Bayer opens new office in Dubai and celebrates its 150th anniversary

The regional headquarter for the Healthcare division will also be relocated from Cairo to Dubai during the remaining of year.

And Dubai is also a stop of an unusual interactive anniversary exhibition.

"Bayer can look back on a long and highly successful history as an inventor company," explained Dr. Richard Pott, Member of the Board of Management responsible for the Middle East region.

"What started as a small but innovative dyestuffs factory in the Barmen district of Wuppertal is now a global enterprise with more than 110,000 employees. In the past 150 years, Bayer inventions have time and again helped improve people's quality of life. This great tradition is also our commitment to the future - entirely in line with our mission of Bayer: Science For A Better Life," he added.

To mark the anniversary, Bayer is planning a series of events and projects worldwide throughout the coming year. These will focus on the company's employees and their families - but neighbors, customers, partners and the scientific community are also to be included in the celebrations.

Bayer is going on a world tour
To mark the 150th anniversary, an interactive exhibition showing how Bayer has improved the quality of life for millions of people around the world will travel to around 30 sites in Europe, America, Asia, Africa and Australia. The leitmotif for the anniversary tour is the mission: Bayer: Science For A Better Life. 21 letters in two-meter exhibition cases will explain the mission by means of concrete examples and hands-on materials.

From 'S' for science through 'R' for Rice to 'E' for energy-efficient mobility - each letter stands for a Bayer topic. At most museums, the visitors are warned 'Do not touch', but on the Bayer anniversary tour that rule does not apply. On the contrary: the exhibits - microscopes, thermal imaging cameras, digital games and many more - are designed specifically to be touched and tried out.

The concept of the exhibition combines entertaining elements with educational ones to encourage visitors to interact with the displays. The exhibition will feature displays on the topics of health care, agriculture and high-quality materials and will stop in Dubai at the end of the year.

Bayer in the Middle East
The Bayer Group is a global enterprise with companies in almost every country. Global headquarters are in Leverkusen, Germany. In the Middle East, Bayer is represented by Bayer Middle East, a wholly owned and fully consolidated subsidiary of Bayer AG based in the United Arab Emirates, and its representative and scientific offices in Egypt, Jordan, Cyprus, and Saudi Arabia. Bayer has nearly 800 employees in this region and the various Bayer activities in the Middle East accounted for nearly EUR500m in sales in 2012.

Business operations are conducted by the HealthCare, CropScience and MaterialScience subgroups whereas HealthCare - consisting of the Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Care, Animal Health and Diabetes Care divisions - represented the highest sales in the region in 2012.

Bayer MaterialScience, with its polycarbonates, polyurethanes and coatings activities, is a market leader in many areas and its high-tech materials are Bayer's second most important business in the region. CropScience comprises of the business groups Crop Protection, Environmental Science and BioScience.

Bayer has been present with its products in the Middle East since the late 1880s. In 1937, Bayer founded its first company in Egypt. In the Emirates, the first organization was formed in 1990 in Dubai. Bayer will consolidate its Middle East operations in Dubai. More than 100 employees will move to the new office located in Dubai Office Park Building. The office will host the regional headquarter including corporate and administrative staff.