Towards the end of October, Scotland’s UWI Technology announced a new smart label technology that will revolutionize the role played by labeling in a wide range of industries and uses, from our daily lives to industrial applications.
It happened to all of us, picking a jar from the fridge and wondering: is this still good? Since when is it open? When did I thaw this meal?
Well, this could very well be a thing of the past thanks to smart labels that have the capability to detect if food is still good for consumption and to warn us if it’s not. Its name, UWI, is in fact short for Use Within.
But the possible applications are not limited to your kitchen!
Besides the existing microfluid label, a hybrid label is also under development at UWI Technology, and it will be able to measure temperature, pressure, and moisture levels. This label could be used for chemicals, sealants, airplane paint, drugs, and a variety of other products found in engineering, aerospace, and pharmaceutical industries.
And besides monitoring the lifespan or stability of certain products where they’re of a crucial importance, the labels could even communicate between each other and send email or SMS warnings to the people in charge!
While this may sound like science-fiction, it is completely real and trial tests are already planned in some industries as early as 2015.
These promising innovations are the perfect example of what makes our work so awesome, and they put the spotlight on the important role played by the labeling and packaging industry ,which goes way beyond design and marketing.
