WACKER ENDOWS AN INSTITUTE OF SILICON CHEMISTRY AT THE TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH

Joint press release of WACKER and TU München
- NEW INSTITUTE, UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE WACKER CHAIR OF MACROMOLECULAR
CHEMISTRY, ESTABLISHED WITHIN THE FACULTY OF CHEMISTRY
- FUNDING TO TOTAL SIX MILLION EUROS
- CEO PETER-ALEXANDER WACKER: “THE INSTITUTE UNDERSCORES THE ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE
OF SILICONE CHEMISTRY AND STRENGTHENS GERMANY’S POSITION AS A RESEARCH BASE”

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Munich (euro adhoc) - Wacker Chemie AG has endowed an "Institute of
Silicon Chemistry" within the Faculty of Chemistry at the Technical
University of Munich (TUM). The new institute will be under the
direction of the Chair of Macromolecular Chemistry, which will in
future carry the name WACKER. An agreement to this effect was signed
today by the TUM and the Munich-based chemicals group. WACKER is one
of the world’s biggest manufacturers of hyperpure silicon and
silicones.

WACKER will finance the new institute completely for at least six
years and also help to finance the WACKER Chair. The chemicals group
has earmarked six million euros for this purpose. The funds will be
used for research projects and grants, and for research and
project-related purchases. Potential beneficiaries of institute
grants will include some 50 doctoral candidates.

The WACKER Chair and the new institute will be headed by Prof.
Bernhard Rieger, whose appointment was timed perfectly for the
signing of the agreement. Prof. Rieger is known as one of the world’s
most eminent experts in macromolecular chemistry. The new institute
will be accommodated in the TUM’s chemistry annex in Garching, and
will start work at the beginning of next year.

Dr. Peter-Alexander Wacker, CEO of Wacker Chemie AG, said: "Silicon
and silicone chemistry account for about 80 percent of our sales and
are therefore of huge economic importance for us. We regard the new
institute and the WACKER chair as an important element in
consolidating our leadership in this field." He continued that
macromolecular silicon chemistry holds particularly strong potential,
which therefore needed focused research efforts in collaboration with
a top-notch university. At the same time, this measure would increase
Germany’s attractiveness as a research center.

"The foundation of the ‘Institute of Silicon Chemistry’ underscores
the many decades of successful partnership between the Technical
University of Munich and WACKER," stated TUM President, Wolfgang A.
Herrmann. "It is also further proof of TUM’s excellent standing as an
international leading-edge research center." Only last October, the
German Scientific Council and German Research Association declared
the TUM to be a "University of Excellence. "The Faculty of Chemistry
has always been ranked among Germany’s top research institutions,
which puts the new institute in a strong position", Herrmann
continued.

The organofunctional oligomeric and polymeric silicon compounds,
whose structure/effect relationships remain to be elucidated, are an
attractive field for fundamental research at the new Institute. The
TUM Chemistry Faculty provides unique chemical expertise for novel
catalytic production processes. In terms of applications, new
materials could be developed, with tailored properties and
unprecedented property combinations, such as hardness, water
repellency, gas permeability, UV stability, heat resistance, fire
resistance and good low-temperature flexibility. Other research areas
include conductive silicon polymers and hybrid polymers, the
chemistry of surface coating, and silicon nanoparticles.
Interdisciplinary research will concentrate on the interfaces to
physics, biotechnology, pharmacy, environmental chemistry and
material sciences.

Silicones in Brief Silicones are the basis of materials with highly
diverse product properties for virtually unlimited applications.
Their versatility has made them indispensable in many different
sectors, ranging from construction and transport, automotive,
textiles, electrical and electronics, to the cosmetics,
pharmaceutical and paper industries. Under the car hood, silicone
rubber protects the electronics against moisture and dirt. Silicone
paint additives provide the desired high gloss. In detergents,
silicones prevent the washing machine from foaming over and in
shampoos they give hair its silky sheen. Silicones are also
ubiquitous in medical technology. Highly compatible and hard wearing,
they are used in medical tubing or for sealing the filter elements of
dialysis units.

WACKER is one of the world’s biggest silicone manufacturers. WACKER’s
products include silanes, silicones, silicone fluids and emulsions,
silicone elastomers, silicone sealants, silicone resins and pyrogenic
silica, which is sold under the trade name WACKER HDK® In Germany,
WACKER SILICONES are produced at Burghausen in Bavaria and at the
Nünchritz site in Saxony. WACKER also operates silicone production
sites in Brazil, China, India, Japan and the USA.

WACKER in Brief WACKER (www.wacker.com) is a globally active chemical
company headquartered in Munich. With a wide range of
state-of-the-art specialty products, WACKER is a leader in numerous
industrial sectors. Its products are required in many high-growth
end-user sectors such as photovoltaics, electronics, pharmaceuticals
and household/personal care products. In 2005, the Group posted sales
of some EUR2.76 billion, with approx. 80 percent being earned outside
Germany. WACKER employs about 14,400 persons at currently 22
production sites in Europe, the Americas and Asia and in some 100
sales offices worldwide. Wacker Chemie AG is listed at the Frankfurt
(Germany) Stock Exchange (ISIN: DE000WCH8881).

The TUM in Brief The Technical University of Munich (www.tum.de) runs
a three-site campus in Munich, Garching and Freising-Weihenstephan.
Some 20,000 students - about 20 percent of whom are not from Germany
- attend its twelve faculties. The TUM employs about 400 professors
and a staff of 8,500 people (including the "Klinikum rechts der Isar"
hospital). The wide range of subjects - covering natural and life
sciences, technology and medicine - makes the TUM unique in Europe.
In October 2006, the TUM was nominated an "elite university" as part
of Germany’s drive for tertiary-education excellence. Two clusters of
excellence and the "TUM International Graduate School of Science and
Engineering" (IGSSE) represent further successful aspects of the
TUM’s forward-looking strategy. The TUM is thus raising its profile
on the international stage.

end of announcement euro adhoc 21.12.2006 08:30:00
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ots Originaltext: Wacker Chemie AG
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Further inquiry note:
Wacker Chemie AG
Media Relations & Information
Christof Bachmair
Tel. +49 89 6279-1830
Fax: +49 89 6279 1239
christof.bachmair@wacker.com

TUM
Press & Communications
Dieter Heinrichsen
Tel. +49 89 725122778
Fax: +49 89 289 23388
heinrichsen@zv.tum.de

Branche: Chemicals
ISIN: DE000WCH8881
WKN: WCH888
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