Paris welcomes FINAT for its 50th

There could not be a more appropriate place than Paris to hold this year’s FINAT annual conference.  It was here – 50 years ago – that a small meeting was held which gave birth to FINAT, now one of the oldest trade associations in the world.

This year’s congress has as its theme the slogan – Rendezvous with the Future.  It will take a close look at the future of decoration technologies and pressure sensitive labeling. Delegates will also hear a brand owner’s perspective of the future; while the conference will also examining the evolution of the industry.

Delegates will be hearing about the history of FINAT and packaging, and about value innovation and where the industry’s future lies. They will hear the association’s vision about the days ahead and will obtain an outlook into the hosting country state of the industry in the context of European label market developments, which in turn will be put into the macro economic perspective.

FINAT and its co-host UNFEA, the French national label association, have secured a range of first class speakers including label industry watchers Mike Fairley (Labels & Labeling) and Corey Reardon (AWA Alexander Watson), packaging specialists Robert Opie (Museum of Packaging) and Frans Boumans (ING Bank) and association leaders Jan Frederik Vink (president FINAT), Dominique Durant des Aulnois (president UNFEA) and Jules Lejeune (MD FINAT). These experts, well known to the label industry, will be complemented by external keynote speakers Marc Touati (ACDEFI), Ben Bensaou (INSEAD) and mountaineer Cathy o’Dowd.

As this special anniversary edition of the annual label industry intends to link the past with the future, the program will feature as its moderator innovation specialist Hans van Grieken (Capgemini), whilst former FINAT secretary-general and the association’s historian Mans Lejeune will introduce the FINAT 50th Anniversary Book commemorating the occasion.