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
The projects are funded by the commission and the research is done in, i.e. subcontracted from, a couple of
universities. Esfil Techno gets the IPR. Also the European partners in the projects are seen as very important contacts.
Esfil Techno has tried to collaborate with Tallinn Technical University but has not found the right partners.
Lessons learned/key success factors from the interview
Currently the company suffers from the machinery getting old and inefficient – large investments are
soon needed.
Sales and marketing of the technology also requires more effort.
The technology is almost too good for the current products. How to successfully find new partners and
applications?
Contact and more information: Araik Karapetjan, CEO esfiltehno@esfiltehno.ee
2.5
Advanced materials technologies: Commercialisation and technology transfer
2.5.1 Overview
There are several interesting companies in Estonia developing and manufacturing high technology products
based on advanced materials and a lot of relevant activities are on-going at universities that may result in new
advanced materials inventions in the future with significant potential for technology transfer. In addition to
research and development activities, there are already some well-established areas related to materials technologies
in Estonia.
This section discusses the state of various advanced materials technologies in Estonia taking into account
research and development activities performed at universities and research institutions as well as technology
development done at start-up companies and more established enterprises. The section is organised according
to the estimated Technology Readiness Level of the Estonian materials technologies. Technology Readiness
Level is a tool for measuring technology maturity and assessing technology related risks. It is used by several
international organisations such as NASA and ESA.
Technology Readiness Level scheme used for this study is based on five levels and the scheme is currently
implemented by EU FP7 financed project ObservatoryNANO that uses it for assessing the readiness and impact
of various nanotechnologies for the European economy. The levels in the scheme are:
Fundamental research (TRL 1)
Applied research (TRL 2)
Prototype (TRL 3)
Market entry (TRL 4)
Mature markets (TRL 5)
Fundamental research is typically conducted at universities and research institutes and focuses on studying
e.g. materials properties and characterisation. From fundamental research phase, it may typically take 5-20
years to reach the market with a new product.
Applied research is done in the interface between companies and universities. It focuses on studying and
developing materials for an already identified application and the work typically results in, e.g., components
or materials that solve some problem in the industry or offer a new material for an industrial application.
Depending on the material and industry application, it may take 2-10 years for a technology to enter the
market from applied research phase.
As the name suggests, prototype products mean industrially applicable products that are very close to the
final solution to be sold in the market. Technology development activities focus on improving the products
properties but most effort needed in the prototype phase is establishing the business and starting sales activities.
When the first prototypes have been produced, it typically takes 1-3 years to start commercial production.
Market entry can be considered to happen when the company starts selling its products on a larger scale
and the business is expected to be profitable. Development activities are related to the improvement of the
technology. In case of a completely new technology, there are often significant differences in the products of
competing companies.