Nicolas Velez
Global Business Director, Knowde
Nicolas Velez is a Director of Sales at Knowde, where he helps chemical companies modernize how they sell by making their data work smarter. Before that, he spent nearly a decade at Henkel leading business development across adhesives, packaging, and graphics—growing new business and launching innovative programs. With a background in engineering and a passion for driving growth, Nicolas brings a mix of technical know-how and commercial.
Unlocking Innovation With Data: The Future of Sustainable Product Development
In today’s adhesive and sealant industry, an organization’s competitive edge requires more than innovation in the lab—it demands better, faster access to high-quality data across the value chain.
Digital technology has the potential to drastically transform the way raw material manufacturers, formulators, and downstream users collaborate and innovate. However, a collective pain derails digital initiatives: incomplete, disparate master data. Timelines are delayed, organic growth stunted, and ROI lost.
The solution, a single source of truth for master data, accelerates R&D timeline, reduces formulation waste, enables supply diversification and, ultimately, brings sustainable solutions to market faster.
Drawing on insights from Knowde’s work with leading chemical manufacturers and distributors, we’ll highlight how a modern data infrastructure enables agile product development teams, supports regulatory compliance and opens new possibilities for circular design and decarbonization. In the session, participants will be prompted to rethink how they manage and leverage data—not just as an operational necessity, but as a strategic asset driving competitiveness, sustainability and beyond.
Breakout III – Digital Transformation – 11 September 2025 – 15:00 – 15:30 – Room 2