NUREMBERG, Germany - Another successful European Coatings SHOW and CONGRESS ended after four days of exhibition activity and top-notch knowledge transfer. With 962 exhibitors from 42 countries in seven exhibition halls and around 26,000 trade visitors from more than 100 nations, it is the world’s biggest trade show for the coatings, sealants, construction chemicals and adhesives industries. Europe’s biggest coatings congress, which took place partly parallel to the trade show, attracted more than 650 participants to Nürnberg from 37 countries. This year’s Show and Congress showed that the trend to sustainability is a major innovation driver for the coatings industry. The organizers of the European Coatings SHOW and PAINTINDIA also announced the strengthening of their worldwide coatings cooperation by signing further contracts during the show.
The next European Coatings SHOW takes place in the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg, Germany, April 21-23, 2015.
Nürnberg hosts the global coatings community every two years. Exhibitors presented the whole spectrum of innovations on the market: from new raw materials for coatings, printing inks and adhesives, to laboratory and production equipment, to the latest technologies for test and measurement. The innovations and presentations featured at the show indicated that sustainability is still the driving force in coatings technology. There is a big demand for coatings that help to reduce energy consumption or raw materials that permit a low VOC content in coatings. Also recognizable is a trend toward renewable and biobased raw materials for coatings.
Sustainability was also the theme of the two keynotes that opened the European Coatings CONGRESS on Monday, March 18, 2013. In his keynote, Dr. Aditya Ranade of Lux Research presented an innovative assessment approach for sustainability that can be used to distinguish greenwashed solutions from solutions with genuine sustainability value. The second plenary speaker, Dr. Klemens Bartmann of Axalta Coatings Systems, also confirmed that sustainability is the most important innovation driver in the coatings industry, but advocated that the term should not only cover environmental compatibility. On the contrary, it should be defined on a broader basis and includes properties like high quality and smart functions, because they enable permanent and long-term use of end products like cars or buildings.
The first day of the European Coatings CONGRESS also included the presentation of the European Coatings Award to Dr. Grégory Delmas of Arkema for his congress paper entitled “A new way to ensure metal protection with waterborne dispersions.” Delmas and his team have developed a waterborne binder that requires no further addition of a pigment for corrosion protection and can be used as a “single coat direct-to-metal.” Whereas two or more coats of corrosion protection coatings had to be applied previously, a single coat is now sufficient.
