Watch for e-packaging headway in 2011

Electronic-enabled packaging will be the rage in pharma this year, predicts O. Berk Co. in its annual top 5 list of trends. Pharma will be joined by the food and beverage industries in "embracing this trend with a passion."

The packaging supplier says that interactive labels and packages that talk will become product differentiators this year. Manufacturers will use smart packaging to communicate more product information than a label can hold through their smartphones, using 2D bar code technology, for example.

The consumer is not the only beneficiary of packaging technology, however. Some packages will deliver analytics about consumer behavior and demographics back to the manufacturer.

Separately, AlpVision has been granted patents for its CryptoGlyph invisible marking technology for cartons, blister packs, labels and other pharmaceutical packaging materials. The process uses an invisible mark in parts of or over the entire packaging or label.

- here are the O. Berk predictions
- see the AlpVision item