2017 was another year of strategic growth for UetlibergPartners. We expanded our portfolio, adding new clients in various industry sectors and covering new topics around sustainability. In addition to advising individual companies in the chemicals and intermediates sectors, we also supported consortia of companies and trade associations. Here are a few examples of the assignments we worked on for such clients:

• We supported the take-off of the PolyStyreneLoop organisation, advising its members on the structuring and strategic positioning of this pilot project in the field of polystyrene recycling. The PolyStyreneLoop project is a perfect “beacon” example of applied circular economy within the PS foam value chain, providing closed-loop recycling for insulation materials, while allowing separation and treatment of the bromine component of the legacy POP fire retardant HBCD

• UetlibergPartners also continued to provide project management services to the ProScale consortium, a group of 7 partners developing a method for assessing the toxicological potentials of product systems from a life cycle perspective. ProScale was developed to address the growing demand for a tool to compare the hazard and exposure performance of chemical substances along the life cycle of products. The method was launched at a conference held in Brussels on 5 October 2017. More information on the method and on the conference is available on the ProScale website

• Confronted with the challenges of globalisation and digitisation, IFIA, the international federation representing the independent testing, inspection and certification sector (TIC), appointed UetlibergPartners to initiate a strategy review looking at the long-term sustainability of IFIA vis-à-vis both its members and its key external stakeholders. UetlibergPartners facilitated a series of workshops that kicked off an in-depth revision of the IFIA structure, of its operations, and of its relations with sister organisations in the TIC field.