DSM at the Olympics

The launch of the Innovation is our Sport™ program on 1 August 2007 marked the start of DSM’s countdown to the Beijing Olympics. Besides a communications program highlighting our Olympic innovations, one of our most important activities during the Games was the customer relations program. As in the previous edition of the Olympics, the prime spot where NOC*NSF and its Partners in Sport presented themselves was the Holland Heineken House (HHH). The Holland Heineken House, an initiative of NOC*NSF and Heineken, was set up for the first time during the Barcelona Olympics (1992) as a meeting place for Dutch athletes, their families and friends, supporters and media representatives. Over the years, the facilities in the HHH have been greatly expanded and HHH has become the home base for all sections of the Dutch sports community.

The House in Beijing was located at the National Agricultural Exhibition Center situated in the Embassy Quarter of Beijing. Besides the large hall where celebrations for medal winners and performances by Dutch artists took place, there were various restaurant facilities, reception rooms for sponsors, rooms for the athletes, facilities for the press, an information desk where the Dutch embassy and the ATP travel agency provided services, fan shops and offices for NOC*NSF and operational staff of the HHH.

DSM had a major presence at the House, with our Olympic innovations in particular playing an important role. The program included the following activities:

• Press conference on 7 August – an update on the Olympic Innovation program of DSM and NOC*NSF with deputy chairman of DSM’s Managing Board Jan Zuidam, Chief Innovation Officer Rob van Leen and NOC*NSF chairwoman Erica Terpstra

• Vitality Campus – an initiative of DSM, Unilever, Achmea and Pfizer where visitors were informed about the importance of a healthy lifestyle, exercise and nutrition for a vital life

• Innovation display Olympic 470 – another visible showcase of DSM’s activities in Sports & Innovation was the 470 boat display, a mock-up of the Olympic 470 boat with which Marcelien de Koning and Lobke Berkhout, members of the Unlimited Sports Team, claimed silver during the 2008 Olympics. The display consists of the bow of a 470 built in the same factory and with the same materials as Marcelien and Lobke’s boat, mounted on a large picture of the sailors to create a unique 3 dimensional effect

• Customer relations program – both the business groups operating in China and the Managing Board invited customers and prospects for a visit to the HHH to exchange thoughts on DSM and innovation