Sponsored by IFEC (French Packaging Institute, represented in North America by Imex Management Inc., Charlotte, NC), the exhibition is expected to draw 2괌 exhibitors from 30 countries and 105ꯠ visitors. Among the exhibitors are many from the U.S., including eight that will be participating in a USA Pavilion. New this year at Emballage is the International Press Village. Located at the entrance of Hall 5, it will make available to attendees 37 packaging magazines (including Packaging World) from 12 countries. Three conferences are on tap as well: Wednesday Morning, November 13, is "How To Know and Measure the Needs and Satisfaction of Consumers Concerning Packaging;" that afternoon is "The Packaging Partnership: From Conception To the Final Enhanced Value;" and finally on Thursday morning, November 14, is "How Packaging Can Guarantee the Quality and Authenticity of the Products." On Wednesday, November 13, the official awarding of Packaging Oscars will take place. The winners of the Packaging Oscars and of the Packaging Eurostars will be exhibited on the IFEC Promotion stand throughout the show. Another major attraction of Emballage is the second Pari Emballage International Packaging Research Challenge. Held for the first time in 1994, Pari Emballage is a design competition in which students from colleges and institutes specializing in industrial design and packaging submit package designs for judging. The 10 award winners selected by the Technical Grand Jury are sure to spark the interest of all attendees with an eye to the future. Also tried for the first time in 1994, and being repeated in 1996, is the New Products Operation, which aims to highlight packaging innovations presented by show exhibitors. Visitors will be able to discover the range of innovations using the New Products maps distributed at exhibition entrances. In addition, New Product display easels set up on exhibitors' stands near these innovations will make them easy to spot.
