PING (Printed Intelligent NFC Game Cards and Packaging) is part of the EU Horizon 2020 programme with a goal to enable commercially viable production of smart printed objects. The consortium is composed of six market leaders: PragmatIC, imec and TNO focused on the development of ultra-thin, flexible and low-cost Integrated Circuits (ICs); Smartrac contributed its expertise in antenna design; Cartamundi and Van Genechten Packaging defined the target market applications and established manufacturing processes to integrate the electronics into existing high volume production lines.
The award has been given to the smart game card and smart packaging concepts produced under PING, which use Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) embedded within the products to enable them to communicate with a dedicated reader to enhance the user or consumer experience as explained in the following video:
Jeroen Lybaert, Chief Commercial Officer at Van Genechten Packaging states: “As Europe’s leading independent packaging innovator we continuously invest in the future of consumer goods. We believe in a connected future for all product packaging. PING unlocks the path to ultra-low cost Smart Packaging.”
“By adding the extra digital dimension, we are able to enable a wide range of exciting new interactive card and board games,” said Steven Nietvelt, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer of Cartamundi. “In an ever more connected world, consumers expect to blend the real and on-line experiences and this consortium has developed the way to deliver that to our customers”.
About Van Genechten Packaging
Van Genechten Packaging is an independent industrial group with its headquarters in Turnhout, Belgium. It consists of 10 folding carton factories in 7 countries, leading the European consumer goods industry with offset printed folding cartons, microflute and other packaging solutions. With an annual turnover over € 260 million, the group converts more than 200,000 tons of cardboard each year and employs 1,600 people. Trusted by blue-chip companies and multi-awarded by industry specialists, Van Genechten Packaging is widely known for both pushing and setting standards in tailor-made folding carton packaging solutions that drive business, while being sustainable and innovative on all levels.
Van Genechten Packaging takes on multiple roles in the PING project; such as developing the physical product packaging, embedding the PING technology and producing and distributing the PING-enabled Smart packaging to its customers, being global FMCG brand owners.
Media contact
Jeroen Lybaert, Chief Commercial Officer, Phone: +32 14 40 36 40
About Cartamundi
Cartamundi is Latin for “Cards of the World”, with a history dating back to 1765, Cartamundi is today the World’s leading manufacturer of card and board games. With a network of owned sales offices, 11 state-of-the-art manufacturing plants and over 2,200 employees, Cartamundi is well positioned to continue its growth with 2016 revenues of € 387M and market penetration of 45%. Cartamundi’s portfolio includes well known board games such as Monopoly® and Trivial Pursuit® as well as a wide variety of playing cards for both the retail and casino markets.
Cartamundi is headquartered in Turnhout, Belgium; with factories around the world, including Japan, India, Europe, USA and Brazil.
Media contact
Marco van Haaften, International Marketing Director, Phone: + 32 14 42 02 01
About Smartrac
Smartrac is a leading vendor of RFID products and IoT solutions, providing both ready-made and customized offerings. We make products smart, and enable businesses to identify, authenticate, track and complement product offerings. Our portfolio is used in a wide array of applications, such as animal identification, automation, automotive, brand product manufacturers, industry, library and media management, laundry, logistics, retail, supply chain management, and many more. Leveraging our global Research & Development Centers, production and sales network, and cloud-based solutions suite Smart Cosmos, we embed intelligence into physical products, empowering the ecosystem of connected things. Smartrac has its registered headquarters in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. For more information, visit www.smartrac-group.com, www.smart-cosmos.com, follow Smartrac on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SMARTRAC_NV, or click here to sign up for a quarterly newsletter.
Media contact
Smartrac Technology Group, Karin Fabri, Head of Corporate Communications & Marketing, Phone: +31 203 050 150
About PragmatIC
PragmatIC is a world leader in ultra low cost flexible electronics, enabling the potential for trillions of smart objects that can engage with consumers and their environments. Its unique technology platform delivers flexible integrated circuits (FlexICs) that are thinner than a human hair and can be easily embedded in any surface.
PragmatIC’s solutions provide the opportunity to add new functionality to items, as well as extending proven applications such as RFID and NFC into mass-market use cases that were previously prohibited by the cost of traditional silicon ICs. PragmatIC’s novel, differentiated products are being adopted by a growing base of global companies across diverse markets, including consumer goods, games, retail, pharmaceutical and security sectors. PragmatIC is headquartered in Cambridge, UK, with a new billion-unit production facility in Sedgefield ramping up in 2018. For more information please visit www.pragmatic.tech.
Media contact
PragmatIC, Samantha Browning, Phone: +44 208 408 8000
About imec
Imec is a world leading research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technology, that uniquely combines widely acclaimed leadership in microchip technology and profound software and ICT expertise. Leveraging a global ecosystem of partners, imec creates ground breaking innovations in application domains including, healthcare, smart cities, mobility, logistics, manufacturing, energy and education.
Imec is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, and brings together in the order of 3,500 brilliant minds from over 70 countries including, Netherlands, Taiwan, USA, China, India and Japan.
Media contact
Hanne Degans, Press Officer, Phone: +32 16 28 17 69 / +32 486 06 51 75
About TNO
TNO has some 3000 professionals who put their knowledge and experience to work in creating smart solutions to complex issues. These innovations help to sustainably strengthen industrial competitiveness and social wellbeing. We are partnered by some 3000 companies and organizations, including SMEs, in the Netherlands and around the world.
For more information about TNO and the five societal themes that are the focus of our work, go to www.tno.nl
Media contact
Steffie van de Vorstenbosch, Communication Manager, Phone: +31 40 20 650
Published on:
7 December 2017
