ICA and BBB Create International Quality Testing and Research Center

By Jim.Robinson|April 13, 2011

The International Cotton Association (ICA) and the Bremer Baumwollboerse (BBB) have reached a historic agreement to combine their specific expertise around quality testing, training and research to create a new international quality testing and research center.

“The ICA Bremen International Quality Testing and Research Centre” will be a center of excellence for all quality related matters. Operating from the BBB’s laboratory facility in Germany, the new center will build on the BBB’s existing international reputation for cotton/fibre research and testing, while also capitalizing on ICA’s global reputation and reach.

Mr Kai Hughes, ICA managing director, will assume overall responsibility for managing the new venture. Assisting with the development will be Dr. Axel Drieling from the Bremen Faserinstitut, Mr Karsten Froese from the BBB and Dr Robert Jiang from the ICA. The day-to-day running of the center will be under the direction of Axel and Karsten, whilst administration and marketing will be conducted from the ICA office in Liverpool.

“This is a significant step forward for both the ICA and Bremer Baumwollboerse,” said Mr Ray Butler, ICA President. “It provides a unique opportunity to combine the skills and expertise of both organizations to produce a really world class laboratory that can lead the way in areas of testing, research, quality training and accreditation. This new venture underlines our joint commitment and enables us to effectively pool our resources to develop a center of excellence.”

“This cooperation between the two associations is a novelty in our industry and will be a milestone in our joint aspiration to lift cotton quality testing and research to the next level,” said Mr Jens Lukaczik, BBB president. “We have gone a long way and worked together in a spirit of partnership and trust in order to realize this project. This bodes well for the future and we are both agreed that the center will be of immense benefit to the global cotton community.”