Adapa Group is an Austrian flexible-packaging manufacturer with 22 factories across 11 countries. As product traceability became a strategic requirement for the packaging industry, Adapa saw an opportunity to look beyond compliance: what role could it play in the digital infrastructure connecting packaging data across the value chain?
The challenge was inherently systemic. Information is created and held by material suppliers, manufacturers, brands, retailers, consumers, recyclers, certifiers and authorities, but it does not naturally travel with the packaging.
We worked with Adapa to map where data and value sit across this ecosystem, identify opportunities for each stakeholder, and build a business case for AdapaDigital as a potential packaging data infrastructure provider.
The Challenge
Traceability cannot be solved by one company.
Packaging data is created and used across a chain that spans material suppliers, manufacturers, brands, retailers, consumers, recyclers, certifiers, and authorities.
But the data does not naturally travel with the material.
Different actors hold different information. Standards are fragmented. Identifiers are not universally shared. And the incentives to participate are uneven.
For Adapa, the strategic question was therefore not simply: How do we create a Digital Product Passport? It was: What role can Adapa play in making packaging traceability work across the ecosystem, and why would others participate?
Our Approach
01. Map the value chain
We mapped the packaging journey from sourcing through manufacturing, use and recovery, identifying opportunities across six dimensions: product data, logistics, sales, packaging stages, value chain and primary stakeholders.
02. Define stakeholder use cases
We translated ecosystem needs into concrete applications for six stakeholder groups, identifying where better data could create value for each actor, rather than treating traceability as an Adapa-only problem.
03. Design the traceability system
We developed the mechanism connecting the physical and digital worlds: a unique identifier printed onto the packaging and linked to a blockchain-registered digital record.
04. Build the partner ecosystem
We defined the capabilities required to operate the system across the value chain, including certification, recycling, risk assessment, data management, blockchain and standardisation.
05. Turn the system into a business case
We brought the value chain, stakeholder needs and system concept together into a strategic vision and pitch designed to communicate the opportunity and engage potential partners.
Results & Impact
A shared picture of the packaging data landscape
The value map makes the packaging data flow visible from sourcing to recovery.
Across six dimensions, it shows where information is created, where it stops, and which stakeholders interact with it. This gave Adapa a structured basis for identifying where a shared infrastructure could create the most value.
Value defined across the ecosystem
Rather than designing the proposition around Adapa alone, we defined potential value for six stakeholder groups.
- Producers & retailers: Monitor supply chains, optimise products and improve logistics.
- Procurement & purchasing: Track inventory, streamline sales and anticipate demand.
- Consumers: Access information to support purchasing and consumption decisions.
- Recyclers: Gain better material information and support higher-quality recycling.
- Authorities: Improve compliance monitoring and access to packaging data.
- Certifiers: Access broader, more consistent data across the value chain.
The result is a proposition where participation has a clear value beyond regulatory compliance.
A role beyond packaging manufacturing
The business case positions AdapaDigital as an ecosystem integrator, connecting physical packaging with digital information and bringing the relevant players together.
The ambition goes beyond building another Digital Product Passport.
It establishes the concept of a shared packaging data infrastructure that can support traceability, transparency and circularity across the value chain.
For Adapa, this creates a potential new strategic role:
from supplying packaging → to enabling the infrastructure around it.
A system connecting physical and digital packaging
The concept links each physical packaging product to a persistent digital record.
A unique identifier is generated as part of the digital process and incorporated into the physical packaging. Scanning that identifier creates the bridge between the physical product and its digital information.
This provides the foundation for data to accompany packaging throughout its lifecycle, from production and distribution through use and recovery.
A proposition designed for partner recruitment
The strategy was translated into a visual narrative and pitch that Adapa could use to communicate the opportunity to potential partners and industry stakeholders.
Rather than presenting a technology solution in isolation, the narrative explains:
the problem → the ecosystem opportunity → the system → the value for each participant → the role Adapa can play.
This gives Adapa a clearer story for building alignment around the concept and exploring the partnerships required to make it viable.
What this Work Enabled
A strategic direction for AdapaDigital
A mapped ecosystem showing where data and value sit across the packaging lifecycle
A stakeholder proposition explaining why different actors could participate
A system concept connecting physical packaging to digital information
A partner narrative for communicating and developing the opportunity
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VION
CEO Project | European Union
