Speciality chemicals producer Evonik Industries (Essen / Germany; www.evonik.com) and Forward Engineering (Munich / Germany; www.forward-engineering.com) have set up the joint venture Vestaro (Munich; www.vestaro.com/en) to drive the implementation of polyurethane composites in the automotive industry.

Vestaro will concentrate on technology consulting and selection and production of matrix formulations. Evonik is contributing its expertise in amine hardeners ("Vestamin") for epoxy resin formulations and isocyanate ("Vestanat") for polyurethane formulations to Vestaro's material developments, which are combined with Forward Engineering's expertise in composite construction.

The company will be managed jointly with Evonik holding 49% of the shares and Forward Engineering holding 51%. The managing directors are Hans Görlitzer of Evonik Resource Efficiency and Robert Maier of Forward Engineering.