Vijay Vaitheeswaran of The Economist wil be the keynote speaker at the forthcoming EDANA Outlook conference in Barcelona.

A member of the US Council on Foreign Relations and an advisor on sustainability and innovation to the World Economic Forum, Mr Vaitheeswaran’s talk is entitled ‘The New Rules of Innovation’.

As the author of several books as well as opinion pieces for the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, Mr Vaitheeswaran has been invited back to EDANA’s conference following a very highly-regarded speech at the event in 2008.

In addition, Robert Glaze, of The Brenva Institute speak on technology hype, adoption and disruption, with a focus on emerging technologies relevant to the nonwovens and hygienic disposables industries, and the roles these may play in disrupting manufacturing, supply chain and current business models.

Additional speakers and subjects will include:
• Véronique Kremer, providing Procter and Gamble’s perspective on the latest developments in the use of parameters in patent specifications.
• The Sustainability Consortium, speaking on the its approach to assessing the sustainability of products.
• Carlos Richer, of Richer Investment, addressing global trends in diaper design and performance.
• An outline of the development of an EU Ecolabel for sanitary products by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre.

Now in its 11th year, Outlook has gone from strength to strength, attracting over 360 participants from 33 countries in 2011. It owes its success to high level speakers, a diverse and relevant programme and unparalleled networking opportunities for all players in the personal care products supply chain. It attracts a high-level audience of middle and upper management from the whole supply chain of the personal care products industry.

Outlook 2012 will be taking place at the Rey Juan Carlos I Hotel in Barcelona Spain from the September 26-28 2012.
Details: www.edana.org