Designers and scientists bring new insights into the future of plastics

The Design Forum and the SciXplore Forum held yesterday had a full house. Well-known designers, industry experts and scientists shared their valuable perspectives, experiences and research achievements to help shape the future of the plastics industry.

Fruitful design forum in full swing

The Design Forum of the Design x Innovation concurrent event launched in the morning had five speakers focusing on how design and materials drive sustainability development and circular economy.

In her presentation “Blooming CMF Flowers - Aesthetics of Materials!”, the first speaker Emily Shi, Business Development Manager Color & Aesthetics, Global Color & Design (CMF), Business Entity Engineering Plastics, Covestro, emphasized the significance of fully leveraging the functionality, aesthetics and circularity of polycarbonate materials through CMF design.

Demonstrating intangible culture and advanced concept through sustainable materials is one of the core values of CMF, which should be promoted to bring together aesthetic and circular design, she remarked.

Another speaker, Ivan Wu, General Manager at Nova Design, talked about plastic aesthetics. Through various post-processing technologies, plastics can create charming textures similar to metal and wood, he said. Plastics artworks should be reused in the post pandemic era in which material prices increase and circular economy is advocated, because plastics realize economic and sustainability benefits.

An expert in material science, Daniel Dai, Innovation Project Leader, R&D, Materi'act, shared similar view that innovation and R&D empower recycled materials to become the material of choice in the new era. Automotive trims and interiors, in particular, will be a major application of recycled plastics in the coming years, according to him.  

The Design Forum continues today, with the same strong speaker lineup. After introducing the BLUEHERO solution for electric vehicle and its support equipment yesterday, an expert from SABIC is to talk about the company’s TRUCIRCLE solutions in today’s forum. In her presentation, Cai Linjia, SABIC Corporate Sustainability Strategy Manager, explains how the TRUCIRCLE solutions help to enable plastic circularity and low carbon development.

Right colorant and materials are success factors for maximizing benefits from packaging design. Avient’s ColorForward color forecasting tool, and Gravi-Tech Density-Modified formulations – solutions for touch and feel of metal – are developed to inspire design strategy. Iris Cheng, ColorWorks Designer, Asia, Avient Corporation, will share more in her presentation.

Besides, Atsuhiko Yoneda, Founder & CEO, ATSUHIKO YONEDA DESIGN, is to talk about how manufacturing should be in future society, focusing on CMF design. The presentation topic of Shi Xiaoxi, Jury Member of Japan G-Mark Design Award, is “Phygital”. Together with the audience, he will explore the code in the new design era through case studies.

Full house for polymer science feast

The SciXplore Forum grandly kicked off yesterday afternoon. It was an event where scientists and experts reported the technological breakthroughs and shared their views on future development of the polymer industry.

The forum started with Stanley Chu, Chairman of Adsale Exhibition Services Ltd. and Honorary University Fellowship from The University of Hong Kong, delivering the welcome speech.

“The importance of scientific research is self-evident to China’s roadmap for high-quality development,” Chu said. He described the SciXplore Forum as “on-the-spot high-level dialogues” between industry and academia to explore breakthroughs in innovation of polymer materials.

At the forum, both Prof. Wang Yuzhong, Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, and Prof. Yu Shuhong, Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, described the trends of sustainable polymer materials.

In his presentation, Prof. Wang shared his views on the new routes and technologies of green, low-carbon polymer materials, while Prof.  Yu talked about the latest developments of nanocellulose and natural polymer materials.

In view of new market demands driving higher requirements for materials, Prof. Chul B.Park, Academician of the Academy of Science of the Royal Society of Canada, Canadian Academy of Engineering, introduced the latest research on plastics that have high toughness and stiffness. In another presentation, his academician colleague, Prof. Zhu Shiping, pointed out that process digitalization plays a crucial role in innovation of high-end polymers.   

Last but not least, the speech of Prof. Li Liangbin from the University of Science and Technology of China focused on advanced synchrotron light source, which he believes is the catalyst of innovation for the polymer industry.

During the new “Walk with Scientists” activity, the scientists visited different booths at the exhibition and exchanged with exhibitors about industry transformation and upgrade.