The Ophthalmic Plus eye dropper bottle wins the “De Gouden Nout” Award 2024 in gold
It is the most important and most highly contested award in the packaging industry – the Golden Nut of the Dutch Packaging Association “NVC”. The jury awards the most innovative packaging idea of the year from a wide variety of sectors. The competitors therefore included real “big players” in the industry such as Heinz Ketchup, Beiersdorf and Berlin Packaging. In addition to medical packaging, the ideas and new developments submitted included, for example, containers for food or innovative carrying containers for plastic bottles.
Ten finalists from the 40 or so proposals submitted were invited to Rotterdam to present their innovations to the jury. This consisted of 20 industry experts who put the product through its paces.
The biggest challenge was to pitch the Ophthalmic Plus so convincingly within 20 minutes that the jury counted us among the contenders for victory after a subsequent ten-minute question and answer session,” says Franziska Finger, Head of Business Development. The eye dropper bottle is designed to make application easier, especially for older or physically impaired people, by using 60% less force when producing drops.
“To make the whole thing clear, I simply incorporated my grandma Helga Schäffler into the presentation,” the 29-year-old continues. Grandma Helga is 75 years old and therefore part of the product’s main target group. Squeezing and dosing eye drops with conventional dropper bottles is a challenge, especially for older or physically impaired people. The Ophthalmic Plus solves this problem thanks to its innovative bellows on the underside, which produces a drop when tapped with the index finger. This not only enables targeted and precise dosing, but is also much more ergonomic to use.
Together with Grandma Helga, she went to the Dutch capital Amsterdam for round two on October 17. Here, Franziska Finger had to represent Ophthalmic Plus in a live interview during an international livestream. After all 10 finalists had presented their products, anxious minutes followed for the whole company. “We sat at home in front of our laptops, watching the awards ceremony and keeping our fingers crossed. When the jury actually declared PACKSYS and the Ophthalmic Plus the winner, it was party time at home!” says Markus Finger, Managing Director and owner of PACKSYS GmbH.
“The award is an incredibly good signal that our development has been well received. It is still ‘only’ the experts on the jury, but the chances are good that the end consumer will also accept it.” The development should soon be available in stores. “Together with our partners, we are planning to launch the Ophthalmic Plus in 2026.”