Our scholar Ivana Čulić was given the opportunity to visit The world No. 1 trade fair for plastics and rubber in Dusseldorf, K2019. The fair is held every 3 years, and that is why all the biggest companies are preparing their innovations and products for it. This year's motto was: Plastics shape future and hot topics were Circular economy, Plastics industry 4.0 and Renewable energy.

Ivana shared her impressions with us:

“For me, this was a unique opportunity to see the newest technologies and to talk and interact with companies and research centers from all over the world.

We may not be aware of this, but today we are largely surrounded by polymer materials and the packaging is mostly plastic. That is why this industry must develop rapidly too.

Seeing all these new materials and technologies, I finally had the opportunity to understand what is happening at the cross-section of sciences, until now I thought the chemical industry was unconnected with the others, now I realize how smart materials can be made.

Also, it is trade fair, so a lot of companies are coming out with new products, I think it affects the world production as well, because they wait for the fair for a better price and then we wait longer for new technology, and until then the old ones are used.

During the fair, I saw the problems this industry is facing and methods used to deal with those problems, but also in what direction researches are developing. For example, researchers at Kyoto University developed a method to convert carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into new material, and that's great news for our future.”

During her stay in North-Rhine Westphalia, Ivana also attended BH Diaspora meet-up together with BH Futures Foundation Ambassadors Adela Kadirić and Lejla Seperović. They spent one evening with people from B&H, living in this region and talking about ways to gain the best of Diaspora and homeland connection.

Ivana at K2019, No.1 Trade Fair for Plastics and Rubber