Smart Packaging
Holst Centre’s Smart Packaging technology integration program investigates new materials, processes, functionality and applications to bring about a new world of ‘smart packaging’ that combines wireless sensors and other electronic functionalities on thin, flexible plastic foils.
Smart blisters
The program’s initial focus is on intelligent pharmaceutical packages (blisters). These help patients follow a course of medication by monitoring when a pill is taken out of its package. By helping patients keep to their prescriptions, intelligent pharmaceutical packages could save up to 150,000 lives and over 130 billion euro every year.
While some implementations already exist for smart blisters, they tend to be bulky and expensive to implement. The goal of the program is to develop a thin plastic foil, with an integrated ultra-low power processor and radio, to replace the standard backing foil of a blister package. Roll-to-roll fabrication and lamination technologies will help achieve the low production costs needed for this type of application. For these developments, the program will draw heavily on the Integration technologies for flexible systems technology program.
The program will also look at batteries, with the goal of moving from using button cells and thin batteries to assembling the batteries into the package, and eventually printing them directly onto the package.
From pharma to food
The technologies and processes developed to make smart blisters can also be applied in other areas such as food packaging. Sensors integrated into food packages could benefit consumers by ensuring freshness and quality, while allowing the retail industry to manage food stocks and product authenticity more efficiently.
The program will develop the necessary electronic building blocks – such as sensors that indicate whether an item has been properly refrigerated, the freshness of the contents, and much more. It will also investigate techniques to reduce the cost of the manufacturing processes. Initially, the focus will be on lowering the cost of pick-and-place technologies used for current solutions, but with the longer term goal of moving to electronics printed directly onto thin, flexible foils.
The potential uses and applications for smart packaging are many and varied, and the technologies needed for these applications are just now being developed.