Wacker, a global chemical company, has partnered with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) based in Germany to build a platform for sustainable construction. The project known as “ChangeLab! Wacker/KIT Innovation Platform for Pioneering Sustainable Construction,” is meant to engage both KIT’s students as well as engineers, architects and construction experts who want to learn and share approaches to materials development and construction methods for a circular economy. Lectures, symposia and contests are planned. All activities will be posted at changelab.exchange. The project is planned to last three years.

 

The goal of the innovation platform is to forge stronger ties between researchers and actors at the various stages of the construction-sector supply chain. “Even in times of the coronavirus, sustainability remains a top priority for us,” says Peter Summo, president of the Wacker Polymers division. “We are deliberately laying down a marker for the development of sustainable technologies in the construction sector. This is a matter of strategic importance to us.”

 

Wacker has long espoused sustainable product solutions. Wacker Polymers, a world-leading producer of binders based on vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymers, uses biobased acetic acid sourced from the timber industry to manufacture binders for interior wall paints. “We rely on discussions with experts at every stage of the value-creation chain to keep driving the adoption of these kinds of sustainable, innovative approaches”, emphasizes Summo. “The ChangeLab! platform creates the environment for discussions of this kind among all participants.”