Presentations

Session description:

Prof. Dr. Kurt Matzler is a renowned business strategist belonging to the top 20 strategy researchers in Europe and to the top 50 in the world. His key note will examine the key elements in the concept of business model innovation. Using the Nespresso business case as an example (how a simple everyday product (coffee) was turned into a premium item), Prof. Dr. Matzler will demonstrate how business model innovation can be implemented successfully. Based on a unique positioning strategy, successful business model innovators align their product and services logic, added-value logic, sales and marketing logic and revenue logic to create a system that delivers great returns. The secret of a successful business model lies in its coherence, its uniqueness and the fact that it is difficult to imitate.

Session description:

The candle is the most important invention of the last 2000 years. No-one can imagine a world without lighting. Without the candle, there would hardly be any written culture – and thus science and education. The candle is without a doubt the mother of all inventions.
The cultural history of the candle is extremely interesting and Mr Herbrich will present in depth why the candle is so important to science, art and even NASA. Moreover, candles are the only spiritual instrument used in all cultures.
Although electric candles are becoming more popular the cultural value of artisanal candles cannot be denied.

Session description:

In recent years scented candles have grown in popularity as indoor fragrance products, thus increasing the safety concerns related to the air pollutants in candles emissions. Experimental studies carried out in the past highlighted the presence of a possible relationship between candles properties (and/or fragrances used in candles manufacturing) and in particular, the content of some byproducts in the emitted gases. These experiments did not allow identifying a correlation between raw materials and emitted aldehydes. For this reason, AECM, ECA, A.I.S.E. and IFRA have partnered with Politecnico Milano to put together a database that gathers information about existing test results on different candle parameters (fuel composition, fragrance load, color, just to name some), their burning factors and related emissions. Based on this study, selection criteria can eventually be put together to help candles manufactures in the design of low emitting candles.

Session description:

This session will focus on wicks: types, materials, usages, chemical treatments, performances, tests, etc. A candle is a system and its overall performance depends greatly on how well the components are matched and balanced together. There are a number of wicks available in the market, in terms of materials, construction, results, etc. Each wick type should be used for a precise function so the best candle system and performance can be achieved. Unfortunately, this is not always the case so this session will provide more information on wick handling in the candle manufacturing process and possible influences on burning performance.