Digital advanced tools for smart and sustainable packaging design

Digital tools are increasingly transforming packaging into a strategic enabler of smart and sustainable innovation. Within the FuturE-Pack project, these tools are investigated as instruments to integrate advanced and systemic design approaches with digital technologies, providing designers and companies with concrete resources to address environmental and socio-technical challenges. The chapter introduces the conceptual and operational framework of the FuturE-Pack interactive digital platform, which organises theoretical contents, case studies, design methods, and guidelines into an accessible infrastructure that fosters collaborative learning and experimentation. By supporting traceability, interoperability, and knowledge sharing, digital tools expand packaging functions beyond protection and communication, enabling transparency, responsibility, and inclusivity across the value chain. At the same time, they raise critical questions regarding accessibility, costs, and data management that need to be addressed through purpose-driven design. Through selected scenarios and practical applications, the chapter illustrates how digital advanced tools can bridge research and practice, reinforce connections between industry and academia, and position packaging as a cultural and strategic medium for advancing circularity, sustainability, and innovation.