Dr. Oswald Prucke, Institut fur Mikrosystemtechnik in Germany, was honored with "The European Coatings Award" for the best scientific paper. His paper was entitled "Novel Pathway for Tailor-Made Functional Coatings." It truly would have been difficult to choose a winner from the papers that I heard. All were excellent, well attended and dealt with topics of great interest to the industry.
It was very difficult to decide which paper to attend, due to there being four concurrent sessions. Keith Le Page, president of the Paint Research Association (PRA), the joint organizer of the congress together with Vincentz Network and FPL (the Research Institute for Pigments and Coatings), welcomed the congress audience. Dr. Egbert Brinkman, R&D Manager, Akzo Nobel Resins, The Netherlands, noted "I regard the Nurnberg Congress as a biannual milestone, where I can meet coatings scientists from all over the world." That accurately sums up what this event is all about. It is a prime opportunity for networking with other scientists.