PACKAGING Innovations & Empack 2026 has announced its first wave of speakers – with industry leaders, innovators, and emerging brands set to share insights across four dedicated stages.
Taking place from February 11-12 at Birmingham’s NEC, the speakers will examine the trends, challenges, and opportunities shaping the future of packaging. Across the circular economy, design and innovation, supply chain, and discovery theatre stages, attendees will hear from over 80 speakers, including senior representatives from global brands, leading designers, regulators, engineers, and emerging start-ups.
The conference agenda will unite brands, manufacturers, retailers, technology providers, and policy voices across its two-day programme. Expertise spans brands such as Rolls-Royce, Nestlé, Unilever, Diageo, Coca-Cola and Greggs, alongside organisations including PackUK, The Sustainable Packaging Coalition, UK DMO, WRAP, RECOUP, BCMPA, The Packaging Federation, McKinsey & Co, and Smithers.
Casey McHugh, conference and community manager – UK & global at Easyfairs, said, “The agenda is designed to ignite curiosity and spark ideas across the packaging industry. It’s a journey through innovation, creativity, and collaboration, where every session highlights the trends, challenges, and opportunities shaping the future of packaging. Every session is an opportunity to see the next chapter of packaging unfold.”
Gillian Garside-Wight, director of consulting at Aura, gets things underway on the design and innovation Stage with a session on how brands can shift from reactive compliance to proactive value creation.
Dr Samuel West, founder and curator of the Museum of Failure, will then explain why innovation depends on failure. Elsewhere, Paul Horton, principal – packaging, graphics at Diageo, will demonstrate how AI-driven design tools and human creativity are working in harmony to craft luxury beverage experiences. A session dedicated to the London Packaging Week Innovation Awards will also take place.
Day two will see Chloe Williams, co-chapter lead, WIN: Women in Innovation, joined by Sarah Leech, head of packaging & design – homecare at Unilever, and Kelly Dawson, co-founder & strategy partner, Studio Every, to examine empathy-driven design and reveal the commercial opportunities that emerge when inclusive innovation is embraced.
A session from creative technologist Jude Pullen will encourage attendees to stay inventive and resilient even when the world says ‘no’. The Packaging Start-up Awards will also be announced.
On the supply chain stage, Alexia Williams from Rolls-Royce takes part in a panel titled ‘Lighting the spark: Inspiring the next generation of packaging engineers’ and will be joined by representatives from Sheffield Hallam University, packaging apprentices, and other associations dedicated to bridging the skills gap in the UK.
Ciaran Little, VP of Smithers, will give his outlook at a moment of ‘seismic market transformation’. Josephine Coombe, chief commercial officer Europe at Nulogy; Emma Verkaik, CEO, BCMPA; and Jayne Tarrant, MD at Glowcroft Contract Packing, assess how software continues to empower successful co-packing, before leading minds from the worlds of robotics and automation, including Mike Wilson, chief automation officer at MTC; Martin Miller, head of engineering supply chain at Greggs, Rosie Davies, MD of Reeco Automation Limited; and Dr Seemal Asif, senior lecturer in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics at Cranfield University, examine the roles of AI and predictive maintenance in driving the next generation of packaging workflows.
On the second day, Felix Gruenewald and Andrea Gandolfi, partners at McKinsey, explore how engineering and operations teams can balance compliance, performance, and cost-efficiency.
For the first time in Packaging Innovations & Empack history, a hand-picked group of early-stage brands will pitch their products and growth plans to a panel of ‘Dragons’ in the inaugural Pitch the Co-Packers.
Elsewhere, Biffa’s innovation manager, Amy Hooper, Anthony Horsnby from Sherborne Recycling, and Yaseed Chaumoo, MD at Deepnest, powered by GreyParrot AI, come together to discuss advances in AI.
On the Circular Economy stage, Alice Harlock, director of technical and member services at OPRL, will help visitors navigate the new EU labelling landscape with a 30-minute address on the opening day. Following that, PackUK take to the stage for their now traditional update to the industry on the policies shaping the future of packaging and packaging waste in the UK, before Paul East, head of packaging recycling and design at RECOUP, brings together leaders from packaging manufacturing, packer-filling, retail, and major brands to reveal what it takes to build recyclability into packaging from day one.
The Future Trailblazer Class of 2026 will be honoured on stage, while James Piper and Robbie Staniforth return to the stomping ground of their first live podcast, unpacking the complexities of recycling, and the hotly-anticipated The Big Debate, stewarded by Martin Kersh, co-CEO of The Packaging Federation, ponders the motion, ‘This house believes that waste management will not improve due to the impact of artificial intelligence’.
On Day two, there will be a pan-European session on DRS, featuring Julian Hunt, director at the UK DMO and head of DRS delivery at Coca-Cola alongside representatives from Europe who look at the lessons from countries that have already implemented a DRS scheme.
PackUK then returns for a second session, this time convening voices from across the packaging value chain, before a WRAP-led panel session, moderated by Lowelle Bryan, Senior Reuse Specialist at WRAP, looks at why retailers, backed by WRAP and government, have joined forces to explore a nationwide pre-filled reusable packaging system.
