Hundreds of coatings industry professionals will gather this month in Lombard, Illinois, for Coatings Trends & Technologies (CTT), a two-day educational conference and show designed to provide chemists, formulators and R&D personnel with the latest coatings research and emerging trends.

This year, CTT will feature a panel discussion with four professionals from various areas of the value chain to discuss technology transfer – the process of innovating, scouting new technologies and leveraging them into business.

This article includes some of the latest technology that was introduced at this year’s ECS.

Throughout the month of March I visited with four different coatings suppliers during two separate trips to Germany – a whirlwind experience that taught me a lot of new technology, and offered me the opportunity to meet some wonderful people and make many new friends.

Hosted by the Eastern Coatings Federation the Eastern Coatings Show is intended to offer educational and technical presentations to increase understanding of the theory, science, manufacturing and marketing of coatings.

It is clear that the coatings industry is a field rich in innovation. And nowhere is this innovation more evident than in the research being done at the university level.

As Paint & Coatings Industry (PCI) magazine continues to evolve, we are always looking for ways to improve our product for our readers, and have decided to form an editorial advisory board to help further develop our editorial content.