The Sika Experience

Through the Romuald Burkard Foundation Sika supports social and ecological projects to promote self-help locally. Sika for example has supported the Red Cross in New Zealand with on-the-spot assistance during the earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. Furthermore Sika supports the Operation Smile in Vietnam. Thanks to the donations children with facial deformities underwent successful operations.

With the aid of Sika a children’s home in Chile was renovated and houses now more than 60 children. There are examples for activities of the the Romuald Burkard Foundation throughout the world: To improve the efficiency of diary farming, Pro Leche Ayacucho offers professional support and jointly finances the projects with the local farmers. To further improve and enlarge the projects of Pro Leche Ayacucho, Perú, Sika participates with a major contribution.

Besides the activities of the Romuald Burkard Foundation, the Global Nature Fund (GNF) plays a big role in Sika’s engagement and long-term sponsorships. Within the GNF Sika focuses on projects managed by “Living Lakes“, an international network and partnership whose mission is to enhance the protection, restoration and rehabilitation of lakes, wetlands and other freshwater bodies of the world and their catchment areas.

Sika actively engages in many other sustainable and humanitarian development projects.   

Sika supports "Living Lakes", the network of the Global Nature Fund.

The importance of rooftop solar applications has long been recognized by Sika: Solar reflective membranes (SR) can increase the performance of the photovoltaic (PV) panels. To assess and monitor their performance, Sika has built its own solar parks in several locations using different PV technologies. See Case Study.

Sike Vietnam also this year funds corrective facial surgery for approx. 400 Vietnamese children. The sponsorship of 100’000 USD supports the nonprofit organisation Operation Smile Vietnam (OSV) in their efforts to offer surgery for children who have cleft lip and cleft palate defoormities at five missions this year. This is the second year that Sika has joined OSV to support the group’s work. In addition to the financial support, a number of dedicated Sika employees participated in these missions as volunteers to assist the teams with logistics work and experience life changing surgeries.

“We are very proud to support Operation Smile to help under-privileged Vietnamese children. We do hope that our contribution will not only help heal a child, but heal a family, a village but also an entire country” – said Ms. Yumi Kan – General Manager of Sika Vietnam.^ Operation Smile Vietnam is part of a global alliance of Operation Smile Foundations and Resource Chapters dedicated to providing free treatment to children and adults suffering from cleft lips and cleft palates.

Dear blog readers,

thank you so much for all your valuable feedback and inputs.
We were overwhelmed!

We are happy to present the results of our little survey, so please take a look at them below (base 316 answers):

Question 1
Which is your preferred Sika Experience?

Question 2
Which of the following trends and topics will affect your future and future work the most?

Question 3
Which one is your preferred area of expertise?

Conclusion

• The majority of the survey participants gives the biggest weight to internships/traineeships followed by Sika projects.
• Taking this into account we are currently working on new Sika Experience projects including internships as well as a re-design of this page – something to look forward to!

Sika is recognized world-wide as the market and technology leader for polyurethane sealants and adhesives. Our latest innovation in polyurethanes is the i-Cure® technology. It enables a new generation of sealants and adhesives with significant improvements in workability, durability, adhesion and ecology.

i-Cure® stands for “intelligent cure” and is the chemical base for a new and patent protected crosslinking technology for polyurethane systems. It allows the combination of the best properties of traditional polyurethane sealant and adhesive technology with features such as bubble-free curing and very low emissions. The new products also exhibit unsurpassed adhesion to porous and non-porous substrates. Products based on i-Cure® show that this technology has the potential to improve weatherability and lower the tendency for discoloration when exposed to sunlight, compared to previous polyurethane generations.

By the end of 2010, European Union legislation on chemical safety (directive 67/548/EEC) is adapted to restrict the sales of products containing MDI (methylenediphenyldiisocyanate). The i-Cure® based sealants and adhesives are not affected by the legislative changes; moreover, they are also labeling-free.

Unlike many sealants and adhesives, Sikaflex and SikaBond i-Cure® sealants and adhesives are solvent-free and completely odourless. This allows Sika’s polyurethane products to meet the highest and increasingly stringent emission standards like e.g. AgBB and Emicode EC1 Plus.

i-Cure® stands for “intelligent cure” and is the chemical base for a new and patent protected crosslinking technology for polyurethane systems.