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
Case: Skeleton Technologies
Background
Skeleton Technologies is developing and producing supercapacitors and energy storage materials. History dates
back to Tartu Tehnoloogiad OÜ, founded in 1997 as a research arm, for materials development for carbide
derived carbon and supercapacitors, of the former Skeleton Technologies Group having R&D facilities in
Sweden, Switzerland, US, and Russia. During 2000-2007 the company also carried out contract research for
world´s leading companies such as Toyota Motor Corporation, Samsung SDI, Honeywell Chemicals During
that period the company generated revenue of ca 2 M USD and effectively returned the initial investment.
Contract research started to wind down in 2005 after an intellectual property dispute with Toyota. In 2008 an
attempt to commercialize the technology was made by forming Carbon Nanotech. Due to lack of vision and not
understanding the market needs, Carbon Nanotech went bankrupt.
Skeleton Technologies was founded in 2009 by a new business development team led by Anti Perkson and Taavi
Madiberk who bought out the assets. The goal is to commercialize the supercapacitor technology. Currently
the company has successfully attracted customer leads including General Motors, Samsung SDI, Peugeot, and
Citröen. Main competitors include IOXUS. Skeleton Technologies has been given the same ranking in technology
and business development as IOXUS by Lux Research.
Technology and R&D
Ultracapacitors have gained ground as a solution to energy storage problems in applications where batteries
and conventional electrolytic capacitors are unsuitable. Ultracapacitors offer the unique combination of high
power and energy densities at very fast reaction times for short periods of time as well as store and release
energy with a substantially higher efficiency rate (95%+) than batteries. Why Ultracapacitors? 1) The problem
of fuel/energy costs is substantial in the automotive and locomotive industry. Ultracapacitors capture and
release energy, which would be otherwise lost. 2) Ultracapacitors combined with batteries are used to eliminate
damages from power outages accounting for up to 100 B USD in damages in the U.S. alone.
Skeleton Technologies could produce supercapacitors in similar size than its competitors, but with up to twice as
high power density per volume and twice as high energy density per volume. These results have been verified by
University of California. Skeleton Technologies proposes to reduce costs for the end-users by lowering the
price of ultracapacitors by 2-4 times, which could possibly be disruptive for the entire ultracapacitors market.
Skeleton Technologies also differentiates from competitors by developing both the material and the supercapacitors.
The latter is closest to commercialization, but wide-scale research carried out over the years has
shown the carbon material’s superiority in other fields as well. Examples include actuator material in robotics
with University of Tartu Prof. Alvo Aabloo, an absorber material with Uppsala University, and a gas purification
material with Max Planck Institute. Currently, a 1-year 200 000 EUR R&D contract is under way with European
Space Agency and the company is participating in a hybrid capacitor FP7 project. Since 1997 there has also
been scientific cooperation with University of Tartu.
Technology commercialisation
After the long technology development process, Skeleton Technologies’ supercapacitors are now ready for
production scale-up. The biggest challenge for scaling up the production is the lack of financing. As it is
relatively difficult to find skilled workforce in Estonia for development and production of the high technology
supercapacitors, Skeleton Technologies has created contacts with international experts that can be recruited
after securing financing.
Skeleton Technologies is in the process of applying for a Government Grant matched with private investments
to develop a cost-effective scalable production technology. Small-scale commercial manufacturing is planned to
be launched in 2013 and full-scale manufacturing in 2014-2015. The State of Michigan and Columbus, Ohio in
the US and some German regions have expressed interest in bringing Skeleton´s R&D and potential production
to their locations.
Challenges
For a small company it is difficult to find partners and funding nationally and thus the company needs to talk
with large global players. It is, however, very difficult to stay independent and at least currently the company
wishes to establish production in Estonia supported with capital investment rather than licensing the technology,
also seeing national funding instruments as an incentive.