CHARLOTTE, NC - With 328 exhibitors and about 6,700 overall participants, the second edition of the American Coatings Show & Conference proved very successful. The American Coatings Conference featured almost 100 presentations and other events as well as 958 participants from 40 countries.
 
At the conference, the best presentation received the American Coating Award. The award was given to Oihana Elizalde, Stephan Amthor and Collin G. Moore of BASF for their presentation on “Improving Waterborne Anticorrosion via New Binder Concepts.” In addition, the paper entitled “Role of Nanoparticle/Polymer Interface on Hybrid Coatings Performance” by Xiaohung Gu (NIST) and her co-workers received the Roon Award for Best Technical Paper.
 
The first keynote address of the conference was titled “Sustainable Coatings Chemistry: New Product Development through Partnership and Technical Innovation.” The paper was presented by Dennis Ryer, Product Manager for Liquid and Powder Resins, Cook Composites & Polymers and Robert Enouen, Associate Director for Customer Business Development, Procter & Gamble.
 
The second keynote address, titled “Sustaining Innovation and the Environment in Difficult Times,” was presented by Kenneth Perry, Technical Director, North American Automotive Coatings, BASF Corp. He talked about sustainability and the improvement of environmental footprints, as well as innovation of products and processes.
 
At the trade show, exhibitors from 17 countries displayed a comprehensive range of products on 68,100 square feet of space. Companies from abroad accounted for 23 percent of the exhibitors, and in addition to the United States, leading countries represented at the show included China, Germany, Canada and India.
 
The next regularly scheduled American Coatings Show & Conference will take place on May 7-10, 2012. This time it will be held at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, IN.