FEATURE

FEICA Celebrates 50th Anniversary at 2022 Conference

The European adhesives and sealants industry will gather this month in Hamburg, Germany, for the FEICA European Adhesive and Sealant Conference and EXPO 2022.

By Isabelle Alenus, Senior Communications Manager, FEICA, the European Association of the Adhesive & Sealant Industry

After two postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the FEICA European Adhesive and Sealant Conference & EXPO 2022 will take place at the Grand Elysée Hotel in Hamburg, Germany, from September 14-16. This edition of FEICA’s celebrated event will be of great significance, as it will mark the whole European adhesives and sealants industry getting together again for the first time since 2019, as well as the association’s 50^th anniversary.

More than 600 industry leaders from all over the world are expected to attend in order to exchange ideas and build opportunities for long-term growth. The FEICA Conference & EXPO provides essential insights into key issues affecting the industry, such as market drivers and trends, innovation, sustainability, and technological advancements. In addition, attendees can expect great networking opportunities for formulators, customers, and suppliers, as well as exciting keynotes.

Business Forum

The 2022 Business Forum theme is “Enabling a sustainable future.” A viable and sustainable future will depend on a more efficient and circular use of resources. The adhesive and sealant industry is eager to contribute to solutions to meet this challenge.

The use of adhesives and sealants in many sectors contributes to reducing the carbon footprint of a surprising number of everyday and advanced products, as well as manufacturing processes, creating a “new license to do business in the 21^st century.” Committed to its sustainability vision, the adhesive and sealant industry will be a key enabler of the European Green Deal and of a sustainable circular economy, collaborating across value chains in different sectors to support a societal shift to a more sustainable future. We are helping to make it happen.

Breakout Sessions

In addition to the Business Forum, parallel breakout sessions will offer attendees a range of focus areas, such as food packaging, sustainability and the green transformation, hot melts, recycling, and bio-based building blocks for adhesives and sealants. These Breakout Sessions give experts an opportunity to share their knowledge and enable delegates to enjoy the maximum benefit of the conference by attending presentations that are pertinent to their specific business needs.

Topics will include:

• Food packaging adhesives
• Advancements in water-based adhesives and sealants
• Adhesives and sealants helping green transformation
• Hot-melt adhesives enabling sustainable solutions
• New additives
• Realizing energy efficiency
• Low-diisocyanate monomer polyurethanes (PUs)
• Pretreatment technologies
• Bio-based building blocks for adhesives and sealants
• Expanding the limits with PU hot melts
• Sustainability with silicone sealants
• Adhesives and sealants and recycling

New Developments and Networking

The Table Top Exhibition will give producers, distributors, suppliers, and service providers linked to the adhesive and sealant industry an opportunity to promote their latest developments. Finally, the FEICA European Adhesive and Sealant Conference & EXPO will also offer delegates the chance to participate in a variety of social events and provide ample opportunity for networking in a relaxed environment.

Anniversary Activities

FEICA is publishing two books commemorating its 50^th anniversary. The first, 50 Years of FEICA, will feature a timeline of the association’s history (and that of the adhesive and sealant industry), as well as photos and stories from its archives. For the second publication, FEICA commissioned Prof. Bernd Mayer and Prof. Andreas Groß at the Fraunhofer IFAM to write a study entitled Adhesive Bonding Technology in the 21^st Century—Synergy of Technological and Ecological Potentials.

Both publications will be handed out at the conference. Attendees will also have the opportunity to view a “FEICA is 50!” exhibition.