+1 - Solvay

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With a wealth of
experience acquired in
recent years, the NBD
activity is organized
into strategy platforms,
each grouping
programmes around
a particular theme.
Two initial platforms, Organic
Electronics and Renewable
Energies, combined in the
framework of the same “Future
Businesses” entity, have continued
to advance in 2007 with the help
of both internal competences
and supplementary outside
partnerships.
To strengthen the Group’s
presence in high-value-added
markets, in which innovation is
stimulated by major scientific and
technological advances, a new
“Advanced Technologies” entity
has been created, assigned the
task of detecting and acquiring
technological know-how that is of
potential interest to Solvay, and
with synthesizing, developing,
disseminating and promoting
corresponding expertise within the
Group. Nanotechnologies are the
first expert area to be examined.
The Organic
Electronics platform
Work carried out in previous years
has enabled us to clarify which
fields offer particular potential for
the Group.
Three key applications have been
selected:
• OLEDs (Organic Light Emitting
Diodes) for flat-screen displays
and for lighting from flexible light
sources;
• Third-generation (organic)
photovoltaic cells, produced
economically, in a continuous
process, on flexible supports
using printing technologies;
• printed electronics, for example
for radio frequency identification
(RFID) systems.
New agreements were signed
in 2007 in addition to our earlier
ones with the Center for Organic
Photonics and Electronics
(COPE) of the Georgia Institute of
Technology in Atlanta, USA, and
with the Pangaea Ventures Fund II
in Vancouver (Canada):
• a USD 10 million investment in
Plextronics Inc. of Pittsburgh,
PA (USA). Plextronics specializes
in developing and marketing
polymer-based technologies for
printed electronics applications
like screens and lighting, solar
cells or “intelligent” labels for
radio frequency identification;
• an agreement with Thin Film
Electronics ASA, a Norwegian
company based in Oslo, for
the joint development and
production of printable electronic
components like ferroelectric
polymers for use in printed
electronic memories.
The Renewable
Energies platform:
the energies of
tomorrow
As well as organic photovoltaic
compounds, programs are devoted
to the development of hydrogen
as a clean energy medium. Two
applications are being targeted,
both relating to fuel cells:
• materials and components for
manufacturing fuel cells;
• hydrogen storage solutions.
Thanks to our expertise in specialty
polymers, agreements have been
concluded in previous years for
the first part. In the membranes
field, we are collaborating with
CMR Fuel Cells Ltd at Cambridge
(UK) to develop high-performance
porous membranes for use in their
own systems. MEA (Membrane
Electrode Assembly) systems,
which represent the heart of fuel
cells, are in turn developed by
SolviCore, a 50/50 joint enterprise
between Solvay and Umicore,
created in 2006 and based at
Hanau (Germany).
SolviCore and Michelin in turn
joined forces to develop the fuel cell
system of the HyLight 2 concept
vehicle designed by Michelin
and presented at the Challenge
Bibendum at Shanghai in
November 2007.
There are collaborations both in
the auto industry and in other
market segments (such as portable
electronics and small power units).
In August 2007, Solvay invested
jointly with the Conduit Ventures
fund (UK) in the Amminex A/S
company at Lyngby (Denmark).
Amminex A/S is developing
compact, reliable technical solutions
for storing hydrogen, the fuel for
fuel cells.
For both platforms, the Group
is pursuing its development by
seeking agreements with or
investing in specialist firms in order
to gain a view of the most promising
developments for scaling up to
industrial production levels, and
to better guide its own internal
research and innovation efforts.
Nanotechnologies
These technologies for structuring
the extremely small have already
been the subject of extensive
research in the Group, at times
leading already to specific products.
Examples include the development
and marketing of nanostructured
fluorinated polymers and the launch
of NanoLipanthyl, a new formulation
of an existing drug that facilitates
absorption.
The five award-winning projects
at the Solvay Science Days
Solvay Global Annual Report 2007