HORGEN, Switzerland - Dow Coating Materials, a division of The Dow Chemical Co., was awarded the Euroclip Award for best presentation at Eurocoat 2009 Trade Fair and Congress. Held this year in Barcelona, Spain, the Euroclip competition is an annual Eurocoat forum in which participating companies present key innovations or new technologies.

 

Houshang Kheradmand, European Product Stewardship & Sustainable Development Manager for Dow Coating Materials and Technical Committee Chairman for the European Resin Manufacturers Association (ERMA) presented “Chemical Industries: Trends & Sustainability.” The paper focused on how the globalization of markets, economic conditions, population growth and ecological-environmental issues will impact all facets of the international coatings industry. Noting that existing, ongoing and future regulations would create both challenges and opportunities, Kheradmand emphasized the importance of anticipating future regulations through sustainable design to help companies within the coatings industry create a “safe zone” for maintaining sustainable markets and earnings.

 

“The future safe zone could be quite different from our current market, and we should anticipate and prepare ourselves in order to maintain our industry and technology leadership positions,” Kheradmand said during his talk. “Companies need to seize opportunities, focus on long-term sustainability and create a culture of innovation to answer the needs of tomorrow's society. A revolution in mindset, conception and operations are needed to ensure that our use of resources and the environment today does not restrict their use by future generations.”

 

This was the debut appearance at Eurocoat for Dow Coating Materials, the newly formed business group that combines the extensive resources of Dow with the recently acquired Rohm and Haas Co. to create a global supplier of raw materials and solutions for the architectural paints and industrial coatings industry.