YOUNG engineers from across the world have completed Sidel’s Nextgen Innovation Lab, spending three weeks exploring challenges in packaging, sustainability and automation.
Held at Sidel’s Octeville-sur-Mer site in the north of France, the programme brought together 19 university students from ten countries to collaborate with Sidel experts on industrial challenges, including sustainable operations and packaging, digital technologies and industrial AI, robotics and human-machine collaboration, computer vision and AI-based inspection for quality and mechatronics and intelligent machine control.
The programme combined technical workshops, site visits, customer engagement and project work. The young engineers worked in teams to develop proof of concepts, prototypes and business cases, before presenting their final results to a panel of Sidel leaders and technical experts.
The programme ended in an awards ceremony recognising outstanding achievements across a range of categories.
Ko Hoepman, executive VP of equipment, innovation and portfolio at Sidel, said, “Innovation happens when different perspectives come together. The Nextgen Innovation Lab created a unique environment where young engineers could collaborate with Sidel experts, challenge existing thinking and develop solutions to real industrial challenges.
“Throughout the programme, participants demonstrated impressive creativity, technical expertise and collaboration, bringing fresh perspectives and enthusiasm that made this an inspiring experience for everyone involved.”
