Nov 16, 2012. /Lesprom Network/. The Cham Paper Group has won the Zug Innovation Prize 2012. The CHF 20,000 ($21,202) prize was awarded to the company by the Mayor of Zug, Matthias Michel, to mark this year's Zug Innovation and Technology Day. The Jury selected the Cham Paper Group to receive the prize for the successful development of its ground-breaking speciality paper Barnamic(R), as the company said in the press release received by Lesprom Network. Barnamic(R) is a product range of innovative speciality papers, which can be used on their own as packaging solutions for food products. Barnamic(R) provides the protection required for packaged food, with barrier functions directly integrated into the paper, and can therefore replace complicated composites made out of various materials (such as plastic and aluminium). Over the past few years, the Cham Paper Group has invested around CHF 20 million ($21 million) in the innovative curtain coating technology, which now enables it to utilise a production technique that is currently unique to the paper industry. The development of innovative speciality paper and its coating is something held very dear at the Group's traditional place of manufacture in Cham. Products such as Barnamic(R) form the basis for the establishment of the Cham Paper Group's innovation and technology centre. The prize money awarded to the company will be used to purchase laboratory test equipment that the Group requires to optimise and refine the Barnamic(R) product range. Cham Paper Group is a leading manufacturer of coated speciality papers. Founded in 1657, at its three locations in Switzerland and Italy the company develops and manufactures speciality papers for use in the consumer goods, industrial release and digital imaging sectors.