Feasibility study for an Estonian Materials Technology Programme

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15 1.3 Feasibility study for an Estonian Materials Technology Programme 1. Introduction What is Materials Technology Materials technology is by nature an enabling and interdisciplinary field of technology. It provides significant added value to different fields of industry enabling renewal and increased productivity of existing industrial fields as well as development of new business areas based on high added value products and services. Materials technology is also strongly interlinked with the development of the other strategic key technologies, information and communications technology and biotechnology, also named in the Estonian innovation strategy. Metal Machinery Materials technology is an interdisciplinary cross-industry cutting enabling field ICT Electronics Construction Wood Bio, medical, Well-being Emerging Technologies Materials technology, Information and Communications technology, Biotechnology New Applications and Commercialization Effective utilization of emerging technologies, business development Benefits to society and environment Chemicals Energy Environment, Health and Safety Safe and sustainable development, Responsible implementation of new technologies The field of materials science and technology has become extremely large and diverse during the last few decades. The new concepts gaining ground require novel interdisciplinary approaches which combine knowledge from many different fields of science and develop new methods in order to understand and create new business opportunities. Due to its interdisciplinary nature, it is difficult to define materials science and technology precisely. Key factors in the definition are the micro- and nanostructure of the material. Other important elements include the composition of the material, its fabrication and processing, as well as its properties and performance. These factors are closely interlinked and changing one of them always affects some of the others. The purpose of materials science is to understand and control these factors and interactions between them and ultimately apply this knowledge. The focus of traditional materials science has long been different construction materials, e.g. metals, coatings, ceramics, plastics and composite structures. During the last few decades a vast number of new advanced materials and applications with extensively tailored material properties have gained ground. Examples include nanoparticles and nanostructured materials, supramolecular materials, bioactive and biocompatible materials, optically active materials and magnetic materials. In the future, it will become possible to manufacture a wide variety of intelligent materials that can, for instance, react to changes in the environment, be responsive and communicative. There are several different approaches for classifying the field of materials science and technology. A suitable classification methodology was developed for the purposes of this study. In this approach, we identified the key Estonian industry sectors from the viewpoint of materials technology and linked these with the classification of materials, as well as different processing and manufacturing methods. In the analysis, it is crucial to understand the whole value chain linking the properties and composition of the materials, fabrication and manufacturing methods to applications of materials technology and their markets. In addition to the national competence strongholds, the analysis has to identify parts of the value chain. This information is essential for defining the focus areas and structure of the national research and development programme. To conclude, the study looks mostly at materials technology from the industry point of view. World-wide materials technology trends have also been mapped based on industry sectors. One additional industry has been added in addition to the traditional ones: high-tech industry in the technology transfer section. With this addition we address the new opportunities that materials technology could enable. Food
16 2.1 Feasibility study for an Estonian Materials Technology Programme 2. Materials technology in Estonia 2 Materials technology in Estonia Overview Materials technologies are by nature very closely linked to almost all areas of industry, especially the manufacturing industry. Moreover, materials technologies are major application areas for natural sciences such as physics and chemistry as well as a key area in engineering disciplines such as machine building and civil engineering. The manufacturing industry in Estonia is in a very important position as it corresponds to more than 10% of the country’s GDP 2 and a major share of its exports. The most important areas of Estonian manufacturing industry include: Food and beverages Metal products, basic metals, machinery and production of transportation equipment Wood, wood products, pulp and paper Electrical equipment Chemicals and chemical products Textiles and leather Non-metallic mineral products Furniture Plastics and rubber Six of the listed industry areas have been identified as most relevant regarding the study and materials technology in general. The study is therefore focusing on metals and machinery, forest, chemicals, textiles and plastics industries as well as on construction materials. Other sectors including food, electrical equipment and furniture industries are utilising materials and materials technologies but their main products are not materials. The electrical equipment industry is very strongly focused on subcontracted manufacturing of electrical equipment and the effect of materials technology is small. A couple of interesting small companies in the area have been included under the sector on high-tech companies. The selected industries can be briefly characterised as follows: Metals and machinery industry Consists mainly of small subcontracting companies, a few larger companies exist Forest industry Largest companies are typically subsidiaries of Nordic and other foreign corporations Chemicals industry Large emphasis on production of oil shale and rare earth metals and their compounds Textiles and leather Very SME oriented, mostly clothing production Construction materials Wide variety of producers for several sectors (cement and concrete, glass, etc.) Plastics industry Mainly subcontracting companies Figure 2 demonstrates how materials technology relates to all the different sections discussed. Section 2.4 discusses in more detail each industry sector. 2 Estonian Statistical Yearbook 2010, http://www.stat.ee/publication-download-pdf?publication_id=19991
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