����AV is investing a mid-single-digit million Euro amount in the scale-up from the Netherlands. In addition to ����AV, the financial investors Invest-NL and Infinity Recycling are also involved in the project. Once operational, the demonstration plant will convert 20 kilotons of mixed plastic waste per year. Following successful upscaling of the technology over the past years, the demonstration plant is a crucial intermediate step for the technology to be implemented on an industrial scale.

"Our vision is to fully align with the circular economy and climate neutrality, and we are pursuing all innovative solutions that bring us closer to this goal," says Thorsten Dreier, CTO of ����AV. "Chemical recycling can make a significant contribution to closing the loop and the BioBTX ICCP technology is a promising way of using waste to recover raw materials that we use in production." Unlike other recycling technologies, this technology also makes mixed waste from different source materials suitable for the process.

The investment in BioBTX is part of ����AV's venture capital program, in which the company invests in young start-ups and scale-ups with innovative products, solutions or business models and thus promotes entrepreneurial activities in and alongside its core business. The partnership with BioBTX also includes two joint development agreements. In the development projects, ����AV is researching further possibilities for recycling its own products and contributing know-how in the field of digitalization to improve plant performance.

����AV has been cooperating with BioBTX for more than four years and, together with the company, has launched the EU-funded Circular Foam project, which is working on the recycling of rigid polyurethane foam using pyrolysis.

"We are pleased that we can contribute our expertise in the areas of application development, digital research and development and chemical recycling to the project and thus provide impetus for a new, Europe-wide circular ecosystem for plastic waste," explains Torsten Heinemann, Head of Group Innovation and Sustainability at ����AV.

"With its participation in BioBTX and the construction of the demonstration plant, ����AV is enabling an important step towards a sustainable chemical industry," says Ton Vries, CEO of BioBTX. "The production of renewable aromatics from plastic waste and biomass is a prerequisite for circular chemistry."

The demonstration plant is scheduled to go into operation by early 2027. Further information on the project can be found .

The façade of the Texoversum is just one example of a brand new technology that could completely revolutionize the construction industry. The sophisticated structure was designed on the computer and is based on carbon fibers wound by robots. Similar to networks in nature, for example in spider webs, beetle wings or palm leaves, the fiber structures are also very lightweight, but at the same time highly resilient, and require very little material. This not only saves resources, but also facilitates transport and assembly of the components.

The co-inventor of the innovative technology is architect Prof. Moritz Dörstelmann, whose company FibR also realized the façade of the Texoversum: "In contrast to conventional steel and concrete structures, we are able to get by with a minimum of material, because the robots only process as many fibers as are needed for the strength of the respective structure. As a result, we also save large amounts of CO₂ emissions." Dörstelmann also sees advantageous applications for the technology in roof structures, supports and, not least, interior fittings.

The necessary strength and durability of the composite is provided by ����AV's aliphatic polyurethane resin system Desmocomp^®, in which the fibers are embedded as if in a matrix. "The resin is highly resistant to weathering and the sun's high-energy UV radiation, making it very suitable for outdoor applications," explains Pejman Norastehfar, architect and specialist for construction applications in ����AV's Coatings and Adhesives segment. “Other plus points in the construction sector are its excellent chemical and flame resistance.”

In the Texoversum, the spun façade performs several important functions at once: it gives the building a unique look and stabilizes the surrounding balconies. It also serves as a railing and provides the necessary shade for the glass front behind it.

The building provides approximately 3,000 square meters of space for workshops, laboratories, a textile collection, think tank space and classrooms. The costs for the construction of the Texoversum amounting to 18.5 million euros were borne by the employers' association Südwesttextil, whose members include FibR GmbH in Kernen, east of Stuttgart.

The DPP of the venture is a universal and interoperable platform that provides ingredient transparency about a product for all stakeholders across industries and across Europe. It provides factual, objective, measurable information on product ingredients, components, provenance, and attributes like CO₂ footprint, recycled content and recyclability.

Sascha Bloemhoff, Marketing Director at Niaga^® and responsible for the DPP: “Most systems today are linear, tracing only high-level data. Such systems lack crucial pieces of ingredient information needed to close the loop. Detailed ingredient knowledge is a must, if we want to avoid downcycling of valuable materials during recycling, whatever the product or industry: electronics, clothing or the building sector.”

Martin Snijder, Circular Economy Orchestrator at EIT Climate-KIC: “The DPP radiates circularity in every aspect, as do Niaga®’s core activities. The DPP is under development and managed by an experienced and convincing team. The jury hopes the minimum transparency level of the Niaga^® DPP will become the standard in Europe.” 

Winning the prestigious prize is the recognition of the Niaga^® DPP as a key enabler for circularity and underlines the importance of material stewardship, transparency and traceability in achieving a truly circular economy. Lynette Chung, Chief Sustainability Officer at ����AV: “In order to achieve a fully circular economy, we need to connect stakeholders and transport knowledge along the value chain, and support consumer trust and demand for more sustainable product offerings. It’s why we’re particularly proud of our innovation venture’s DPP being recognized as a key enabler for a no-waste, circular economy. The DPP provides essential infrastructure for a sustainable future and is a viable solution that also protects users’ IP sensitive information.”

Sascha Bloemhoff adds: “It is our mission to design out waste. Our key learning in our journey has been that to make return, and with it, reuse, repair, refurbishment, and recycling possible we need the full disclosure of a product’s ingredient, material, and component information. Moving from theory to practice, pointed us in the direction of our universal and interoperable product passport. Because our DPP revolves around ingredient transparency – not just traceability – it’s a solution that helps to put valuable materials centre stage. Because in a true circular economy what is a polyester sweater today, could become a car seat tomorrow and a mattress in the future.”

About Niaga^®: 
We are on a mission to design out waste completely. We are passionate about transitioning to a circular economy, bringing reuse, repair, refurbishment and recyclability, from theory to practice. In our view, a product is only fully circular if it contains clean and infinite materials, reversible connections, and if it is returned for material reuse. That’s why return is key.

Together with our partners we (re)design with the end in mind. We design to use again. The scannable Niaga^® tag enables users to see what a product is made of and how to return it after each use-cycle. Behind the tag there is a brand neutral DPP. This helps all parties in the value chain to keep valuable materials in the loop for future generations. Niaga^® is part of ����AV.

Contact
Sascha Bloemhoff, Marketing Director Niaga^®
sascha.bloemhoff@covestro.com
Tel. +31 6 200 150 64

The most recent example: ����AV invests in the French technical start-up company (C.S.T). With this investment, ����AV strengthens its business with special films for ID documents and secures exclusive access to the Optical Variable Material (O.V.M^®) technology for polycarbonate and polyurethane materials. This innovative technology developed by C.S.T enables new security features and makes identification documents even more forgery-proof than before.

Focus on established start-ups

����AV's research and development (R&D) processes are always based on UN sustainability goals, which is why these goals also play an essential role in the selection of planned start-up investments. Consequently, five focus areas have been defined for COVeC to invest in: bio-based raw materials and biotechnology, additive manufacturing such as 3-D printing, circular economy, digital technologies, and new markets and technologies for existing core businesses.

In its selection of start-ups, ����AV primarily focuses on businesses in Series A and Series B financing rounds. “Our clear focus is set on scaling up businesses that are still young, but not entirely new. However, we are not ruling out any cooperations with start-ups at an earlier stage; for this we use our proven Open Innovation approach,” explains Dietrich Firnhaber, Head of Strategy and Portfolio Development at ����AV. ����AV intends to invest up to five million euros in initial financing rounds per project and, in individual cases, will participate in subsequent follow-up financing. The Board of Management must approve the financing project; there are no plans to set up a stand-alone fund for the venture activities.

����AV made its first venture capital investment last year and took a stake in the German start-up as part of a Series B financing round. Together with the young venture, ����AV plans to actively promote the development of an international infrastructure for hydrogen as an alternative source of energy.

Start-ups and scale-up companies can obtain further information on ����AV Venture Capital (COVeC) and the respective contact persons on our website: www.covestro.com/venturecapital

“With this step, we are strengthening our position as an innovation driver in special films for ID documents,” says Dr. Thorsten Dreier, Global Head of the Specialty Films business at ����AV. “With the new partnership and the introduction of Makrofol^® ID O.V.M^® films we are creating a new degree of security.” ����AV has many years of experience in the development and production of films for .

Cosimo Prete, President and founder of C.S.T, also welcomes the new strategic cooperation: “We value ����AV as a very innovative partner in the development of film solutions for the production of identification documents and look forward to working together in this growing market.”

Security features for easy contro

To prevent document attacks through forgery, manipulation and identity theft, ID documents such as ID Cards or passports are equipped with various security features. In routine ID checks, visible and haptic level 1 elements in particular are becoming increasingly important, as they can be checked quickly and without additional technical equipment.

����AV and C.S.T have been working together in this field since 2016. Last year, ����AV introduced the transparent Makrofol^® ID O.V.M^® film to the industry. The O.V.M® material technology creates a completely new color change effect, which is a very strong level 1 security feature. The new film can be integrated into existing card manufacturing processes without further modifications.

“Especially now, we need courageous ideas for more sustainable solutions in the chemical industry, because we want to drive the change to a more circular economy. We are using more alternative raw materials instead of crude oil and see particularly great potential in the retrieval of raw materials out of plastic waste,” said Dr. Hermann Bach, Head of Innovation Excellence & Commercial Operations at ����AV. “We therefore want to listen to young founders and work with them. The award is designed to help open the right doors to the most promising ideas more quickly.”

Start-up receives award for Future Materials

Bach presented the prize in the Future Materials category to the start-up Siut as part of the University Innovation Challenge in Frankfurt am Main. The young Berlin-based company has developed an innovative application for building materials. The University Innovation Challenge was initiated by Frankfurt's Goethe University and the business newspaper Handelsblatt in order to bring the results of university research in Germany into contact with industry more quickly. Founders from all German-speaking universities could apply.

Preventive maintenance solution wins ����AV award

This year, ����AV once again supports the initiative of ChemCologne by donating a special award, the participation in the first data science conference of the chemical industry, Chemalytix, which will be held in Leverkusen in December (www.chemalytix.de). „We support the start-up scene in many aspects to further promote innovation and research. The award offers young entrepreneurs the opportunity to present their ideas to established companies in the chemical industry and establish contacts within the sector”, says Dr. Hans Kespohl, Head of Business Model Innovation at ����AV. The Israeli start-up DiagSense convinced with a preventive maintenance solution for production systems and pipelines and wins the special price. Using innovative algorithms, malfunctions in the process industry can be monitored and idle times caused by repairs on pipelines and machines can be avoided.

New impulses for the chemical industry

ChemCologne, StartupCon as well as seven industrial partners and ten network partners enable founders to carry out their ideas during the event. “It was a great format with excellent teams. It’s a way to always find new start-ups that give impulses to our chemical companies in the region,” says Daniel Wauben, Managing Director of ChemCologne.

Sustainability as a catalyst for ideas

“The winning idea has the potential to respond to the major challenges of our time, such as climate change and global population growth, and to contribute to sustainable mobility,” said Sucheta Govil, Chief Commercial Officer of ����AV and responsible for innovation. “Our goal is to use our solutions to expand the circular economy in the plastics industry and make the world a better place to live. The ideas and teams that took part in the Start-up Challenge help us to achieve this goal faster by designing concepts for more sustainable product lifecycles.”

The six best start-up teams have been intensively preparing for the grand finale over the past few months. The winners ultimately prevailed against five other projects from different business areas. In total, more than 200 applications for the second round of the internal competition were received worldwide this year.

Employees become start-up founders

For this year's winners, it's now time to get down to the business of being a founder. They will be released from their jobs for up to a year in order to realize their business idea and test the marketability of the products. ����AV will provide them with start-up financing of up to one million euros. This gives the team the chance to act as a start-up within the company and to prove their skills as founders under real conditions. With the Start-up Challenge, ����AV aims to promote the creativity and entrepreneurial thinking of its nearly 17,000 employees.

“The Challenge provides a global space in which young people with innovative ideas – from around the world – can develop their concepts under high-pressure, professionally supported conditions,” explains David Ward, secretary general of UNITECH International, the uniting organization of the contest. Challenge completed – ideas awarded

After two intensive days of workshops led by innovation coach and CEO of NOSCO, Jesper Müller Krogstrup, the six finalist teams pitched their ideas to the Carbon Footprint Challenge 2019 jury.

����AV supports the Challenge already in the second year. “We want to foster innovation and sustainability by supporting students and young professionals in their personal and professional development,” explains Wolfgang Miebach, Head of Human Resources at ����AV.

The goal of the expert jury is to supply the young innovators with a broad variety of networking opportunities from a global perspective. Jens Peter Joschek, Head of Innovation Excellence at ����AV and jury member, summarizes: “All teams provide the broad variety of perspectives needed to solve the global issue of climate change and bring inspiration from their local environment, from farming in Ireland to water scarcity in India. This links perfectly with the open innovation culture of the companies supporting the Challenge.”

The 350 ideas represent a mixture of technologies and approaches to achieve a climate positive impact. Innovations ranging from gamification through digital applications to educate and change behaviors to the winning idea, coatings for fruit and vegetables with the purpose of decreasing food waste, are represented in the 2019 challenge. Overall 3460 registrations, 1400 comments and 1230 likes coming from 56 countries underline the mission of the Carbon Footprint Challenge – make good ideas grow and turn in to a sustainable business opportunity through professional support and collaboration.

About CFC2019:

The Carbon Footprint challenge is an initiative with its roots in Unitech International. In the multi stakeholder environment created by the Unitech network, the Carbon Footprint Challenge initiative was born in order to use the platform to take action in a topic of such high importance, climate change.

Find more information at

About UNITECH International:

The Unitech International Society was founded in 2000 for the academic and corporate worlds to jointly develop a group of talented young engineers to enable them to successfully manage future challenges in global industry and to help bridge the gap between the corporate and academic world. Unitech also provides a platform for networking and exchange of ideas.

Find more information at

About ����AV:

With 2018 sales of EUR 14.6 billion, ����AV is among the world’s largest polymer companies. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. The main segments served are the automotive, construction, wood processing and furniture, and electrical and electronics industries. Other sectors include sports and leisure, cosmetics, health and the chemical industry itself. ����AV has 30 production sites worldwide and employs approximately 16,800 people (calculated as full-time equivalents) at the end of 2018.

Find more information at www.covestro.com.
Follow us on Twitter:

Forward-looking statements

This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by ����AV. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in ����AV’s public reports which are available at www.covestro.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

Focus on circular economy

The six teams in this year’s final and their ideas focus on further developing and strengthening the circular economy. “The ideas of the six finalists all have great potential to drive expansion of the circular economy,” says Dr. Markus Steilemann, CEO of ����AV. “Our contest helps encourage everyone in the company to get good ideas ready for the market as quickly as possible and turn them into genuine innovations.”

One of the business ideas involves generating power from plastic waste – so as to counter plastic pollution in the oceans and also granting access to electricity for more people in underdeveloped markets.

A sustainable means of providing clean drinking water and safe sanitary facilities is also being researched. Water pollution is to be curbed with an innovative polyurethane technology. Other ideas deal with the subject of resource efficiency, for example – such as in the shape of recyclable shipment packaging and a more sustainable, CO₂-based cleaning agent that can be degraded more easily.

Own venture for the start-up idea from the first challenge

The winners of the first Start-up Challenge now have the structures and resources they need to put their idea into practice: Their “go clear” project will become a separate venture at the research division of the Coatings, Adhesives, Specialties segment. The objective is to further develop a new technology for clean, safe and efficient refinishing of cars that speeds up the related processes and so saves paint shops time and money.

Marc Schreiber, one of the founders of “go clear,” is the venture’s head. “It’s a huge opportunity to work independently,” says Schreiber. “With go clear, I can accompany a project from the first idea to the finished product and hopefully to the first revenue it generates. I think that’s great.” go clear is still in the technical development stage at the moment. Various materials and production processes are being tested to achieve ideal objectives. The technology is to be tested by pilot customers at the end of this year.

About ����AV:

With 2018 sales of EUR 14.6 billion, ����AV is among the world’s largest polymer companies. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. The main segments served are the automotive, construction, wood processing and furniture, and electrical and electronics industries. Other sectors include sports and leisure, cosmetics, health, and the chemical industry itself. ����AV has 30 production sites worldwide and employed approximately 16,800 people (calculated as full-time equivalents) at the end of 2018.

Find more information at www.covestro.com.
Follow us on Twitter:

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements that are based on current assumptions and forecasts issued by the management of ����AV. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in ����AV’s public reports which are available at www.covestro.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

“It’s obvious that China is on its way to become a leader in innovation for many important industry trends,” says Dr. Markus Steilemann, CEO of ����AV. “This we want to support: As a global company, we are committed to innovate in China for the Chinese market as well as for the Asia Pacific region. I’m thrilled to see that our local innovation team is taking over more and more the global responsibility for core technologies. It’s the spirit of open innovation and open venturing with leading Tongji University, that helps us push the boundaries for the industry together with our partners.”

Prof. Dr. Wu Guangming, Vice President of Tongji University adds, “The Innovation Academy has set a good example to the industry-academia collaboration. With ����AV’s substantial support, the Academy has made significant achievements in the past eight years. I firmly believe, with the strengthened alliance, the Academy can help accelerate the industrialization of innovation results by further promoting business model innovation to the industry.”

The ����AV-Tongji Innovation Academy was inaugurated in 2011. “The academy is intensifying the collaboration in the field of market driven innovation, sustainability and commercialization,” emphasized Dr. Michael Schmidt, dean of the Academy and Head of Innovation for the Asian-Pacific region at ����AV. “Although we have a strong history of innovation, we cannot rest on our laurels. The academy gives us inspiration on how we can leverage speed, new technologies and new business models to further enable sustainability for the country and beyond.”

The ����AV-Tongji Innovation Academy also offers funding of business model incubation for students of Tongji participating in an annual business plan competition. This is to further develop applications and commercialize students’ projects, as well as to establish their own start-ups.

About ����AV-Tongji Innovation Academy:

The ����AV-Tongji Academy was established in 2011 and started as “an academy focusing on Eco-construction & material science”. With many years of strong and deep cooperation, The Academy has achieved fruitful results in education, innovation and talent development. In 2017, it was renamed into ����AV-Tongji Innovation Academy formally. Based on the foundation of the first successful five-year partnership, the Innovation Academy expands collaboration and aims to explore and promote innovative industry-academia cooperation models with a view towards industrialization of innovation outcomes in the area of mobility and construction, as well as provides education and talent development programs in related fields.

About ����AV:

With 2018 sales of EUR 14.6 billion, ����AV is among the world’s largest polymer companies. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. The main segments served are the automotive, construction, wood processing and furniture, and electrical and electronics industries. Other sectors include sports and leisure, cosmetics, health and the chemical industry itself. ����AV has 30 production sites worldwide and employs approximately 16,800 people (calculated as full-time equivalents) at the end of 2018.

Find more information at www.covestro.com.
Follow us on Twitter:

Forward-looking statements

This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by ����AV. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in ����AV’s public reports which are available at www.covestro.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

In order to realize the business idea, the winners are now released from their jobs for one year and can work within the group like company founders. To do so, they will receive up to one million euros in support. With the program, ����AV aims to promote creativity and entrepreneurial thinking among its nearly 16,000 employees.

The team consisting of members from different business divisions prevailed in the final against five other teams who have been preparing themselves intensively for the competition over the past four months. At the start of the Start-Up Challenge, around 600 projects were submitted worldwide. Ideas for more sustainability and new digital business models were predominantly focused on.

Employees think like entrepreneurs

“We were overwhelmed by the great innovative power of the ideas and the distinctive entrepreneurial thinking of the applicants,” says Dr. Markus Steilemann, who is responsible for innovation, marketing and sales on the ����AV board.

“With the Start-Up Challenge we reinforce our claim that innovation goes beyond traditional research and development. Because every single employee in every department can develop something new.” At the same time, the competition and the reinforcement of entrepreneurial thinking and actions in the Group help to test innovative ideas much more quickly on the market. Steilemann emphasized: “This also benefits our customers.”

The Start-Up Challenge goes beyond other company-internal innovation competitions because it gives employees the opportunity to develop innovative ideas into viable business models and demonstrate their own skills as founders. Steilemann announced that “we will continue to pursue many of the projects now”. “Because the innovative ideas help us to push the boundaries of what is possible together, in order to pursue our vision of making the world a brighter place to live.”

About ����AV:

With 2017 sales of EUR 14.1 billion, ����AV is among the world’s largest polymer companies. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. The main segments served are the automotive, construction, wood processing and furniture, and electrical and electronics industries. Other sectors include sports and leisure, cosmetics, health and the chemical industry itself. ����AV has 30 production sites worldwide and employs approximately 16,200 people (calculated as full-time equivalents) at the end of 2017.

Find more information at www.covestro.com.
Follow us on Twitter: .

Forward-looking statements

This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by ����AV. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in ����AV’s public reports which are available at www.covestro.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.