already in place with Italian and foreign universities and research centres such as the Universities of Milan, Naples and Pisa, the International Paper Engineering School of Grenoble Inp-Pagora and the Pulp and Paper Research & Technical Centre (CTP), companies and start-ups that will be able to work together in co-working spaces.
The third area will host the Customer Experience Centre, where through the display of both real and virtual products, accessible through screens and "touch" tables, Fedrigoni will offer different interactive and immersive experiential paths, meeting the needs of all visitors — from brands to investors, from graphic designers to printers and converters, from institutions to graphics and communication students, to school groups on educational trips — who will be able to design and configure a customised product in real time. Through a crowdsourcing system, those who wish to can also contribute their own ideas and insights to the development of new solutions.
The fourth area will host the Customer Academy, a learning and training centre for the entire Fedrigoni community — colleagues, customers, partners and university students — which aims to become a point of reference for the entire world of special papers and self-adhesive materials. A place to participate in events, share skills and expertise, and intensify collaboration for sustainable growth.
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