One Photo Is All It Takes: Master's Student Wins German Packaging Award
Photo is intended to show how environmentally friendly a food packaging product is: Application for an EXIST Startup Grant
A master’s student at Neubrandenburg University of Applied Sciences wins the 2026 German Packaging Award in the “Young Talent” category—EcoTrace combines artificial intelligence with scientific life cycle assessment.
One idea is revolutionizing the industry: Lennart Standtke uses his smartphone to quickly and easily scan all kinds of food packaging. EcoTrace provides him with an environmental assessment of the products and their packaging in just a few seconds.
Martin Fröse, Hochschule Neubrandenburg
How climate-friendly is food packaging? In the future, a single photo could provide the answer. Lennart Standtke, a master’s student at Neubrandenburg University of Applied Sciences, won the 2026 German Packaging Award in the “Young Talent” category for his master’s thesis and the resulting EcoTrace project.
The award follows another success: Standtke had already taken first place in the university-wide ideas competition “Inspired 2026.” With EcoTrace, he is developing a digital application designed to determine the ecological footprint of food packaging quickly and as simply as possible.
From Photo to Life Cycle Assessment
Until now, the environmental assessment of packaging has often required extensive data collection and analysis. For small and medium-sized enterprises in particular, such processes can involve considerable time and financial resources.
This is where EcoTrace comes in: a single photo of the packaging is all that’s needed. Artificial intelligence uses the image to identify relevant information such as ingredients, quantity details, and packaging materials. The environmental footprint is then determined not by the AI itself, but using a defined calculation method.
“Our idea is to make the environmental assessment of packaging significantly simpler and more accessible,” explains Lennart Standtke. “Companies should be able to identify early on where there is room for improvement in their packaging without having to go through a time-consuming process for every initial assessment.”
The jury of the German Packaging Award sees the development as having the potential to transform the environmental assessment of food packaging. The German Packaging Award is one of the most prestigious accolades in the packaging industry. By winning in the “Young Talent” category, Standtke’s development also qualifies to compete in the international WorldStar Packaging Award.
From Master’s Thesis to Startup
For Lennart Standtke, the award is not meant to mark the end of the project. EcoTrace is to be developed into a company. To that end, an application for an EXIST startup grant is currently being prepared.
The student is receiving support from, among others, Tobias Weber, managing director of Weber Food Technology. Weber has already introduced EcoTrace to his professional network. The first small-to-medium-sized food manufacturers are already testing the application.
This could turn a master’s thesis into a business model that helps companies in the future assess the environmental impact of their packaging more quickly and identify areas for improvement.
“We are particularly pleased that this master’s thesis is now leading to a concrete startup opportunity,” says Volker Scheuerle, a professor in the Food Chain Environment program at the Neubrandenburg University of Applied Sciences. “The EcoTrace example shows the potential that arises when scientific work, entrepreneurial spirit, and the concrete challenges of the food industry come together.”
Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.
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