Ciba Specialty Chemicals Acquires ColorViz SAS

BASEL, Switzerland—Ciba Specialty Chemicals has acquired ColorViz SAS, a French start-up company with which it has cooperated since 2005. With know-how in CAD software development and material application, ColorViz has developed technology solutions for 3-D visualization of colors in substrates such as plastic and paint. Its software facilitates communication between industrial designers and specifiers and their material suppliers, making the product development process more efficient. Through Color Services, Ciba offers solutions combining software systems and consulting to help customers enhance their productivity in communicating and producing colors.

Sonia Megert Marshall, global head of Color Services at Ciba Specialty Chemicals, explains, “We confirmed the formidable potential of ColorViz’s technology while acting as exclusive worldwide distributor for its software. That’s when we also realized that the synergies between our color formulation technology and ColorViz’s visualization technology could be fully exploited only in a closer collaboration. Now we can accelerate the development of highly innovative tools for color design and specification.”

Christophe Dauga, managing director of ColorViz SAS, adds, “Ciba Specialty Chemicals’ and ColorViz’s advanced technologies will be merged into one unique and strong offering. We will be expanding the possibilities to reproduce colors accurately and to the highest quality. Our aim is to take digital color communication way beyond its current boundaries.”

Dauga will remain head of ColorViz while also taking a leading role in Ciba Specialty Chemicals’ Color Services organization. ColorViz will continue to be based in Aix-en-Provence, France.