Key Events in 2021
2021
February
WACKER acquired all the shares in Genopis Inc., a contract manufacturer of pharmaceuticals. This acquisition can be seen as a strategic step in expanding biologics market growth. Genopis was renamed Wacker Biotech US Inc. and manufactures pDNA for innovative therapeutic agents, such as nucleic acid-based gene therapies and vaccines.
May
Dr. Christian Hartel became Wacker Chemie AG’s president & CEO. His predecessor, Dr. Rudolf Staudigl, retired at the end of the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting on May 12. Angela Wörl joined the Executive Board as Personnel Director.
June
WACKER is setting a clear example when it comes to corporate climate protection and has become a sponsor of the KlimaWirtschaft foundation, whose aim is to establish effective free-market parameters conducive to climate protection.
July
The WACKER SILICONE AWARD was presented to Martin Oestreich, professor of synthesis and catalysis at the Technical University of Berlin. His basic research is greatly advancing the development of innovative catalysts. WACKER presented the €10,000 award during the 19th International Symposium for Silicon Chemistry, held digitally this time due to the pandemic.
WACKER published its online Sustainability Report for 2019/2020. Sustainability is a core element of WACKER’s business model and one of the company’s five strategic goals.
August
A Sino-German research team received the 2021 Alexander Wacker Innovation Award for its innovative process to make vinyl acetate-ethylene (VAE) polymer dispersions. The work of Henry Chen, Zhong Chen, Dr. Bernhard Eckl, Wilhelm Kaiser, Nelson Wang and Dr. Hans-Peter Weitzel has set a new yardstick in terms of product throughput and energy consumption. The €10,000 award was presented to them during the WACKER Innovation Days.
October
WACKER acquired a 60-percent stake in SICO Performance Material Co., Ltd., a specialty silane manufacturer. Based in Jining, China, SICO is a leading producer of organofunctional silanes for high-performance adhesives, sealants, coatings and composite materials. WACKER, too, has decades of experience in this field and this partnership is a way of further expanding its range of high-quality specialty products in Asia.
Dr. Martin Brudermüller, CEO of BASF SE, was invited to visit the Burghausen plant by WACKER CEO Dr. Christian Hartel. The meeting was mainly devoted to the question of how the German chemical industry could meet the goal of climate-neutral production.
December
WACKER presented its new, ambitious sustainable development goals. The company is to pursue specific projects and measures to halve its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. The goals to cut emissions are in line with the Paris Agreement. As one of the world’s leading manufacturers of specialty chemicals and polysilicon, WACKER is playing a major role in the energy transition and in reducing the impact of climate change. The company’s aim is to achieve climate neutrality by 2045.
