At ALTANA, innovation is the result of excellent employees and their networks inside and outside of the company. We promote this type of networking through a number of national and international personnel development programs that offer practical relevance. This means that the programs are relevant for all operations within the company and that the results gained from these programs directly affect and induce further activities within the company. In addition, we promote innovative networking beyond the boundaries of the individual fields at our annual ALTANA Innovation Conference and by bestowing the ALTANA Innovation Award. In our external networks with other companies, we follow the "open innovation" approach and cooperate with a number of domestic and foreign universities and research institutes. In order to safeguard the interests of our independent divisions of the ALTANA holding company and to ensure that innovation is fostered efficiently in the entire company, we have created the ALTANA Innovation Council. The Group's CTO and the CTOs of the individual divisions are part of this committee.