FINAT, the international labeling association, has planned a busy year of events in 2017. From its headquarters in the Netherlands, it annually brings together many different sectors of the label and packaging industry in a lively program of conferences, seminars, webinars, and other activities across Europe and beyond.

They include the following:

European Label Forum 2017
FINAT’s prime annual event, the European Label Forum, moves this year to Berlin from June 7-9. The ‘ELF,’ as it is familiarly known, welcomes participants from around the world and is one of the European packaging industry’s most highly-thought-of annual events.

It will bring together a broad spectrum of industry leaders, from label converters to raw material suppliers, media and stakeholders, to debate major strategic business topics, gain in-depth market knowledge, and be inspired by a program of top international speakers. Coupled with an extensive supplier tabletop exhibition and a first-class program of social and networking activities, it also hosts FINAT’s annual General Assembly, as well as the presentations to the winners in the association’s FINAT International Label Competition and FINAT Recycling Awards.

Young Managers Congress
FINAT’s Young Managers Club, bringing together "tomorrow’s leaders" of the label industry, is convening its fourth annual YMC Congress in Lisbon this year from March 22-24. Participants – the young, up-and-coming generation of managers in all aspects of the label supply chain – will benefit from a highly-participative program featuring presentations and workshops with experts in relevant disciplines designed to hone participants’ management skills and fine-tune their abilities to create competitive advantage in the fast-moving and complex packaging marketplace. The event also offers extensive social networking, building personal relationships for the future leaders of tomorrow’s label industry value chain.

Labelexpo Europe
As always, FINAT will be a leading participant in Europe’s keynote biennial industry exhibition, Labelexpo Europe – the largest labeling event in the world – which takes place this year in Brussels, September 25-28. FINAT will provide a meeting place for visitors on their stand and actively support a number of show-related activities.

International Labelling Competition
Proof of the skills and innovation that are core features of label converting and a mainstay of the industry’s calendar, the 37th FINAT International Labelling Competition  is currently open for entries and closes on March 17. Judged by a panel of packaging, print and design experts, the Competition’s winners will be announced at the FINAT ELF in June.

Recycling Awards
Partnering the International Label Competition, the FINAT Recycling Awards recognize outstanding achievements at both converter and end user level, in this headline topic in the broad packaging agenda. They will also be presented during ELF.

FINAT RADAR
FINAT’S in-depth statistics on the self-adhesive and narrow-web labeling value chain are professionally collected regularly for the exclusive benefit of members and provide up-to-the-minute data on the state of the industry. The first 2017 survey results will be published just after ELF.

FINAT Webinar Series
In addition to the above face-to-face events and activities, FINAT’s series of bi-monthly webinars will again cover a wide range of technical, management and education topics. The 2017 calendar of this series will commence on February 7 with a webinar on succession planning and will feature Belgian family succession professor Lievens. Details about subsequent webinars will be released shortly.