ICSTI Statement on Nanotechnology - Forfás

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it is possible that there will be opportunities for food businesses
to achieve a substantial competitive advantage in the
marketplace through innovation. This is likely to occur through
securing the intellectual property rights to such innovations and,
as a result, to own more of the value chain.
Secondly, the Irish food industry faces a significant logistics
disadvantage (in cost and time) in being 3 days removed from
major markets in Europe. The net result is that it is impossible to
guarantee permanent stocking. Any innovation that would allow
Irish produce to leverage developments in food
preservations/additives, intelligent packaging and hygiene would
help it to reach more markets with greater product consistency.
6.7 Polymers and Plastic Sector
6.7.1 Sector Overview.
The plastic and polymer sector is comprised of the following players:
plastics manufacturers: monomer and polymer manufacturers;
plastic converters/plastic moulders; and
plastics manufacturing machinery.
Plastic converters/moulders dominate the Irish landscape and are
best defined by the individual markets they serve, i.e. packaging,
automotive, construction, electronics, etc.
The main materials used by Irish industry reflect global
consumption, as suggested by the following list; PE, (33.5%), PP
(19.5%), PVC (17%), others (9%), EPS (8.5%), PET (5%), blends
(4%) and ABS/SAN/ASA (3.5%).
The choice of material is typically defined by the end-use, which
will usually have specific technical or performance requirements,
such as mechanical, chemical, thermal or optical requirements.
By their nature products tend to be high volume and have low
unit values, so high levels of expenditure on automation is
normal in the industry. This results in high barriers for new
entrants and high levels of competition within the industry.