How AI-driven workflows, smart packaging, and sustainability intelligence are reshaping packaging operations—and redefining competitiveness for Middle East converters ahead of 2026.
The packaging industry has always evolved alongside technology, regulation, and consumer demand. But the pace of change now underway is unprecedented. As the industry moves toward 2026, packaging is no longer defined solely by print quality, substrates, or production speed. Instead, value is increasingly determined by how intelligent, connected, and sustainable packaging systems have become.
According to Esko’s Packaging Trends 2026 study, three interconnected forces are reshaping the global packaging landscape: agentic AI-driven workflows, smart packaging enabled by digital identities, and end-to-end sustainability intelligence. Together, they signal a fundamental shift in how packaging is designed, produced, and managed—one that Middle East printers and converters cannot afford to ignore.
From Automation to Self-Optimizing Workflows
Automation has long played a role in packaging production, but its function is changing rapidly. Traditional automation relied on predefined rules and heavy human intervention. The next phase is powered by agentic artificial intelligence, where systems can assess objectives, plan actions, learn from outcomes, and continuously optimize workflows.
For packaging operations, this represents a move away from reactive processes toward self-optimizing workflows. Tasks such as artwork adaptation, compliance checks, prepress validation, and workflow routing can now be handled intelligently, reducing errors, shortening turnaround times, and easing pressure on skilled labor.
This evolution is especially relevant in markets where converters face rising operational complexity, increasing SKU counts, multilingual packaging requirements, and tighter delivery expectations. Agentic AI helps capture institutional knowledge within systems, ensuring consistency and scalability while allowing human expertise to focus on higher-value decisions.
Middle East Market Focus: Intelligence, Compliance, and Export Readiness
As Gulf Print & Pack approaches, one message is becoming clear: global packaging trends are no longer abstract discussions—they are shaping buying decisions and supplier selection across the Middle East today.
Export compliance is driving change.
Converters in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey are deeply integrated into European and multinational supply chains. With the EU’s Digital Product Passport (DPP) and Packaging & Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) taking effect from 2026, compliance expectations are increasingly extending to non-EU suppliers. Middle East converters exporting to Europe—or supplying global brand owners locally—will be expected to provide structured data on materials, recyclability, and sustainability performance.
From print partner to data-enabled supplier.
Brand owners are no longer evaluating converters solely on print quality or price. Increasingly, they expect partners who can manage variable data, smart codes (QR/2D), traceability, and sustainability documentation. This shift is particularly relevant in Turkey and the UAE, where converters play a key role in regional and international export markets, and in Saudi Arabia, where packaging localisation and manufacturing investment are accelerating.
Efficiency under regional pressure.
Across the region, rising energy costs, margin pressure, and skilled-labour shortages are forcing converters to improve productivity. AI-driven workflows offer practical gains—reducing rework, improving consistency, and speeding time to market—especially for multilingual and multi-regulatory packaging common in Gulf operations.
The Gulf Print & Pack takeaway.
For Middle East converters, the move toward intelligent, connected, and sustainable packaging is not just about compliance. It is an opportunity to move up the value chain and position themselves as future-ready partners in a demanding global market.
Smart Packaging: The Pack as a Digital Asset
Packaging itself is also undergoing a digital transformation. No longer just a physical container, the pack is becoming a digital information carrier—an interface between brands, regulators, supply chains, and consumers.
Technologies such as 2D barcodes, GS1 Digital Link-enabled QR codes, RFID/NFC, and digital watermarks are enabling each pack to carry a persistent digital identity. This allows different users to access tailored information—ranging from regulatory data and traceability to marketing content and recycling instructions—using the same printed code.
For exporters and multinational suppliers in the Middle East, this shift is being driven largely by regulation. The introduction of Digital Product Passports will require structured, verifiable product and packaging data starting in 2026. Compliance will depend not only on what is printed, but on how packaging data is created, governed, and shared across the value chain.
For converters, smart packaging changes expectations fundamentally. Customers increasingly seek partners who can manage data, identifiers, and digital workflows alongside print quality and finishing excellence.
Sustainability Moves from Commitment to Measurement
Perhaps the most decisive shift is taking place in sustainability. What was once driven by voluntary commitments and marketing claims is becoming a data-driven, regulated discipline embedded directly into packaging workflows.
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has become the industry’s standard for measuring environmental impact, covering materials, production, transport, and end-of-life. Advances in software and automation now allow sustainability metrics to be evaluated at the design stage—before production begins—making sustainability a proactive rather than reactive decision.
Regulations such as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), recycled-content mandates, and eco-modulated fees are turning sustainability into a financial consideration. At the same time, consumer scrutiny is intensifying, with visible packaging increasingly seen as a brand’s most tangible sustainability signal.
For Middle East converters supplying international brands, sustainability intelligence is fast becoming a commercial requirement, not a differentiator. The ability to provide accurate, auditable data on materials, recyclability, and environmental impact is increasingly decisive in tenders and long-term contracts.
A New Operating Model for Packaging
Individually, agentic AI, smart packaging, and sustainability intelligence are powerful trends. Together, they form a new operating model for packaging—one that is connected, intelligent, and transparent by design.
By 2026, successful packaging businesses will be those that:
- Use AI to reduce complexity and improve speed to market
- Treat packaging as a digital asset, not just a printed product
- Embed sustainability data into everyday decisions, not just reports
For printers and converters across the Middle East, the message is clear. These shifts are not theoretical or region-specific—they are global expectations. Early adopters will gain efficiency, resilience, and strategic relevance. Those who delay risk being constrained by outdated processes in a market that now demands intelligence as much as ink.
Packaging’s future is not just about producing more—it is about producing smarter. And in that future, intelligence will be the industry’s most valuable ink.
