More than 100 industry representatives attended the “Plastics & Composites Innovation Days”, organised by the European Plastics Converters Association (EuPC, Brussels / Belgium; www.plasticsconverters.eu) in Vienna / Austria on 30 May to 1 June 2012. Plasteurope.com managing director Andreas Hertsch also attended the event, during which the association not only openly contemplated appropriate action against the numerous calls of force majeure (see Plasteurope.com of 04.06.2012), but also re-elected Bernhard Borgardt as president.

Speaking to PIE, EuPC managing director Alexandre Dangis said, “During these 3 days in Vienna plastics converters confirmed their ability to innovate and develop new opportunities for plastics and composites. It seems that with all these bright ideas the market for plastics has a big potential to develop further in Europe. The SMEs in the converting business will continue to be at the forefront of innovation in the plastics industry in Europe. Let’s hope that these ideas soon will turn into projects and euros and will involve the support of all stakeholders including the public authorities looking for growth in the economies and the research community.”

The event, which saw discussions in several market groups – ranging from packaging, to automotive, building and construction as well as technical parts – also saw the assignment of new members to the EuPC steering committee. They include Ton Emans of CeDo (Mönchengladbach / Germany; www.cedo.com), Tom Debusschere of Deceuninck (Hooglede-Gits / Belgium; www.deceuninck.com), Union Plastic’s (Saint-Didier-en-Velay / France; www.union-plastic.eu) Florence Poivey, Solvay’s (Brussels / Belgium; www.solvay.com) Dominique Clerbois, Bjorn Arild Hoem of Sphere (Paris / France; www.sphere.eu) as well as Ter Hell’s (Herne / Germany; www.terhell.com) Heinz-Günter Sauerhoff.