Discover what’s new at London Packaging Week

Packaging has never carried greater commercial responsibility.

It influences how consumers perceive brands, how products perform in increasingly competitive markets and how businesses respond to a rapidly changing regulatory landscape.

Keeping up with that pace of change is difficult. Discovering what matters before everyone else does is becoming a competitive advantage in its own right.

That philosophy has shaped London Packaging Week 2026.

Returning to Excel London on September 16 & 17, this year’s event has undergone its biggest evolution in recent years. More than 220 exhibitors, over 90 expert speakers and around 5,700 packaging professionals will come together for two days dedicated to one invaluable concept: Discovery.

Where great packaging ideas begin

Recognising the increasingly strategic role of design, London Packaging Week introduces the Design Hub, powered by Pentawards, as a dedicated destination for the global design community. Alongside a curated gallery of award-winning work, visitors can hear from leading creatives, explore emerging thinking and connect with the designers influencing the next generation of packaging.

Innovation continues across the wider exhibition too. The expanded Innovation Gallery brings together some of the industry’s most exciting developments, allowing visitors to examine breakthrough solutions up close before joining expert-led guided tours hosted by ThePackHub that reveal the stories behind each project.

Looking further ahead, the new Start-up Zone and Discovery Theatre provide a platform for emerging businesses developing the disruptive ideas that could become tomorrow’s industry standards.

See the packaging setting tomorrow’s benchmarks

The fastest way to understand where packaging is heading is to study the work already raising expectations.

The London Packaging Week Innovation Awards celebrate the projects setting new standards across luxury, beauty, premium drinks, food, consumer goods and sustainable packaging. This year’s 85 finalists include projects from dozens of world-famous brands, demonstrating how exceptional packaging increasingly creates commercial value.

Every shortlisted project will be displayed within the Innovation Awards Showcase, giving visitors the opportunity to experience some of the year’s most influential packaging innovations before the winners are announced live during the Innovation Awards Ceremony on the Luxury Stage.

The shortlist itself reflects the calibre of the awards, having been selected by a panel of senior packaging leaders from industry organisations, brand giants, and more.

Go beyond the finished pack

Great packaging is rarely the product of a single creative breakthrough. More often, it is the result of countless design decisions, engineering challenges and moments of collaboration.

Several of this year’s new experiences invite visitors behind those stories.

Francisco Nogueira, Director of R&D Packaging Innovation, EMEA at Coca-Cola, joins Sam Lucking, Founder & Designer at Unhidden, to explore the evolution of Schweppes’ iconic Skittle bottle, while James Cropper premieres The Last Mill Standing, an exclusive documentary offering rare access inside one of the UK’s last remaining specialist coloured paper mills.

The new Podcast Studio continues those conversations throughout the event, bringing together designers, innovators and industry leaders for open discussions about the realities of creating packaging that succeeds both creatively and commercially.

Hear from the people shaping packaging’s future

Packaging decisions are no longer made solely by packaging teams.

Today’s biggest challenges sit at the intersection of consumer behaviour, regulation, sustainability, design, technology and brand strategy. Reflecting that reality, London Packaging Week’s conference programme brings together more than 90 speakers with expertise spanning the entire packaging value chain.

Visitors can hear from global brand leaders including Jeremy Lindley, Steve Honour and Jo Smith from Diageo, Sarah Sherring from Molton Brown, Piera Toniolo from Dolce & Gabbana, Harriet Lockett from Selfridges and Francisco Nogueira from Coca-Cola, alongside influential voices including Chris Sanderson of The Future Laboratory, Jono Wylie of eatbigfish, Nicki Morley of Kantar and Greg Clayton of Ipsos, exploring the cultural, commercial and consumer trends influencing tomorrow’s brands.

Practical, expert guidance comes from organisations including PackUK, OPRL, the British Beauty Council, the Food & Drink Federation, the British Retail Consortium, the British Soft Drinks Association and Products of Change, ensuring visitors leave with both strategic inspiration and practical insight.

Because the best conversations happen between the sessions

Some of the most valuable ideas exchanged at London Packaging Week never happen on stage.

The expanded networking programme has been designed to create more opportunities for those conversations, whether that’s over a drink at the new Inner Circle Bar, at the Women in Packaging Networking Breakfast and Power Hour, the PackHub Breakfast Club, First Timers’ Happy Hour, Pentawards Design Networking Drinks or the Exhibitor Networking Party.

With thousands of professionals from multiple sectors under one roof, every conversation has the potential to become a new partnership, a fresh perspective or the beginning of the next big idea.

Few cities bring together luxury brands, beauty innovators, global retailers, design agencies, drinks companies and consumer insight in quite the way London does. London Packaging Week reflects that unique ecosystem, creating an event where today’s packaging challenges become tomorrow’s opportunities, emerging from thousands of conversations between the people designing, manufacturing, specifying and reimagining packaging every day.

For two days this September, those conversations come together under one roof.

London Packaging Week takes place on September 16 & 17 at Excel London. Register now for your complimentary visitor pass.

This content was sponsored by Easyfairs.