Chemistry

Specialty chemical companies are well developed in the area in a number of diverse field such as pigments, adhesives, intermediate products for the pharmaceutical industry, nylon and agrochemicals. Some of the industry’s largest companies, Clariant, Ciba Specialty Chemicals and Lonza, are based in nearby Basel and its surrounding areas. And even subsidiaries of the larger French, Japanese and US groups have been attracted to the region, including Du Pont and Rhodia. The chemical industry has a strong international focus and generates an export volume within Upper Alsace averaging around €2 billion per year.
The Chemical sector’s development is largely due to a commitment undertaken by the following partners :

l'Agence de développement de l'Alsace (The Alsace development agency)
le CAHR (Upper Alsace Development Agency)
l'Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Mulhouse (National School of Chemical Engineering (Mulhouse))
la Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie Sud Alsace Mulhouse (Southern Alsace Mulhouse Chamber of Trade and Industry)
le Technopole Mulhouse (The Mulhouse Science and Technology parks)
l'Union des Industries Chimiques Alsace Haut Rhin et les entreprises (The Alsace and upper Rhine Union of Chemical Industries)
l'Université de Haute Alsace (The Upper Alsace University)

The chief aim of this sector is to ensure that industrial, academic and research skills receive the promotion they require for furthering their development, while at the same time highlighting:

The chemical industry’s obvious role in everyday life (nutrition, health, hygiene, transport, textiles, communications…)
The weight of economic and social benefits that the industry brings to Alsace

Actions:

The organization of conferences
Surveys carried out to discover how and why the chemical industry should be attracted to the Alsace region
A calendar of visits to small and medium-sized businesses: develop and attract chemical-related small business activities in the area through market studies and diagnoses