A Portuguese product from the “Embalagem do Futuro/Packaging of the Future” Agenda, funded by the PRR (Recovery and Resilience Plan), is among the Top 10 European innovations at the Innovation Gallery 2026, the leading European packaging innovation fair – Packaging Innovations & Empack 2026, held in February, in Birmingham, UK.

The Intelligent Sustainable Fish Transport System with PetriTag®, a product developed within the framework of the PRR-funded Mobilizing Agenda, has thus gained international recognition and reinforces Portugal as a hub for innovation in sustainable packaging. This international recognition values ​​the technological work developed in Portugal and the effectiveness of the PRR in supporting solutions capable of competing with major innovation projects globally.

The Portuguese technological solution, Intelligent Sustainable Fish Transport System with PetriTag®, consists of a reusable and circular system for transporting chilled fish, which combines isothermal boxes made from recycled materials from the fishing industry with a visual label for bacterial detection (PetriTag®) and state-of-the-art IoT monitoring.

The Packaging of the Future Agenda, led by VANGEST Engineering Solutions S.A., with NERLEI – CCI – Chamber of Commerce as part of the management of this consortium, brings together companies, research centers, universities, and partners to develop advanced solutions for the future of the packaging sector, focusing on sustainability, digitalization, and inclusion.

In this project, PIEP’s contribution focuses on defining the requirements of the production process and production tools, taking into account the film and box design for the transport of temperature-sensitive products, as well as the research and development of production processes for temperature-controlled transport packaging. After determining the most suitable technological solution for the product under development, process integration and hybridization are carried out, thus validating the developed product. Based on the identification of potential problems, it is possible to carry out development iteratively, implementing improvements between each iteration. Also noteworthy is PIEP’s comparative environmental and economic study between the new reusable product and the baseline product for predominantly single use.