9.27.2007 - 08:32am ET

(CSRwire) PITTSBURGH - September 27, 2007 - To assist companies around the country that wish to get involved in improving education, Bayer Corporation today announced it will sponsor the Conference Board's 2007 Business-Education Conference: Investing in the Future as part of Bayer's Making Science Make Sense(R) (MSMS) initiative. The conference will be held October 2-3 in Washington, D.C.

The conference will bring together corporate leaders to learn how other companies - large, medium and small - are investing, both nationally and globally, in education programs that are designed to bolster workforce preparedness. It is being co-sponsored by Pitney Bowes Literacy and Education Fund.

Bayer's support of this conference is the latest in a series of activities and events the company has undertaken following the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) Education Diversity Forum it hosted last fall. That forum showcased for industry executives a number of K-12 STEM education programs that are fostering a more diverse STEM pipeline by successfully closing achievement gaps between male and female, and majority and minority students.

The Conference Board's Business-Education Conference will address the STEM diversity issue but will take a broader approach by exploring other issues, such as what makes successful public-private partnerships work; business's role in improving the education system through more strategic investments and programs; and China’s evolving education system, among others.

Dr. Attila Molnar, president and CEO of Bayer Corporation, will serve as opening speaker and address "The Business of Education: A Growing Social Responsibility for the 21st Century."

"As a company that has long been involved in helping to strengthen science education around the country, we know firsthand that businesses can engage successfully in education partnerships, if they
possess the necessary commitment and will," he explained. "With competition growing rapidly around the world, we need to engage today's students in education - particularly STEM education and particularly girls and underrepresented minorities - as never before. That is why Bayer, as part of our "Science For A Better Life" mission, is pleased to sponsor this conference, which not only aims to improve the quality of education, but also to promote workforce preparedness and innovation through successful business-education partnerships."

Among the sessions scheduled for the two-day conference are:

Workforce Development - A Key Driver for Investing in Education


To help companies forge their own business-education partnerships, Bayer recently made available two resource guides that resulted from the STEM Education Diversity forum. Both reports, Planting the Seeds for a Diverse U.S. STEM Pipeline: A Compendium of Best Practice K-12 STEM Education Programs and Bridging the Diversity Gap in Science and Engineering: Introducing STEM Industries to K-12 Best Practice Programs - Highlights Report, are available for download at www.BayerUS.com/MSMS.

About Bayer Corporation and Making Science Make Sense

Making Science Make Sense(R) is a Bayer company-wide initiative that advances science literacy through hands-on, inquiry-based science learning, employee volunteerism and public education. It is one of 300 corporate social responsibility programs Bayer supports globally. Currently in the United States, 12 Bayer sites operate local MSMS programs, which together feature a national volunteer corps of more than 1,000 Bayer employees.

Bayer Corporation, headquartered in Pittsburgh, is a subsidiary of Bayer AG, an international health care, nutrition and innovative materials group based in Leverkusen, Germany. In North America, Bayer had 2006 net sales of 7.8 billion euros and employed 17,200 at year end. Bayer's three subgroups, Bayer HealthCare, Bayer CropScience and Bayer MaterialScience, improve people's lives through a broad range of essential products that help diagnose, prevent and treat diseases; protect crops and enhance yields; and advance automobile safety and durability.

About The Conference Board

Non-partisan and not-for-profit, The Conference Board is one of the world’s leading business membership and research organizations. The Conference Board produces The Consumer Confidence Index and the Leading Economic Indicators for the U.S. and other major nations. These barometers can have a major impact on the financial markets. The Conference Board also produces a wide range of authoritative reports on corporate governance and ethics, human resources and diversity, executive compensation and corporate citizenship. Our conference and council programs bring together more than 10,000 senior executives each year to share insights and learn from each other. Visit The Conference Board’s award-winning website at www.conference-board.org.

Find more information at www.BayerUS.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer Group management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in our annual and interim reports to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and in our reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (including our Form 20-F). The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

For more information please contact:

Sarah Toulouse
412-777-5200

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