Overview Hack a problemSet a challenge Book a call Sponsoring? See partner packages
For brands and retailers

Bring the plastic pack
you want out of
your range.

You write the brief with us. A team from across the chain works it on Thursday 29 October. You keep every result. No fee.

Book a call See what it takes

Cannot put your name to it yet? Post it anonymously in the pain pool.

HPHackfor2030
Thu 29 October 2026
Amsterdam
On this pageWhy this existsThe kind of problemWhat you carryWho works your briefQuestionsBook a call
Why this exists

The answer needs 5 companies and you have one

Swap a plastic laminate for paper and the barrier, the line speed and the recyclability grade all move. The answers sit with the converter, the material specialist, the recycler and the designer. Getting them to one table normally takes a year. Here it takes an afternoon.

01

More than one route to your problem

Several teams work your brief, each a different way.

02

The whole chain on your problem, with tech in the room

Four disciplines at the table and an AI engineer in the fifth seat, working on your real data.

03

The brief is worth writing even if nothing else happens

Writing it down for outsiders, with the numbers attached, forces a clarity internal decks avoid.

What challenge owners bring us

The kind of problem this room is for

Plastic-free is the main challenge this year. The others run alongside it.

Paper instead of plastic

A fibre-first redesign changes the barrier, the line speed and the shelf life. Proving the new pack takes trials. The main challenge.

A pack that grades A or B

Recyclability is graded on the whole pack. Telling which layer earns its place needs the person who sees the sorting line.

Less air in the box

Right-sizing cuts board and freight in one move. A plastic swap is a good moment to do it.

Proof for every SKU

A Declaration of Conformity behind every pack in the assortment.

The deal

What you carry, and what you get

No fee in either direction.

You carry

  • 2 calls to write the brief with us
  • A dataset from a real assortment, sent ahead so we can clean it and hand the teams what it shows. Masked or fictional works, and so does no dataset at all
  • A baseline to beat, so the results mean something
  • 1 or 2 people on the day
  • A 10-minute briefing at 13:00, and questions straight afterwards

You receive

  • Independent solutions to your brief, built and pitched at 16:00 the same day
  • The approaches written up side by side
  • 2 seats for your own people, one of them inside a competing team
  • Every write-up, measurement and annotation from your track, yours to use
  • A route to take a solution further, with the team that built it or with us
  • If wanted, named as a challenge owner in the November report
  • 2 demo floor guest passes for the 16:00 pitches, prizes and networking drinks
Your data stays in the roomSharing is optional. What you share is cleared for the event only, each team works in its own container, and nothing trains a model.
No supplier obligationNothing commits you to buy from any partner, and no partner sees your data before the briefing.
Who owns whatThe teams own what they invent. Background IP you brought stays yours, and every write-up from your track is yours to use.
Who works your brief

Teams of 5, one vertical slice

5 people per team: our AI engineer plus 4 seats matched to the brief, from at least 3 organisations, no direct competitors. Send the person who runs the trials. Senior experts join as mentors.

Problem owner

Knows the assortment, the line speed and what procurement will sign. Without this seat the team optimises a fantasy.

Converter

Corrugated, folding carton, flexible or label. Knows which clever idea dies at 12,000 an hour.

Material or recycling specialist

Substrate, coating, ink, press, recyclability or software, matched to your brief.

Designer

Structural, packaging, graphic or service. Keeps the pack worth looking at while everything else changes.

MSc or PhD student

TU Delft, Wageningen or the UvA, any discipline. Does the making, and asks what nobody has asked in 15 years.

The fifth seat is an AmPhi Labs AI engineer

Data, code, rapid prototyping. They build what the team decides and take no share of the prize.

Questions

What challenge owners ask first

Do we have to share data?

No. A brief runs without data. If you share, volumes, dimensions, materials and a cost baseline help most. Names and prices can be masked.

Who owns what the teams build on our brief?

The hackers own it equally. We take no licence. You keep every write-up and measurement from your brief.

What if one of our suppliers is funding that track?

The brief stays yours and a jury decides. We tell you which partners are on your track before you commit, and move any you object to.

What happens to the winning project afterwards?

Our engineer builds it out with a €2,030 budget and demos it to you. Production is a separate quote, or goes to the partner you choose.

Which problem keeps your packaging and compliance teams up at night?

Half-formed is fine. Bring it to a call and we will tell you whether an afternoon can move it. Rather stay unnamed? Drop it in the pain pool.

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