Innovation Award for Rockware

Rockware initiated this relationship in order to create opportunities for business expansion and to develop competitive advantage through its own leading edge innovation programme Freshthinking.

17/02/07 Rockware Glass, the UK’s market leader in the design and manufacture of glass containers for the food and drinks industry, has won the prestigious Yorkshire Forward CIC Award in the Industrial Innovation category for its work with the Design Future’s Centre of Industrial Collaboration at Sheffield Hallam University.

Rockware initiated this relationship in order to create opportunities for business expansion and to develop competitive advantage through its own leading edge innovation programme Freshthinking.

Working alongside Rockware’s in-house design concept team, Design Futures CIC helped to develop a range of innovative concepts for the premium spirits sector based on full bottle designs and design features. Focussing on how to attract new drinkers and promote new drinking occasions, as a result of the project Rockware is already working on new products in the premium whisky and vodka markets that include an ice cube based bottle, a glass “ tetra pack” and a hand grip bottle.

“This approach of looking outside our standard product range and using research to capture lifestyle and ethnographic trends enables us to proactively approach brand owners with innovative solutions,” says Rockware’s marketing manager, Sharon Crayton.

She adds: “Pioneering work such as our collaboration with Design Futures CIC ensures that we have a very full pipeline of packaging concepts to offer our customers, and we will continue to push the boundaries of packaging beyond their expectations.”