PAPER BOTTLE COMPANY AS

Their core work

Paper Bottle Company (ECOXPAC) is a Danish SME that develops and processes cellulose-based materials — starting from moulded fibre packaging and expanding into technical industrial applications. Their core competency is transforming plant-based fibres into functional products using manufacturing processes such as foam forming, thermoforming, and 3D printing. They moved from optimizing drying techniques for moulded fibre packaging into producing cellulose-based electrical insulation components for industrial use, demonstrating practical knowledge of how bio-based materials behave under industrial processing conditions. As a small company, they contribute material-specific process knowledge to larger R&D consortia.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In 2014–2015, ECOXPAC focused on improving the drying step in moulded fibre manufacturing — a practical, process-efficiency challenge closely tied to their packaging product line. By 2017, they had joined a significantly larger Innovation Action (NOVUM) applying their cellulose processing knowledge to a very different end application: electrical insulation components for industrial use, with 3D printing and foam forming as key techniques. The trajectory is a clear pivot from commodity packaging applications toward high-value technical cellulose products, though the underlying material expertise — working with cellulose fibre under various forming conditions — remains the constant thread.

ECOXPAC is moving away from packaging and toward technical industrial cellulose applications, particularly where bio-based materials can replace synthetic alternatives in components like electrical insulation — a direction with growing regulatory and sustainability tailwinds.

How they like to work

ECOXPAC has taken both a coordinator role (NDTMF, a lean SME Phase 1 feasibility study) and a participant role (NOVUM, a large multi-partner Innovation Action), showing flexibility in how they engage. Their coordinator experience is limited to a small, short-duration project, suggesting they are more comfortable as a specialist partner bringing material and process know-how into consortia led by others. With 15 unique partners across only 2 projects, much of that network depth comes from NOVUM's large consortium structure rather than repeated bilateral partnerships.

ECOXPAC has engaged with 15 unique consortium partners across 6 countries, an unusually broad network for a two-project SME — almost entirely attributable to the NOVUM Innovation Action, which brought together a multi-national industrial consortium. Their geographic footprint is European but not yet deeply diversified beyond the consortium they joined.

What sets them apart

ECOXPAC occupies an unusual niche: a packaging-origin SME that has translated deep cellulose fibre process knowledge into technical industrial components, specifically electrical insulation — a crossover most packaging companies never make. For consortium builders, they offer practical, hands-on expertise in bio-based material forming (foam forming, thermoforming, 3D printing) that is hard to find in a single small company. Their Danish base also gives access to a strong Scandinavian bio-economy ecosystem.

Highlights from their portfolio

• NOVUM
  By far their largest project (EUR 694,902), NOVUM placed ECOXPAC in an industrial pilot line consortium developing cellulose-based electrical insulation — a high-value application far outside conventional packaging, validating their material expertise in a technically demanding context.
• NDTMF
  As coordinator of this SME Phase 1 feasibility study, ECOXPAC demonstrated enough independent R&D capability to lead an EU project, even if only at the proof-of-concept scale — significant for a small packaging company.