CPT International 04/2014

ever, dangerous. You can quickly lose
touch and be swept out of the market
when you, so to speak, stew in your own
juices. In this regard, open innovation
is also a form of insurance for future viability.
And what we see again and again:
the efforts that a company has to invest
for this are limited.
Is the choice then between closed innovation
and open innovation?
Dr. Rolf Weber: One does both of
course: for the things that involve internal
company expertise – when there
is a competitive advantage – then of
course one will continue to use the
‘closed’ system. In other cases, however,
where it is noticed that one can
do something together with others in
order to make progress faster, to place
an innovation on the market more
quickly, then the open innovation process
opens up opportunities. In short:
there is not just this one or that one,
each has its justification.
What characterizes open innovation?
Schneider: There is the congeniality
that you obtain expertise in a development
from people who do not belong
to one’s own company but who make
contributions and can accelerate development.
This is a great thing, particularly
for those companies who do
not have major research and development
capacities.
And what differentiates open innovation
from classic joint research projects
in which several companies, research
organizations or university
institutes also collaborate?
Schneider: You are right: classic joint
research is also open innovation. But
there is a very clear difference: the
joint research projects proposed by
the state (for example by the Federal
Ministry of Education and Research,
the Federal Ministry of Economics and
Technology, or the European Union)
are mainly founded by public money.
AMAP is synonymous with 100 %
industrial funding. Up to now we do
not have any public funding. There are
only the contributions from the member
companies that finance our project
work.
And this means?
Dr. Peter von den Brincken: This
makes us more independent in many
things. We are more flexible. We agree
on a topic of mutual interest and when
– let’s say after three years – this will
have been completed we will develop
a new subject of common interest. We
are exclusively aligned upon the needs
of our member companies. The public
promotion of joint research projects,
on the other hand, is strongly program-related
and thus the range of topics
is strongly restricted. Therefore it is
more or less by chance if this precisely
corresponds to the interests of one’s
own company.
Are your member companies competitors?
Schneider: Of course. Aluminum companies,
such as Novelis, Aleris, Constellium
or Hydro Aluminium, are
currently involved in the AMAP open
innovation research cluster. These
companies are all direct competitors in
the market. Rolled products, for example,
is one of the main business areas
of Hydro Aluminium. This also applies
for Novelis and Aleris.
And despite this you all work together?
Schneider: The collaboration generally
involves pre-competitive research
and development projects that are of
interest for all. When a certain level
of maturity has been reached, the result
– a new simulation model for example
– will be integrated in your own
processes.
But we do not have only these larger
companies at AMAP’s, which here follow
their own self-determined research
interests. Small and medium-sized
companies (SMEs) become members
because they normally do not dispose
of any research capacities or only have
limited research capacities, but nevertheless
they are forced to come up with
innovations. At AMAP’s they can participate
with relatively low expenses
and share in developments that they
could never achieve by own means.
Open innovation provides these companies
with access to knowledge and
expertise that they lack and that they
cannot generate on their own.
Dr. Peter von den Brincken: “We are
exclusively aligned upon the needs of
our members” (Photos: U. Zillmann)
Starting point and motivation for the
founding of AMAP’s were the metallurgy,
processing, application and recycling
of aluminum?
Weber: The motivation was to set up a
research cluster in the area of non-ferrous
metals to exploit the open innovation
approach in order to work on
future topics of joint importance for
this industry and to enhance its innovative
power. Whereby the initiative
largely came from the industry itself.
von den Brincken: This is why we
founded the AMAP (Advanced Metals
and Processes) research cluster in 2012
in the legal form of a GmbH under the
umbrella of the aluminium engineering
center (aec).
The aec was founded in 2003 by ten
enthusiastic Professors at RWTH Aachen
University as a non-profit re gistered association.
They all carried out intensive
research in the area of aluminum, its alloys
and its applications. At the heart of
the aec there are colloquiums, seminars
and workshops with industrial participation.
This formal development pro-
Casting Plant & Technology 4/2014 7