Taking our cue from the market Curiosity can be a business principle. For Sto, apart from driving the workforce of over 150 in the area of research and development, curiosity is also a defining attribute of the company as a whole. This is most clearly manifested in our dealings with our customers with regard to the practical aspects of building projects. Many ideas for developing new Sto products and optimising existing products originated from the planning office, the building site or the negotiating table. This market-driven development of products and services can be traced throughout Sto's history. The course of progress in pursuit of superior products or greater diversity is illustrated by the development of paste-form, cement-free products and the detailed solutions for Sto facade and interior systems which are of such importance in on-site building work. And Sto is currently arousing great interest on the market once again, with its innovative coating technologies: The latest innovations are the StoPhotosan Color self-cleaning paint employing photocatalysis and the interior paint StoClimasan Color, which requires only artificial light to trigger its air-cleaning effect. And the Lotus Effect® technology has been applied to a facade plaster for the first time in the form of StoLotusan plaster.