Feasibility study for an Estonian Materials Technology Programme

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Feasibility study for an Estonian Materials Technology Programme
2. Materials technology in Estonia
Currently, collaboration between companies and universities is not common for the plastics industry. The main
challenge for developing co-operation is the fact that universities and companies are focusing on very different
actions. University researchers focus very much on fundamental research and materials characteristics whereas
the plastics industry would primarily need educated workforce that is able to use and install machinery. People
educated at the universities do not have the practical skills required by the industry and they need a lot of
preparation before being able to successfully work in the industry. Thus the primary need in the plastics industry
is to find a common language between universities and industry before any large scale technology transfer
can be carried out in Estonia.
Global perspective and trends
The plastics industry has high significance to the European economy as more than 1.6 million people work
in over 50,000 companies that generate in total 300 billion Euros of revenue annually. Largest consumers of
plastics in Europe by materials volume include packaging industry (40.1% of the 45Mt consumption), construction
industry (20.4%), automotive industry (7.0%) and electrical and electronic equipment manufacturers
(5.6%). Similarly to Estonia, the plastics industry suffered globally from the recession but several important
trends in innovation mean that especially high value added plastics products will enjoy market growth in the
future. The most important industry trends can be found in transportation, construction, electrical equipment,
packaging and healthcare.
Plastics have huge potential in the transportation sector, where the key for future development is the reduction
of weight of the vehicles. According to the European Plastics Converters, 9.3% of the materials used
in cars, by weight, are currently plastic and up to 75% are still different metals 37 . However, plastics already
compose more than 50% of the volume of the car. This means that by introducing components based on
novel plastics or polymer composites, significant improvements in the fuel economy of cars and airplanes can
be achieved. For the transportation industry, plastics also enable manufacturing of novel molded structures
that are not possible to achieve with metals.
Another huge market for future will be the quickly emerging plastic electronics. Based on the advances in
polymer technology, plastics can be the core material in technologies such as OLED (organic light emitting
diode) based displays and lighting, solar photovoltaics (thin film solar cells and organic solar cells) and smart
packaging solutions. The plastics electronics enables roll-to-roll mass manufacturing of electrical and electronic
structures by printing conducting and semiconducting inks on a thin plastic film. The developments in printed
and plastic electronics are closely linked to future packaging technologies, where they enable integration of
electronics into packaging resulting in smart packaging products that can e.g. sense if the food in the package
is still edible. Printed electronics also play a key role in the development of healthcare technologies, where it
will enable e.g. various lab-on-a-chip applications used for constant monitoring of patient health without the
need for surgical operations.
In addition to technological trends and development, life cycle management issues are considered of key
importance in the plastics sector. This is due to the fact that most plastics are produced from non-renewable
raw materials and the properties of the material mean that most of the synthetic plastics currently disposed
could be utilised in production of new plastic products or at least in energy use. Another aspect worth mentioning
is the continuously increasing use of natural renewable raw materials for plastics.
Summary and conclusions
In plastics industry, there is a clear mismatch between industry needs and university R&D supply
Subcontracting and plastics converting vs. advanced polymer materials
R&D work
Relevant activities at TUT, TU, ENCC
Mostly related to very advanced polymer materials, electroactive polymers and electrically conductive
polymers, that are not in the interest of bulk industry
37 http://www.plasticsconverters.eu/markets/automotive