Technology and market perspective for future Value Added Materials

3.5 VAM definition
Policy definition
A special group of advanced materials has
a significant potential to address the Grand
Challenges and contribute to industrial and
economic competitive advantage on the
market. In this respect the ‘added value’ of
these advanced materials is for the whole
society and not merely for a specific company
or industry. The ‘added value’ of the
material is, in addition, of a strategic and
long-term nature, targeting the whole
society. In other words, a group of advanced
materials that have a strategic
importance for society and technology shall
be considered VAMs.
We distinguish four conditions that
define VAMs:
1. Knowledge-intensiveness and
complex production process.
2. New, superior, tailor-made properties
for structural or functional
applications.
3. Potential to contribute to competitive
advantage on the market.
4. Potential to address the Grand
Challenges.
Thus the definition of VAMs can be
formulated like this:
‘VAMs are a group of advanced materials
that have strategic importance
for economic growth, industrial
competitiveness and address the
Grand Challenges of our times.’
3.6 What shall be not considered
Value Added Material
To address the question ‘What is not a
VAM‘, we return to the main definition
factors. The first differentiating point for
VAMs is the ‘knowledge intensivity’ in the
process of material production. Note that a
‘knowledge-intensive process’ is not precisely
defined and therefore leaves the
field open for further discussion. However,
the high level of knowledge required leads
to the assumption that the manufacture of
novel VAMs is associated with the creation
and protection of intellectual property.
This means that the knowledge necessary
for their creation is not commonly accessible
in the market.
In this way widely known examples of
thermoplastics as polyethylene, polypropylene,
polystyrene and polyvinyl chloride
shall not be considered VAMs. Their production
methods are well-known and the
production process is not knowledge intensive.
It is also no longer characterised
by intellectual property protection. Thermoplastics
have become bulk materials.
On the other hand if we take simple plastic
and enhance its structure with nanoparticles
in a complex process probably not
available to most manufacturers in order
to obtain novel or enhanced properties,
this process would result in a creation of
VAM.
The same logic may apply to such commonly
used materials as glass for windows,
cement for construction or aluminium for
car industry. In general these are bulk
materials used and produced in multiple
applications. The production of these does
not give any market advantage based on
‘unique’ material properties. The producers
only compete with the price of the
produced outcome. In most cases these
common materials are produced in pro-
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