Over the next few decades, the development of our society will be characterized by two particular
factors:
1. the increasing importance of the medical sector, coupled with growing requirements
on medical engineering products.
2. a continuing key role for mobility within society, with growing emphasis on finding
a solution to the associated ecological problems.
Plastics will playa crucial role in both cases. With properties ranges that can be widely
adjusted and ease of processing, plastics can be used to produce highly-integrated, customized
product solutions for medical-engineering applications, as well as products for the
automotive sector and telecommunications. The plastics sector is far from having exhausted
the innovation potential that exists. What is required are material, process engineering, and
mechanical engineering-based approaches to innovation which will make it possible to
respond to ever more demanding applications or the substitution of other materials by plastics