Always innovative. Ground-breaking inventions, trendsetting products and a wealth of experience in the development and production of high-tech polymers characterize Covestro. Strictly speaking, the company is still young. Covestro was established as a legally independent company in 2015.In fact, the company’s business activities extend back to the early part of the 20th century, for Covestro — formerly Bayer MaterialScience — arose from the Bayer Group’s chemicals and plastics unit.1906 Research work on the synthesis of rubber. Bayer chemist Fritz Hoffmann starts to synthesize rubber.937 Otto Bayer discovers polyurethanes The invention by the chemist — who is not related to the family that founded the Bayer Group — revolutionizes the chemical industry, but his discovery is by chance. After mixing two chemical substances, Otto Bayer succeeds in synthesizing the first polyurethane foam.