5
FEATURE
Five Years of Next
Generation Nicotine
The November conference in London will be a milestone event
By Leo Forfar
The Next Generation Nicotine Delivery conference is returning
for its fifth instalment in November. With the e-cigarette trade
as a cornerstone of nicotine delivery and a driver of innovation,
the event has become an unmissable calendar date for industry
figureheads and a platform for informed discussion of the most
pressing issues.
Attendees can expect a democratisation of NGND as an open
forum, where crowd-sourced issues are given the spotlight and
experts are free to deliberate.
“The event has a clear aim to bring the industry together and
we seek to bridge relationships and share insight from across
the globe. As part of our commitment we designed interactive
roundtable sessions which saw small groups engage in open
discussion on crowd-sourced topics.”
Attendees who represent every corner of this diverse industry
spoke glowingly of last year’s conference. NGND 2017’s feedback
page contains hearty endorsements from liquid manufacturers,
suppliers of flavours and packaging, testing labs, wholesalers and
research institutes.
Speaking of newness, 2018 has also been the year which saw the
launch of Next Generation Nicotine USA. The two-day event in
April rivalled the success of its British forebear, bringing “over 150
senior executives from the next generation products sector from
across the US and Canada.”
Ever at the cutting edge, the 2018 UK conference will also analyse
the growing role of heated tobacco in nicotine delivery, the rise of
cannabidiol, and the usefulness of salt-based nicotine.
This years agenda covers “Transforming The Mainstream: Developments
In Europe’s Retail Environment!”
Programme Director David Jones spoke to Vapouround about
hitting the five-year mark and what lies ahead.
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Did you have any idea Next Generation Nicotine
would achieve this much?
At the point of launching this event back in November 2014, we
really had no idea the event, and overall sector, would grow to the
size it is today. We have overseen the growth of the conference
at a parallel with the growth of Europe’s next generation nicotine
delivery products’ category, mainly the vape sector. Industry reporters
are continuing to forecast double-figure growth across Europe,
and we hope our London conference to grow alongside this
and remain the go-to event for Europe’s next generation nicotine
delivery product manufacturers.
Recent months have seen a rise in the profile
of heat-not-burn products. Though predictions
are tricky in this trade, what does it mean for the
vaping industry exactly?
My personal opinion would be that the rise of heat-not-burn products
will not slow down the growth of the vape sector in Europe. HnB
and vape are both different products, both attracting very different
consumers.
As an ex-smoker myself, having tried HnB and vaping – I have
settled on vaping. However, I believe for the overall next generation
products’ category HnB may be able to tempt more smokers away
from combustible tobacco and move them onto a safer alternative
– which is certainly not a bad thing.
Within Europe it may still be too early to tell, however I don’t expect
the rising profile of HnB products to hamper the growth of the vape
category. Typically, vapers are loyal consumers, demonstrating
continual shop and brand loyalty.