Degussa to invest EUR 50 million in Nanotronics Science to Business Center

06-29-2004: Degussa AG laid the foundation stone for a new research and development center at Marl Chemical Park, North Rhine-Westphalia. At the future Nanotronics Science to Business Center, which is to go into operation in 2005, Degussa will be developing innovative solution systems for electronics applications in collaboration with universities and industrial cooperation partners.

By taking this step Degussa is treading a new path in the development of products for the world of tomorrow, again in line with the vision of closely combining innovation with a pronounced customer orientation. The company will be investing EUR50 million in the new Nanotronics Science to Business Center over the next five years. North Rhine-Westphalia will be subsidizing the nanotronics activities. Moreover, efforts are underway to obtain further project-related support in the form of funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the European Union and the German Research Foundation (DFG).

At the foundation stone ceremony, Degussa Management Board Chairman Prof. Utz-Hellmuth Felcht stated, "It is high time to improve the innovative strength of our country and its climate for innovation," explaining, "business and science have to find new and more efficient means of collaboration if Germany is to return to a leading position in research and innovation. Degussa is taking a proactive approach to this challenge with its Nanotronics Science to Business concept."

Dr. Alfred Oberholz, Management Board Member responsible for research and development at Degussa AG, continued, "The aim is to strengthen Degussa's position as the leading supplier of system-integrated nanomaterials for electronics applications and to create new jobs in the processing industry." As he stated, "The market for specialty chemicals has been growing at a double-digit rate for a number of years and will continue to develop at a dynamic rate. Having a high level of innovative prowess will enable us to continuously expand our position in this market environment." About a hundred scientists, including all Marl-based employees of the Degussa subsidiary Creavis Technologies & Innovation, will be developing new systems based on bespoke nanomaterials in the state-of-the-art laboratories and pilot plants at the new center.

Logical development of the successful project house concept

The Nanotronics Science to Business Center is a logical development of the Degussa's successful project house concept, by which the know-how of several business units is pooled into a project house for the development of promising technology platforms in collaboration with universities.

In a new departure Degussa will be conducting research at the future Center in collaboration with university researchers, suppliers and customers in an interdisciplinary and inter-branch approach, thus covering the whole nanotechnology value chain from basic research through processing and refinement processes to functional solution systems. This type of cooperation along the value chain will enable swift commercialization of scientific know-how into market-ready products and technology and significantly reduce time to market.

One of the first projects of the Nanotronics Science to Business Center will be concerned with materials for high-performance lithium ion batteries intended for use in the automotive sector and in professional power tool applications; extremely inexpensive solar cells not requir-ing expensive glass covers are also to be developed on the same technology platform. Another promising research goal is affordably-priced radio tags, referred to as RFID tags (Radio Frequency Identification) for all kinds of goods. These enable instantaneous price scanning at supermarket checkouts.