The latest knowledgeshare live event in dubai provided stimulating and insightful debate on the major issues affecting the beverage industry.
18 February 2015
18/02/2015
KNOWLEDGEshare is a beverage industry forum comprising adigital community (blog.knowledgeshare.com)of senior industry players and thought leaders, with the Liveevents providing the opportunity to engage in the discussionsface-to-face.
The event - the third in the KNOWLEDGEshare Live series - sawalmost 150 participants from across the beverage supply chaingather in Dubai on 10-11 February 2015. Each was eager to identifyhow the industry can add value at every stage through acollaborative approach. Against the backdrop of variousglobal challenges, the focus was on the many demands faced by thebeverage industry and how the supply chain can work much moreeffectively by utilising the collective knowledge and experiencethat is available through such a forum.
KNOWLEDGEshare Live in Dubai 2015, presented inassociation with Sidel, the global provider of PET liquid packagingsolutions, followed successful events staged in Germany and Chinain 2013 and 2014, respectively. The KNOWLEDGEshare communityis growing year on year, bringing together decision-makers andinfluencers, to provide all those involved in the beverage supplychain with a forum for debating issues related to critical areas,from raw materials through to package design, production,transportation, point-of-sale, the consumer and beyond, includingrecyclability and sustainable methods of production.
Sidel President and CEO Mart Tiismann welcomed delegates to theevent and commented - "A clear message raised at all threeKNOWLEDGEshare Live events is the need to take a holistic view toindustry issues and adopt a collective approach to addressing them.Operating in isolation, without appreciating the challenges thatothers within the beverage supply chain are facing, is a ratherrestrictive view. Of course, individual businesses must maketheir own decisions but there are degrees of similarity andcommonality to many challenges across businesses and acrosssectors. There is a demand to discuss these matters in aforum where we bring together people with common interests. We have seen this in the increasing level of participation, whichis helping us to gain a much clearer picture of what we face as anindustry and, importantly, how we can work together to ensure asustainable future."
Subjects covered during KNOWLEDGEshare Live 2015 in Dubai werevaried to reflect the fact that KNOWLEDGEshare is representative ofthe whole beverage industry. The discussion sessions werestructured under three main topic streams: how PET can delivervalue across the entire beverage supply chain; what the industryneeds to do to respond to consumer tastes that are increasinglyexotic and varied, while maintaining beverage safety and branddifferentiation; and what the beverage production line of tomorrowwill look like to meet the changing demands of the future.
During the three sessions, panellists from various sectorsdebated these issues, with many discussions arising from questionsposed live by the delegates. This ensured real engagement,with the content driven directly from the floor, demonstrating theobjective of KNOWLEDGEshare Live to be a neutral event thatgenerates open-minded discussion around the issues affecting thebeverage industry as a whole.
The discussions were specific to the industry andalso in the context of the wider megatrends that are affecting usall. This was highlighted by one of the three keynotespeakers, Rob Cameron, Executive Director of SustainAbility, aninternational think tank and advisory firm working to drivebusiness and market transformation in the pursuit of sustainabledevelopment. He spoke of some of the global issues, recognisingthat the increasing global population is not really the mainchallenge - rather that while there is enough food on the planet tofeed the projected nine billion people by 2050, the issue lies morein the fact that our resources are not in the right places.
Other topics discussed were wide ranging and varied: from theupsurge in demand for 'mix your own' drinks as consumers look forincreasing choice, to the use of smart data in improving lineperformance and how the industry is addressing the health issuesassociated with sugar content in beverages.
The networking opportunities were also significant, withdelegates able to discuss the challenges faced at different pointsin the beverage supply chain, bringing their own personalperspectives into the debate to provide a collective approach tothose challenges. Concluding the opening day was a galadinner that provided further opportunities for networking.
Sharing knowledge
KNOWLEDGEshare Live 2015 in Dubai provided a forum for thebeverage industry to come together and for the delegates to benefitfrom the collective knowledge of the high-level speakers, industryexperts and fellow invitees. Among the comments from thosewho attended were:
"For me KNOWLEDGEshare is about innovations in PET, what can bedone with PET, the bottle and how it's going to be adapted tofuture consumer demand. I really enjoyed the panel discussion todayon the supply chain. I am from a supply chainbackground. I worked for Coca-Cola for 34 years so I reallyenjoyed the back and forth - the interesting differences from amarketing perspective to a technical perspective."
Charles Mason, FABS, SouthAfrica
"The Iraq market for PET is growing very fast. It is veryuseful to have these networking meetings to shareexperiences. Every market is a little bit different but thereare many common points, especially regarding sustainability,cutting costs and having an optimum supply chain."
Waseem Gorgees, Al HayatCompany for Soft Drinks & Mineral Water, NorthIraq
"We are looking to share what's on the market, to make it moreprofitable for our company. We have seen many interesting things -how to reduce our raw materials and our costs that can help ourcompany in the future.
Karez Junaid, UB Group,Turkey
"I think it's outstanding. I'm really impressed by thecontent and the depth of the discussions. I think it's beenfascinating. I've personally learnt quite a lot from justlistening. You've got the whole supply chain here and thatmakes such a difference."
Chris Dow, Closed LoopRecycling, UK
This KNOWLEDGEshare event has been an eye opener for me. Iwas really impressed and riveted by some of the talks about thefuture of our communities, how we engage with each other, how we dobusiness together, what we contribute to society now and what weleave behind for future generations. I will be working onmany of the concepts that I've learnt about today."
Hussain Jamil, Ecopack,Pakistan
Ongoing discussions
The beverage industry debate now continues online, with many ofthe questions raised during KNOWLEDGEshare Live 2015 being answeredthrough the ongoing discussions at blog.knowledgeshare.com.Many of the panellists who spoke at the event will continue tocontribute as guest bloggers, ensuring continuity from those at theheart of the debate.
The next KNOWLEDGEshare Live event takes place later this yearon March 24 and 25 in Chengdu, China. For more information aboutKNOWLEDGEshare please visit www.knowledgeshare.com.
