Dublauto Gaúcha's technical and RD&I team participated on the afternoon of Thursday, October 5th, in the 9th IBTeC Innovation Forum. The event, held by IBTeC and sponsored by the companies Zahonero and Orisol do Brasil, was attended by 150 people, including footwear industry professionals and sector leaders.

The Executive President of IBTeC, Dr. Valdir Soldi, at the opening, highlighted that the 51-year-old Institute highlights with this event its mission of supporting companies in the search for innovation and knowledge.

At the opening of the lecture program, the Deputy Secretary of the Secretariat of Innovation, Science and Technology of Rio Grande do Sul, Raphael Ayub, presented the lecture “Innovation as a factor in economic development and industrial competitiveness”.

Followed by Josemar Demenech, analyst at SEBRAE, whose talk addressed the topic “I need to innovate, now what?” and pointed out several actions carried out by SEBRAEX, the institution's innovation brand, which is responsible for supporting innovation, ending with information on all the notices that are still in force for the year 2023 and early 2024.

Following the presentations, the executive president of IBTeC, Dr. Valdir Soldi, spoke about “Advanced materials: sustainability, trends and applications in footwear”, showing different types of biopolymers, nanomaterials and highlighting that increasingly different types of industries will use new materials, for cost reasons, and the need to adopt attitudes aimed at sustainable production.

To conclude the Forum, the Sustainability Panel was presented, addressing the topic “Sustainability Management as a competitiveness factor for the industry”. As guests, Piccadilly's Vice President and Product Director, Ana Carolina Grings; the Commercial Director of Biq Adesivos, Carle Stein, and the Deputy Director of Mats Beneficiamento de Couros, Manoela Junqueira Becker. The debate was mediated by the Superintendent of Assintecal, Silvana Dilly, and the Project Manager of Abicalçados, Cristian Schlindwein.

The guests presented their experience in practicing sustainability concepts in their companies, contributing to increasing the competitiveness of their products.

The 9th IBTeC Innovation Forum is available on the official IBTeC YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/ibtecbrasil.

Source: https://www.ibtec.org.br/midias/noticia/9o-forum-de-inovacao-do-ibtec-reuniu-liderancas-do-setor-coureiro-calcadista