São Paulo, September 24, 2018 – Co-creation has been gaining increasing traction within the innovation pillar at Klabin, especially for the development of solutions aligned with a bioeconomomic future. In this regard, the company recently launched another program to exchange experiences and synergies with Brazilian and international academia, called “Klabin + U”.

In this first edition, the company welcomed students from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, whose mission was to evaluate, experiment and develop innovative solutions for the packaging market. Guided by professors Giulia Calabretta (Italy) and Kaspar Jansen (Netherlands), the 28 students were divided into seven groups: three focused on creating projects to address the future of paper packaging, while the other four focused on setting up a center to carry out experiments. “We believe that our students – all of them from the Industrial Design Engineering program – thought “outside the box” to solve the challenges put to them and to persuade the project evaluators, mainly by using design thinking techniques,” said professor Giulia Calabretta.

Participants spent four days learning about the routine at Klabin, during which they created their projects and suggested innovation routes in e-commerce, improving the buying experience, biodegradable products and diverse other topics that permeate the future of the company, giving priority to the use of sustainable processes and to environmental conservation. “Working with Klabin was a great experience. We received full assistance during the days we were immersed, from interviews with clients to the resources and elements to develop our projects. I never imagined about collaborating with a large company while at the same time learning so much about an industry I didn’t know much about,” said Sander Pliakis, a Deltf University student.

“It was an innovative event, since none of the students had prior experience with the pulp and paper industry and were able to jointly develop seven projects. Besides being showcased in Delft (the Netherlands), the projects are already being used by Klabin in some internal innovation and industrial design programs, for instance,” said Renata Freesz, Innovation Manager at Klabin.

The students are part of the Flight Case program run by the Delft University of Technology, which is divided into two phases. The first was held between April and June this year in the Netherlands, when the group studied Klabin’s operations and the respective case studies. In the second phase, the students came to Brazil for immersion and to develop the projects.

Upcoming editions

Klabin is considering organizing more editions of the program. The goal is to make it an annual or semiannual event, in which other partner universities can exchange knowledge and innovative experiences for the sector.