CHEMICAL NEWS LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS EUROCAR CONGRESS EVALUATION OF WORLD CHEMICAL SUMMIT

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1 CHEMICAL NEWS LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS OF WORLD CHEMICAL SUMMIT page 2 WCHS PRESENTED IN JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA page 4 EUROCAR CONGRESS EVALUATION page 5 AERONAUTICS OFFERS A PROMISING FUTURE page 7

2 CHEMICAL NEWS page 2 PILAR NAVARRO, DIRECTOR OF EXPOQUIMIA, EUROSURFAS AND EQUIPLAST We have started to lay the foundations of the World Chemical Summit The last edition of Expoquimia, Eurosurfas and Equiplast at Fira Barcelona has shown, once again, that they are the greatest commercial showcase in this sector. It has also meant the beginning of a new stage towards even wider goals: the future World Chemical Summit. Pilar Navarro, director of the three events, talks about all that in this interview. Which is your assessment of Expoquimia, Eurosurfas and Equiplast? Considering the difficult times we are going through, which have led many companies to shut down and some others to merge, we have been able to gather over 600 direct exhibitors, 160 activities, over 200 novelties, 300 international business meetings and 50 worldwide projects at Expoquimia, Eurosurfas and Equiplast. This edition has been the beginning of a new stage, which main goal is to become within ten years the future World THE NUMBER OF VISITING DECISION MAKERS HAS INCREASED Chemical Summit, an event of worldwide reference for the sector. We have shown again that we are the greatest commercial showcase in the sector and the best platform for promoting and outreaching the applied chemistry industry in the Mediterranean area. One of the goals of this edition was to boost business contacts through the WICAP formula. Have you achieved it? We are focused on becoming the future World Chemical Summit, where science, technology and industry meet at a worldwide level, and we foresee that to happen in With that on PILAR NAVARRO Graduated in Audiovisual Communication, Advertising and Public Relations, International Management and further educated in business management (MBA), Marketing and communications direction at UAB and Direction on New Organisations in the Knowledge Economy (UOC). Pilar Navarro has an extended career in several multinational FMCG companies and in Fira Barcelona, where she has been involved in the management of the events Graphispag, Graphintro, Serigraph, Expoquimia, Equiplast, Eurosurfas, Maquitec and Construmat since Pilar Navarro is currently the director of the Life Sciences & Chemistry Business Unit -including the events: Expoquimia, Equiplast, Eurosurfas, PharmaProcess (which she directs as well), Forum Dental and MiHealth- at Fira Barcelona.

3 CHEMICAL NEWS page 3 mind, in this last edition we have already pursued both a higher internationalisation of the events and a greater number of projects and inversions presented to the exhibitors at Expoquimia, Eurosurfas and Equiplast. I think we have taken a first step towards our goal: we have registered 37,846 visitors, with an important presence of quality visitors, especially decision makers, which have increased by 11% compared to the 2011 edition. The WICAP forum has included 55 projects from all over the world, and it is the bridge for us to become the World Chemical Summit, the materialization of what science and industry are able to do. Therefore, I think we have started to lay the foundations to get it. THE WORLD CHEMICAL SUMMIT WILL BE THE WORLDWIDE REFERENCE EVENT IN THE SECTOR Expoquimia, Eurosurfas and Equiplast are held every three years. Isn t that too long? The life cycle of the products within these three sectors and the pace of the scientific and technical progress fit well with this regularity. But it is true that we have to keep alive the flame of these events from now and until the next edition. That is our challenge. SOME 2014 FIGURES: OVER 600 EXHIBITORS, 300 INTERNATIONAL BUSI- NESS MEETINGS AND 50 WORLDWIDE PROJECTS

4 CHEMICAL NEWS page 4 VISIT TO TWO ASIAN ECONOMIC GIANTS World Chemical Summit presented in Japan and South Korea WCHS managers have announced the three events new stage to become a world reference. The direction of the World Chemical Summit (consisting of Expoquimia, Eurosurfas and Equiplast) travelled as part of a business mission organized by the Government of Catalonia from 23 to 28 February with the aim of identifying new business opportunities in several sectors, especially in the chemical and biopharmaceutical fields. Different meetings have been held with several institutions and companies to give some details of the next 2017 edition and to explain the new orientation of the events. In this regard, the director of the World Chemical Summit, Pilar Navarro, has assessed in a positive way the outcome of the meetings: We received a very good response from companies and institutions that have shown great interest in what will be the future World Chemical Summit at Fira de Barcelona. LIFE SCIENCES AND CHEMISTRY Pilar Navarro has also made public the functioning of the new Life Science and Chemistry business unit of Fira de Barcelona, made up of Expoquimia, Eurosurfas, Equiplast, PharmaProcess, MiHealth, and Forum Dental. The goal of this business unit is to disseminate, through thinking and debate, new trends that are emerging to improve the welfare of society. Navarro said that this new approach has aroused great interest among the companies that we have visited, since Japan and Korea are THE PURPOSE OF THE TOUR WAS TO IDENTIFY NEW BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES leading countries in biopharmaceutical and nanotechnology, for example. Japan is the world s third largest economy and the largest investor in the vast Asia- Pacific region. Meanwhile South Korea has experienced a tremendous growth over the last 20 years, based on value-added activities such as high technology, and devotes 4% of its GDP to R & D. FIRST ROW COMPANIES AND INSTITUTIONS During his tour of these two Asian countries, Navarro met representatives of pharmaceutical companies, such as the Korean Daewoong, Dong-AST or KPMA and the Japanese Chagai, of the Roche Group, among others. With regard to business organizations and institutions are worth to mention, in Japan, the Foundation for Biomedical Research and Innovation and the RIKEN Institute of Computer Science, the Japan Bioindustry Association, and the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of Osaka. There has been also an interview with the Ministry of Food Safety and Medicines in South Korea.

5 CHEMICAL NEWS page 5 EUROCAR CONGRESS: EVALUATION The Eurocar Congress, a must attend event for the sector The Eurocar Congress, which was held during October 1st and 2nd within Eurosurfas, brought together the highest experts and leading professionals in the surface treatment for the automotive sector. We have interviewed some participants to have first-hand opinions. A hundred participants, 27 talks, a wide variety of topics and a high technical level is the short summary of the 8th Eurocar Congress. But how did the participants live it? Did the organisation and approach of the talks meet their previous expectations? What would they improve to a forthcoming edition? We have asked some of the speakers from last year s congress and these are their answers. A POSITIVE EVALUATION, MET EXPECTATIONS José Luis Bilbao, Sales Manager in Spain, Portugal and north of Africa at the Finishing Brands company, is probably one of the most authoritative voices to evaluate the Eurocar THE EVALUATION IS VERY POSITIVE Congress: I have participated in almost all the editions of this congress, since the first one held back in 1988, and I have been a speaker three or four times. I have always thought that it is a very proper congress, from day one, and I think that attending it is very important. Actually I have participated with different companies, because I have changed jobs over all these years, but I have always been to the Eurocar Congress. His experience in 2014 has left a good impression: this has been a very interesting edition, and the congress has improved significantly compared to the last one three years before.

6 CHEMICAL NEWS page 6 This last opinion is shared by Javier Ferron, from PSA Peugeot Citroën, who says that the congress has met my expectations, and the evaluation is good, I think it has been better than previous editions. Rafael Daniel, Marketing Specialist at MacDermid Spain, can t make this comparison as this has been his very first participation in the Eurocar Congress. For us it has been a very interesting experience, our evaluation is very positive. It has totally met our expectations, the attendance was large and, especially, it gathered the professionals from the sector that might be interested in the kind of processes that we presented during the congress. PROFESSIONAL CONTACT Rafael Daniel himself stressed the most important issue from his point of view: For us, as speakers, the most important thing was having the chance to address not only to our direct customers, but to the final consumers as well. We have to take into account that our costumers work closely with the automotive sector, and that is why it felt interesting to participate in the Eurocar Congress, fully focused on the automotive business area. Besides the experience itself and the opportunity of sharing interesting moments with other colleagues, says Javier Ferron, I would especially stress those talks that focused on the new progress in car painting. I liked above all the presentations about new lines of surface treatment. José Luis Bilbao, on the other hand, had expected more novelties in the presentations: Most presentations have been about already finished experiences. It is true that the presentations explained the details of these projectes, the why and how, but I did miss some more future projects. IT HAS TOTALLY MET OUR EXPECTATIONS READY FOR A NEXT EDITION These three participants in the Eurocar Congress have no doubt when it comes to foresee their presence in a next edition of the congress. And I would like to find the same quality as this time, I would be happy with that, says Javier Ferron. José Luis Bilbao is more demanding: I would like the congress to focus a little bit more on showing the future, to bring to the table what should the sector expect in the next few years to come. Beyond content and visitors profiles, which are the main reasons to attend again in the next edition, Rafael Daniel adds one more comment: Maybe the registration fee was too high, which made it difficult to invite more people and therefore get a wider audience.

7 CHEMICAL NEWS page 7 Aeronautics offers a promising future Surface treatment for aircraft is facing good prospects linked to the strong growth of commercial aviation forecast for the next 20 years. In aerospace there are two major types of applications in the treatment of surfaces field: those performed in newly manufactured aircraft and those aimed at maintenance of aircraft already in service. In both cases the specific operations are very diverse and they vary according to the needs of the aircraft (see box). Furthermore, in recent years the use of the fuselage outer surface for advertising is spreading. One example is the singular paint that British Airways has used in its fleet to promote the Olympic Games in London. The evolution of the aviation sector is opening up good prospects for surface treatment. There are about 20,000 commercial aircraft currently operating worldwide. According to the British newspaper The Guardian, Boeing one of the two major global manufacturers with Airbus predicts that within two decades this figure will double due to increasing demand from airlines. COMMON SURFACE TREATMENTS p Removing parts tension p Detecting cracks p Removing burring p Increasing surface resistance p Paint stripping p Degreasing interfaces p Finishes THE NUMBER OF COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT COULD DOUBLE IN TWO DECADES THE INDUSTRY IN SPAIN The presence of the aviation industry in Spain has also followed an upward trend with the creation of several regional clusters in Madrid, Andalusia, Castilla La Mancha, Basque Country, Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia. Airbus has assembly plants in Seville and Cádiz. Auxiliary workshops of these plants are located in these two cities, but also in the Basque Country, Madrid and Catalonia. Companies specifically dedicated to the treatment of surfaces are concentrated in these last three regions and also in La Rioja. Spain participates in the Airbus consortium significantly. Industry sources point to two major challenges for the future of surface treatment for aircraft in Spain. The first would be to improve the ability of smaller companies to respond to the growing level of demand from airlines companies. The second would be to avoid continuous changes in regulations and bureaucracy hurdles that ultimately lead to some additional costs which cannot be transferred to the market due to high competition.