Other activities comprises various activities and businesses that do not belong to any of the four operating clusters.

It consists of both operating and service activities and also includes a number of cost centers that cannot be logically allocated to the clusters. It includes the DSM Innovation Center, DSM Venturing, Noordgastransport and a number of other activities such as DSM Industrial Services, DSM Insurances and part of the costs of corporate activities and non-core activities that are to be disposed of or reduced in the future. Due to their very nature the volume of these activities can be subject to change. They normally have a negative operating result.

The DSM Innovation Center has been set up to facilitate the Vision 2010 change program towards an intrinsically innovative organization. To the extent that costs of the DSM Innovation Center cannot be directly allocated to clusters they are reported in Other activities. A comprehensive description of the activities of the DSM Innovation Center is provided in the section Innovation. As a result of the structural increase in innovation efforts in the DSM Innovation Center itself and in the Emerging Business Areas the costs of the Innovation Center increased, which had a negative impact on the result of Other activities.

DSM Venturing participates in external start-up companies or funds and is constantly on the lookout for investment opportunities in innovative businesses or technologies in the fields of life sciences and materials sciences. DSM Venturing plays an important part in DSM’s open innovation policy and invests in activities that are of immediate or potential relevance to DSM. A total of six new participations were realized in 2007. These include participations in Harland Medical Systems (technologies and solutions in medical coating applications), Food Quality Sensor International (freshness detection for perishable goods), Jurilab (discovery of gene-disease associations) and Upfront Chromatography (purification technology). In addition to direct investments DSM Venturing is also involved in a number of venture capital funds. For more information see Vision 2010 – Building on Strengths accelerated

DSM Licensing Center (DLC, formerly Stamicarbon) uses its long-standing experience and licensing best practices to generate added value from DSM's intellectual property (IP). It had a successful year both in licensing urea technology and in broadening its portfolio.

Noordgastransport (NGT) transports gas produced offshore through a system of pipelines from gas fields in the North Sea to a processing plant in Uithuizen in the north of the Netherlands. Here, the gas is treated so that it matches customers’ specifications, before being delivered to these customers.

DSM Industrial Services consists of various units. Some services are provided for the Geleen site (Netherlands), others are targeted at DSM organizations all over the world. These services include technological consultancy, expertise in energy and auxiliary materials, the supply of utilities, human resources and the management of the Chemelot site in Geleen (Netherlands).

EdeA VoF owns, operates and maintains most of the production and distribution facilities for utilities (for example steam, power and water) at the Chemelot site in Geleen (Netherlands). EdeA VoF is a joint venture with Essent, an energy production and distribution company. DSM’s stake is 50%.

Various holding companies and corporate overheads are reported in Other activities. The most important cost elements in this respect are related to defined benefit pension plans and share-based compensations for the group. The captive insurance company posted better results in 2007 due to a reduction in damages compared to the previous year.

DSM has a small share in a limited number of associates. The contribution to the result was negligible.

Heerlen, 11 February 2008