Sappi powers the European Graphic Arts Hackathon again

For the second year running, Sappi will be joining other leading organisations and brands to sponsor a Europe-wide hackathon bringing together small teams of start-ups, scale-ups, industry enthusiasts and students to brainstorm innovative solutions to issues facing the graphics sector.

This year’s hackathon will take place virtually across a total of 24 hours from the morning of 25 October to the afternoon of 26 October, and will tackle multiple challenges in six main categories exploring the overall theme: “The graphic communication enterprise of the future. How to future-proof our industry?”

Teams are already registering and choosing from challenges such as:

• Commercial printing – How to reinvent the commercial print segment?

• Packaging – How to create new added value for brand owners?

• Print in Marketing – How could we use digital and/or measurable marketing to create value for the industry?

Sappi is sponsoring the competition’s first and second prizes, consisting of €2,000 and €1,000 respectively, plus a mentorship program to guide the winners through the principles of design thinking, ensuring value validation and customer-driven development practices.

This mentorship will be provided by Sappi’s Head of Digital Transformation, Kouris Kalligas, and Anna Onate, Intrapreneur at Sappi and Co-founder of OctoBoost.

Flavio Froehli, Sappi Vice President, Marketing and Sales, commented: “We are passionate about the potential for innovative fibre-based solutions to help make the world a better place. That’s why creating an entrepreneurial, coaching-based culture is a priority for Sappi – and why we encourage continuous learning and a capacity for change as vital routes to improvements in business performance for everyone in our industry.”

Last year’s winner was Belgium’s Luca School of Arts, whose five final-year students impressed the jury with ‘Smiles’, a project that challenged preconceptions by demonstrating how print and digital can work hand-in-hand in innovative ways.

This year’s potential winners can find more information and register to take part at www.vigc.be/eu-graphic-arts-hackathon  or visit www.sappi.com

ENDS

About Sappi

Sappi is a leading global provider of sustainable woodfibre products and solutions, in the fields of Dissolving pulp, Printing papers, Packaging and speciality papers, Casting and release papers, Biomaterials and Bio-energy. As a company that relies on renewable natural resources, sustainability is at our core. Sappi European mills hold chain of custody certifications under the Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC™ C015022) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification™ (PEFC/07-32-76) systems. Our papers are produced in mills accredited with ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 50 001 and OHSAS 18001 certification. We have EMAS registration at 5 of our 10 mills in Europe. 

Sappi Europe SA is a division of Sappi Limited (JSE), headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, with 12,500 employees and 19 production facilities on three continents in nine countries, 37 sales offices globally, and customers in over 150 countries around the world