Emerging - Evonik Industries

Evonik Magazine
SEIZING OPPORTUNITIES EARLIER 2 | 2012
Emerging Growth is evolution.
100 ideas from around the world

®
We make plants grow in
the desert so that deserts
don’t grow any bigger.
www.evonik.com
The Power of Ideas
PHOTOGRAPHY: BENNO KRAEHAHN
The issue of growth is a matter of concern for us at all levels of the Group.
It’s also a burning social issue throughout Europe and all over the world
Dr. Klaus Engel, CEO of
Evonik Industries AG
Dear readers,
“Growth” is a buzzword that means different things to different people.
Its ideological connotations have polarized the general discussion about
growth and led to a division of society into advocates and opponents.
This conflict can be seen in some of the articles in this issue, such as the
interview with Dennis Meadows, who is probably the best-known critic
of growth. Meadows coined the definitive term “the limits to growth.”
Many opponents of growth doubt whether it is possible to structure the
production and consumption of goods, both of which are increasing all
over the world, in an environmentally friendly way. This is a controversial
issue, because it raises the question of who has the right to prescribe
other people’s behavior. For example, the attempt to curb the Asian middle
classes’ desire to drive cars, consume energy, and use land is being increasingly
regarded as Western arrogance in the regions that are affected.
We should not overlook the fact that the discussion of growth is now no
longer limited to the old industrialized nations. On the contrary, it can
help to set the course for a global population that is expected to grow from
seven billion today to nine billion by 2050. This growing population
will enrich the global agenda by adding themes we can’t even imagine today.
One approach will certainly not work: the steady projection of the
current state of affairs into the future—whether it’s the negative prognosis
of Dennis Meadows or positive forecasts that tend to overestimate
the effects of the sustainable technologies we have already developed.
Ultimately we always end up with issues of belief. But there’s one
thing we can be sure of: Human inventiveness has always been able to
find solutions for urgent problems—new solutions that no one
had thought of before. Why should this be any different in the future?
I hope you’ll find inspiration in this issue of Evonik Magazine.
EDITORIAL 3
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012

4 CONTENTS
A jungle of cables in India’s capital, New Delhi
There is hardly another region in the world that is growing as dramatically as the Indian subcontinent. India is rushing into the Internet
age with giant steps. Online shopping, software development, and call center services for customers all over the world are booming.
However, the success of these glittering high-tech industries is hanging on fragile cables. The country’s infrastructure is old and overburdened.
Last summer, three regional power grids in India failed and over 600 million people had to cope with temporary blackouts
MASTHEAD
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012
Publisher:
Evonik Industries AG
Christian Kullmann
Rellinghauser Straße 1–11
45128 Essen
Germany
Office Manager:
Stefan Haver
Consulting and Concept:
Manfred Bissinger
Editor in Chief:
Urs Schnabel (responsible for
editorial content)
Final Editing:
Michael Hopp (Head),
Christiane Oppermann
Managing Editor:
Stefan M. Glowa
Art Direction:
Wolf Dammann
Design:
Teresa Nunes (Head),
Anja Giese/Redaktion 4
Picture Desk:
Ulrich Thiessen,
Beatrice Linnenbrügger
Documentation:
Kerstin Weber/
Kontor Korrekt
Translation:
TransForm, Cologne
EDITORIAL
3 The Power of Ideas
The issue of growth is a matter of concern for us
at all levels of the Group. It’s also a burning
social issue throughout Europe and all over the world
INFORMING
6 Above and Beyond
Three minutes with… Chemist Dr. Paul Mahaffy, who
headed the development of the Mars laboratory SAM
Culture: Personal growth. What art and culture have to
say about growth
World map: …and yet it’s still growing! Where
business and prosperity are making the most progress
GROWTH
10 Growth Requires Acceptance
A discussion with contributions by Dr. Klaus Engel,
CEO of Evonik Industries (Essen); Dr. Fred Luks,
sustainability manager at Bank Austria (Vienna);
Prof. Karl-Heinz Paqué, professor of international
economics (Magdeburg); Prof. Niko Paech,
adjunct professor of production and environment
(Oldenburg); and Cardinal Reinhard Marx,
Archbishop of Munich and Freisingen
16 Mind Map and Who’s Who
More money, greater prosperity, a better quality
of life—theories, dreams, and facts about economic
growth. An overview of this issue’s main theme
22 The Return of the Doomsayer
Prof. Dennis Meadows’ global bestseller The Limits
to Growth was published 40 years ago. What kind of
impact is his approach still having today?
28 Comeback in Green
The US auto industry is on the road to recovery
from the recent crisis and is presenting a broad range
of fuel-saving models
32 The Boom Years
Oil and rare earth metals have made Kazakhstan rich.
Now the challenge is to safeguard the country’s future
prosperity
37 How Products Create Markets
Coffee capsules, LED lamps, electric bikes, apps,
and NFC cards have become global success stories
Publisher and address:
Hoffmann und Campe
Verlag GmbH,
a company of the
GANSKE VERLAGSGRUPPE
Harvestehuder Weg 42
20149 Hamburg
Germany
e-mail cp@hoca.de
Mind Map
on growth
starts
on page 16
Printing: Neef+Stumme
premium printing, Wittingen
Copyright: © 2012 by
Evonik Industries AG, Essen.
Reprinting only with the permission
of the publisher. The
content does not necessarily
reflect the opinion of the
publisher.
42 Growth from Zero
Creativity is the cheapest and best
raw material. It puts companies and
countries on the road to success
47 Flying Luxury Class
China’s aviation industry is booming
48 E-shopping via Hand Carts
Internet shopping is booming in India—ever since
providers adjusted their systems to local conditions
51 The Next Einstein…
…will be African. New universities are promoting
up-and-coming young mathematicians and scientists
52 A Traveling Chemical Factory
Customized mini-laboratories are decentralizing the
production of chemicals on the customers’ premises
GLOBAL
57 Where the World Is Growing
South Africa: Evonik is supplying Africa with Plexiglas
from this booming economy on the Cape
China I: Lightweight construction materials from
Evonik are contributing to the boom in electric cars
China II: Sven Augustin from the Automotive Industry
Team comments on China’s role in electric mobility
Canada: How the Corporate Venturing unit at Evonik
helps young high-tech companies
Russia: Boosting efficiency in the Russian livestock
industry through the use of Biolys
USA: Expanding Biolys production in Nebraska,
one of the major corn-producing regions
Brazil: Evonik is building a Biolys production plant in
cooperation with the US feed producer Cargill
LIVING
62 On the Trail of the Hippo
Tom Schimmeck on the riddle of how nature regulates
biological growth
FINDING
63 At a Glance
The product finder makes it possible to locate
Evonik Industries products in this issue
Questions about
Evonik Magazine:
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indicated in capital letters throughout
the text.
COVER PICTURE: ANDREJ BAROV, NASA
PHOTOGRAPHY: BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY
IMAGES, PRIVATE (8)
Authors in this issue:
CONTENTS 5
Christine Mattauch,
New York, reports on
the comeback of the
US auto industry with
“green” models
Klaus Jopp,
Hamburg, reports on his
visit to a mobile chemistry
plant and shows how flexible
the Evotrainer can be
Marcus Bensmann,
Almaty, analyzes the
economic boom in
the steppe landscape
of Kazakhstan
Stefan Mauer,
Mumbai, explains how
tradition and modernity
are shaping the
course of growth in India
Jakob Vicari,
Hamburg, investigates
what creativity, the
world’s cheapest raw
material, can achieve
Christian Tröster,
Hamburg, presents five
products that have become
global bestsellers
within five years
Tom Schimmeck,
Küsten, looks at
the mystery of how
nature regulates
biological growth
Dr. Brigitte Röthlein,
Munich, explains the ongoing
influence of Dennis
Meadows, the author
of The Limits to Growth
You can also fi nd
this issue of Evonik
Magazine online at
www.evonik.com and
as an iPad app
in the App Store
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012

6 INFORMING
Chemist Dr. Paul
Mahaffy headed
the development
of the SAM
Three minutes with…
Paul Mahaffy
When the Fun Begins
The question that Dr. Paul Mahaffy asks himself sounds simple:
“Is there life on Mars?” Mahaffy, who manages the Atmospheric
Experiments Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center,
is an expert in the development of space flight-compatible
instruments. The answer to his question about life on Mars is
contained in the planet’s rocks. Whether organic substances
exist on the “red planet” is still an open question; another one is
whether Mahaffy’s latest brainchild, the SAM, can find them.
The acronym SAM stands for “Sample Analysis at Mars
instrument suite,” one of the systems the Curiosity rover is using
in its search. The SAM is a key component of this endeavor,
because, as Mahaffy explains, “Whenever we think that we
should take a closer look at a rock, we drill into it to take a sample.
This bit of powdered rock is then inserted into the SAM’s
oven. The ambient temperature heats the powdered rock to
1,000 degrees Celsius, causing it to emit simple or complex
gases, which help us determine which mineral components the
rock contains.” Only suitable rock samples that have been
specially prepared can be inserted into the SAM. An initial assessment
of a rock’s suitability is performed by a high-resolution
camera that is mounted on top of the rover’s mast.
A lot of work had to be done before Curiosity could be
launched. “We had to get a suite of instruments that would take
up a lot of room here on earth into a box the size of a microwave
oven,” says Mahaffy.
How likely is it that there’s life on Mars? The conditions on the
planet are certainly very forbidding, as the atmosphere is extremely
thin, allowing intense ultraviolet and cosmic rays to reach the surface.
“Even if we don’t find any organic life, that in itself would be a
valuable piece of information,” says Mahaffy. “It could mean that
the best place to search for life is not on the planet’s surface but in
layers deeper underground.” Mahaffy is convinced that “if organic
substances do get discovered, that’s when the fun will begin.”
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012
Research
A Chemistry Lab on Mars
The Curiosity rover analyzes soil samples on Mars
PHOTOGRAPHY: NASA (3)
The third automated rover landed safely on the surface of Mars on August 6 at
1:32 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (7:32 a.m. Central European Time). The rover,
which is named Curiosity, is controlled from NASA’s Space Flight Center on the
East Coast of the USA. At $2.5 billion, Curiosity is the most expensive mission
ever to have been sent to Mars to look for organic substances. However, liquid
water, which is a precondition for all life on earth, cannot exist on Mars.
The research project’s main task is to conduct sophisticated chemical analyses.
The U.S. space agency NASA is studying rock samples in order to get a better
idea of the living conditions on Mars.
To conduct these analyses, Curiosity is equipped with a very sophisticated
mobile chemistry lab. Called the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite,
this system was specially developed for the mission by the Atmospheric Experiments
Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland
(USA). SAM is the rover’s main component, and it examines the mobile geochemical
robot’s finds with the help of a mass spectrometer, a gas chromatograph,
and a laser spectrometer.
Measurements like these provide scientists with insights into past and present
Martian environments and climates. The mass spectrometer can detect and separate
different elements and compounds. The gas chromatograph, meanwhile,
vaporizes rocks and dust and analyzes the resulting gases to determine their composition.
The laser spectrometer is used to determine the proportions of different
isotopes in the rock samples.
The six-wheeled rover also has a chemical camera (ChemCam), which removes
dust from rock surfaces so that it can analyze them with laser beams.
The Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument (CheMin) is located within reach of
the robotic arm. It identifies minerals by shooting a strongly focused X-ray beam
at rock samples. The reflected light reveals which minerals the samples contain.
The scientists can also use this information to determine under what conditions
the rocks were formed.
Last but not least, the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) on the rover’s
robotic arm helps scientists identify elements on rock surfaces. The instrument
can provide researchers with a rough overview within ten minutes and deliver
precise results within two to three hours.
A six-wheeled chemistry lab in outer space: A self-portrait (below left) composed
of several images depicts the Mars rover’s vehicle deck. The Sample Analysis at Mars
(SAM) instrument suite (below right) is only slightly larger than a microwave oven
Evonik in figures
€48 million was invested by
Evonik in environmental protection
in 2011. The Group’s energy-related
greenhouse gas emissions fell
by 17 percent compared to 2004.
24,000 patents were held
by Evonik in 2011. They included
300 new patents filed last year.
€350 million was invested by
Evonik in the production of the
animal feed amino acid L-lysine in
Russia and Brazil.
15 new jobs were created as a
result of the construction of a
big polybutadienes facility in Marl,
Germany.
34 percent of the eligible employees
acquired usufructuary
rights as part of the “Mitwachsen”
profit-sharing program in 2011.
150,000 metric tons of
methionine will be produced
by the facility that is planned to go
into operation in Singapore at
the end of 2014. As a result, annual
production capacity will rise to
580,000 metric tons.
Evonik in words
“In a global corporation,
innovation
isn’t a solo
performance; it’s
the task of all
the employees.”
Dr. Peter Nagler,
Chief Innovation Offi cer Evonik
Culture
Personal Growth
Business on stage: Artists came together in Bayreuth, Zurich, and
Hamburg to fi nd answers to some of the world’s pressing economic issues
From the euro crisis and bank bailouts
to looming social security cuts,
major economic events are increasingly
impacting daily life. These
issues are now being addressed not
only in the business sections of
newspapers but also on the literature
and arts pages, which treat
topics such as: Does wealth make
people satisfied? To what extent
can the economy and the environment
be reconciled? Can a balance
be found between work and family?
And what does all this have to
do with happiness?
A newspaper’s literature and
arts section may be the right place
for such discussions, since artists
are increasingly addressing these
and similar questions. In addition to
Dr. Rainald Goetz’ novel about the
rise and fall of CEO Johann Holtrop,
economic issues are currently
being addressed by three art events
in Germany and Switzerland. At
the Bayreuth Festival, for example,
stage director Jan Philipp Gloger
recently transferred Richard Wagner’s
The Flying Dutchman into
the postmodern age, turning it into a
drama about a traveling salesman
who has lost his roots and is caught
in a data network. The eponymous
hero pulls a wheeled suitcase and
carries a coffee-to-go cup as the
symbols of a modern-day businessman.
However, he is sick of all
of the pleasures he can buy with
money, and instead yearns for a
home, for faithfulness, and for love.
The limits of capital and growth
were also the topic of an 11-hourlong
happening at the international
summer festival at Kampnagel in
Hamburg. In line with the event’s
slogan, “Fully Grown,” the organizers
focused on the topic of
growth from a variety of perspectives.
The events included presentations,
drink performances, and
rock concerts, and the participants
even established political parties.
For example, the artist Boz Temple-Morris
from London staged a
bizarre audio drama about a hamster
that refuses to stop growing,
turning the monstrous rodent into a
happening itself. The Hamburg
theater director Sibylle Peters also
addressed the topic in an unusual
way. In her live performance titled
Let’s Make Money!, she drew up
future scenarios on an umpire chair
and allowed the audience to vote
on topics such as whether the euro
is likely to survive until 2019.
INFORMING 7
Traveling salesmen caught in a data network: At the Bayreuth Festival, Jan Philipp Gloger turned Richard Wagner’s
The Flying Dutchman into an opera about businesspeople in an existential crisis
By contrast, the exhibition titled
“Capital. Merchants in Venice and
Amsterdam” throws light on the
past. The exhibition is being shown
at the National Museum in Zurich,
Switzerland, where it will run until
February 17. Using exhibits such as
ship models, business handbooks,
and one of the world’s first company
shares from 1606, it tells the
story of the origins of the modern
economy. Curator Walter Keller
got the idea for the exhibition
while dining with friends during
the recent financial crisis. “Everyone
there knew what they thought
of capitalism, but almost nobody
had any idea of how and where it
arose,” he explains. The exhibition
focuses on Venice and Amsterdam
because these two cities’ merchants
laid the foundations of our
modern economic system. The Venetians
introduced double-entry
bookkeeping, which is still the basis
of every balance sheet today.
The exhibition presents crucial facts
about business and economic
growth. The exhibits’ appealing
presentation makes them inspiring
and may help us in our own
personal growth—which is exactly
what art and culture tend to do.
PHOTOGRAPHY: DDP IMAGES/DAPD
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012

8 INFORMING
…and Yet It’s Still Growing
Europe and the USA have sailed into some stormy seas,
but on the horizon there is hope for the world economy
The world economy is growing. In 2011 it grew
by 3.8 percent and it is still expanding. The business
consulting firm Bain & Company is predicting
an increase of 40 percent in gross domestic product
(GDP) worldwide to US$90 trillion by
2020—despite the financial and debt crises.
The experts at Bain expect this global trend to intensify.
They have already taken into account the
accumulation of short-term crises in industrialized
countries and emerging markets and the structural
changes in the world economy. One fifth of the world’s
population will move up into the middle class where
consumption is strong. Spending on education and
healthcare will continue to climb and technological
innovations will be more in demand than ever before.
Emerging markets and developing countries will
experience significant increases in prosperity, whereas
Europe and the USA will remain stable.
Gross domestic product (GDP)
in 2010 in billions of US dollars:
Value of all the goods and
services produced in a national
economy in one year
≤10
10.1–49.9
50–99.9
100–499.9
500–999.9
1,000–2,499.9
2,500–4,999.9
≥5,000
No data
SOURCE: IMF
Economic growth
Indicators of economic performance
GDP per country in billions of US
dollars (2010 and forecast for 2017)
2010 2017
Per capita GDP in US dollars
(2010 and forecast for 2017)
2010 2017
in trillions of US dollars
15,985
11,089
Population in millions
(2010 and forecast for 2020)
0
2010 2020 2010
2020
SOURCE: IMF/UNITED NATIONS
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012
Health as an engine for growth:
More prosperity leads to increased spending
9
6
3
6
SOURCE: BAIN & COMPANY
14,526
19,705
3,268
2,143
46,900
10
59,707
310 337
USA
With a GDP of around $14 trillion, the
USA still has the world’s most powerful
economy. But according to current
predictions, China will overtake the
USA by 2020
195
Brazil
Today half of all Brazilians are in the middle class with an annual
income of over US$5,000. Structural problems like the lack
of an adequate pension program, low levels of spending on education,
and a two-class system for providing healthcare services remain
Developing countries
BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia,
India, and China)
Other emerging markets
Japan
Western Europe
USA
210
Older populations in industrialized
countries and increasing
prosperity—which leads to
better healthcare—in
emerging markets are causing
spending to rise rapidly
Germany
Moderate growth: per capita GDP
will rise, while the population will
shrink. Germany will remain the
strongest economy in the euro zone
Industry as an engine for growth:
Technical innovations ensure progress
Industrial Revolution
First phase
•Electrification
•Steel
•Chemicals
(including petroleum)
•Railroads and autos
•Telegraph/telephone
SOURCES: BAIN & COMPANY
Second phase
3,893
3,286
•Steam engine
•Iron
•Textiles
40,198
48,181
Information Revolution
1,342 2,225
India
With an economic growth of 6.9 percent,
India is one of the world’s most successful
countries. But with a per capita GDP of
below US$2,000, it is still considered a
developing country
First phase
Second phase
82
81
2,906
1,598
•Information technology
•Nuclear technology
•Aerospace technology
•Nanotechnology
•Biotechnology
•Artificial intelligence
•Robotics
•Data networks
1,225
1,387
5,930
12,714
9,152
4,421
3,106
1,487
Russia
High oil prices and strong increases in demand will boost
economic growth as will increased spending on the military
and the social welfare system
1,341
10,408
1,388
22,277
China
Economic growth here is slowing, but at nine percent
it remains very high. With a per capita GDP of over
US$5,000, China is the largest emerging market and
will overtake the USA as the world’s largest economy
in only a few years
143 141
6,696
5,488
Japan
One of the leading industrialized nations in
Asia. It has a broadly based economic
structure that is export oriented and highly
developed technologically. Japan will
be facing the problem of a greatly aged
population
1,812
708
INFORMING 9
43,015
53,761
6,903
2,981
127
240
Indonesia
The shooting star in the Pacific region.
This country, which has a wealth of
raw materials, achieved an economic
growth rate of 6.5 percent in 2011
125
263
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012

» Growth
Is Not Possible without Social
Acceptance
10 GROWTH FORUM
This article is an
abridged version of
a speech made by
Dr. Klaus Engel. The
complete text appears
in the book Leistung.
Verantwortung.
Teilhabe (published in
October by Hoffmann
und Campe)
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012
We need to have faith in the future and create a new culture of opportunity
in order to improve the prospects of young people in Europe—says
Dr. Klaus Engel, Chairman of the Executive Board of Evonik Industries AG.
What type of growth do we need today? Five experts offer their opinions
WE’RE CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING a very dangerous
dimension of the European debt problem. The
disillusionment didn’t begin in Europe, however. It’s
been four years since the Lehman Brothers investment
bank in the USA failed. That’s four years during
which we Germans have learned to view “crisis” as a
permanent state of affairs and “future” as a synonym
for uncertainty and danger. But where is our European
declaration of independence from this misery
of defeatism? And what about our right to the pursuit
of happiness?
As a business executive, I feel I have a special responsibility
to help create jobs and make prosperity
possible for future generations as well. Of, course we
are not completely responsible for what a new generation
does with the opportunities it’s given. However,
it is our job to ensure sufficient opportunities are created
to begin with.
In any case, we now know that there has been tremendous
mismanagement in many areas over a period
of many years in the large and rapidly expanding
Euro economic zone. In some cases, this mismanagement
was simply due to negligence, in other cases it
was the result of random factors, and in some cases it
was even criminal in nature. Nevertheless, even as we
examine the consequences of the global financial crisis
of 2009, and learn our lessons from the subsequent
government debt crisis, we must still look to the future
despite all of our frustration. We can only judge
our success here in terms of the number and type of
opportunities we create for ourselves. That’s why we
need a new culture of opportunity!
We have a strong and promising platform because
our industry generates a huge number of new ideas
and has the financial means to invest in their imple-
mentation. We stand for the future, not for the past,
and everyone has to understand this in their minds
and hearts. That’s the only way to ensure we don’t
lose our young, qualified, and talented people to companies
abroad. Only a new, well-educated, and highly
motivated generation can keep us on top in the global
competition between the world’s young and old industrial
regions.
We need social participation!
The industrial society is not an amusement park; it’s
a forum for continual conflicts of interests and lobbying—and
that’s how it should be. The struggle between
different interests is also a core attribute of a culture
of opportunity. That in itself is not enough, however,
because any credible culture of opportunity must also
include a social dimension. A growth-driven economy
needs to acknowledge the monitoring and regulating
function of the public. Social movements that question
conditions in a constructive and critical manner
exemplify a culture of opportunity in action. Here as
well, it’s always about freedom and limitations.
Without social acceptance, growth and prosperity
cannot be achieved at all or else can’t be sustained.
The critical attitudes of alliances, movements, and
NGOs—from Attac to Greenpeace—represent a force
that banks and industry need to take seriously. That
doesn’t mean giving in to every campaign or boycott
demand just for the sake of keeping the peace. However,
we managers would be well advised to engage
with the people involved in a dialog—and discuss our
projects as equals in society. The Internet has given
the world a sensitive antenna that tells people very
clearly whether the growth drivers of the economy
truly seek an honest dialog or instead merely offer
PHOTOGRAPHY: FRANK PREUSS
empty phrases or try to fool people into thinking they
actually have a say in things. This applies to both sides
of the debate, as sometimes the quality of the criticism
we hear deteriorates to the level of theatrical lamentation.
Nevertheless, it’s still important to make things
better than they are now. We need to imbue products
and services with more individual and social utility,
make them more efficient, and ensure they do not
use resources in a wasteful manner. I think we can all
agree on that.
The chemical industry not only drives growth with
exactly these aspects in mind but also offers solutions
for the major problems of the future. Consider, for example,
a company that makes high-quality animal feed
additives that help a growing global population satisfy
its rising demand for meat—without putting an additional
burden on the environment. Other examples
include bricks whose special filler material results in
better heat insulation in homes, and binders that help
significantly reduce the amount of toxic heavy metals
present in corrosion-protection products.
Growth also sometimes means getting rid of certain
things and replacing them with something better.
When such innovations are mass produced, they spur
economic growth in a sustainable manner by removing
materials that are inferior, more dangerous, unnecessarily
complex, and error-prone. In most cases,
the new innovations also help conserve natural resources.
This is the type of growth that can count on
broad public acceptance.
Growing out of the European crisis
In order for the euro to survive and the idea of a strong
Europe to endure, we must realize that we have not
yet reached the end of the reform process. To put it
bluntly, adhering exactly to government debt limits
and saving the euro are goals that can hardly be
achieved simultaneously. It’s also true that our willingness
to safeguard the future of Europe by making
a substantial political and financial contribution does
not come without conditions. And that’s exactly how
it should be. We can only provide assistance to countries
that are prepared to adopt a firm policy of debt
consolidation. The principle here must be that we
will make no commitments without receiving some
in return, and there will be no solidarity without reforms.
Our goal must be to create a future for Germany
in a strong and increasingly integrated Europe
that is capable of making itself heard on the geopolitical
world stage.
Our government needs to address pressing issues
in a way that generates utility. It must implement a
growth program that benefits the export-oriented
German economy. Such a program should not repeat
the mistakes of the past. There has been a debate
both in Germany and abroad for quite some time as to
whether demand or supply should be strengthened by
the government in difficult economic times. I firmly
believe that this discussion will continue among future
generations of experts.
We urgently need a common fiscal, economic, and
social policy in the euro zone—one that’s democratically
sanctioned and safeguarded. Three things are
necessary if the current crisis in Europe is to have a
positive outcome: rapid political and fiscal agreement,
citizen participation, and the greatest possible economic
growth. It is time for all of us—especially here
in Germany—to leave the brakeman’s cab, climb into
the locomotive and work with our partners to get Europe
back on track.
DR. KLAUS ENGEL
gave the address
"Rediscovering the Future
We Thought We Had Lost,"
at the Politisches Forum
Ruhr on September 10,
2012
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012

»
Finally Finite? Looking beyond
Unprofitable Growth
DR. FRED LUKS is a sustainability manager in Vienna.
After studying in Hamburg and Hawaii, Luks spent
time working as a researcher at New York University
and the University of California in Berkeley. He was
also on the staff of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate,
Environment, and Energy for several years
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012
PHOTOGRAPHY: ULLSTEIN BILD, IMAGO
DR. FRED LUKS
AN INTENSE DEBATE on growth is currently being conducted. Germany’s
parliament has set up a committee to examine the issue. A special council of
experts for environmental issues is also addressing the “new growth debate,”
and the media has gotten involved in the discussion as well. So does this mean
that the growth controversy has now reached mainstream society 40 years
after the publication of the famous Club of Rome Report? The answer is no.
Paradoxically, all of the criticism of growth is being accompanied by an intense
longing for it. Growth remains the sacred cow of politics. One attempt
to reconcile “sustainability” and growth is the idea of “sustainable growth”—
but that’s not as simple as it sounds. After all, the hope of a “green economy”
is based on ignoring problems, a blind belief in technology, and a confusion
of terms. Ultimately, only a complete decoupling of economic growth and resource
consumption can help reconcile the economy and the environment—
and lead to a true reduction of the burden placed on the latter.
This goal cannot be achieved with technology and the simultaneous expansion
of the economy. The reason? An endless loop of increasing production
and rising demand will rely on the continual creation of needs that have
not yet been met—and for which products therefore have to be developed.
It is this continual creation of demand combined with the technological exploitation
of resources to satisfy this demand that has led to the problematic
relationship between growth and sustainability. We’re dealing with expectations
that cannot be met. This “process of the permanent production of scarcity,”
as the economist Dr. Caroline Gerschlager puts it, is linked to the fact
that “all economic activity exists within the framework of an unending battle
against supposed shortages.”
A sustainable society must free us from this loop—and not just for the benefit
of the environment. The economist Prof. Herman Daly has already pointed
out the possibility of “uneconomic growth,” which he defines as a situation in
which the additional costs of growth exceed the utility created, thereby making
further growth pointless from an economic perspective. In other words,
there are economic limits to growth and they can be discerned if you don’t
fully ignore environmental aspects and take the utility of growth to society
into account. Once you’ve reached that point, you should no longer set economic
growth targets. And the time is now ripe to take this idea seriously.
EVERY 30 OR 40 YEARS, Western societies launch
an intense debate about economic growth. Each time
this happens, renowned scholars proclaim we have
definitively reached the end of growth. This was the
case in the 1930s (Prof. Lord John Maynard Keynes)
and in the 1970s (Prof. Dennis Meadows and the Club
of Rome). Now it’s happening again.
But so far, things have always turned out differently.
Why is this so? The answer is that economic growth is
mainly linked to growth in knowledge—in other words,
innovative new processes and products that extend the
limits to growth a bit. The reason this occurs is simple:
When the availability of a resource declines to a critical
point, it becomes expensive. There is thus a powerful
incentive not to use it. Adaptations take time, as
we saw after the oil crises of 1973 and 1980. Moreover,
people tend to perceive the process of adaptation
as a crisis when it occurs in the market economy.
And rightly so, because crises are necessary.
The path to a global ecological balance also involves
new knowledge and growth. One problem we
face here is that large portions of the globe seem to
be adopting the same approach for achieving greater
prosperity that we took in the 19th century. We can
»
not stop China and India, which together account for
some 40 percent of the global population, from expanding
economically. Any attempt to do so would be
a new form of imperialism. After all, we can hardly say
it was okay for us to become affluent but you’re not allowed
to. This is ethically unacceptable. Demand for
resources will likely increase further—which means
they will also become more expensive. However, we
will also see an increase in the number of people who
develop technologies that conserve resources—in
China alone this could amount to more than 50 million
people.
And that brings us to the question of happiness. We
repeatedly hear how growth doesn’t make people happier.
But does that mean the Indian government should
tell its people they shouldn’t even try to become as
affluent as Germans because that would also mean
becoming just as discontented? That’s not likely to
happen because we all know prosperity is generally
accompanied by an objective improvement in living
standards. America’s Declaration of Independence
was correct in proclaiming the “pursuit of happiness”
as a fundamental right. Notice it doesn’t say that happiness
itself is a right.
Growth
Is Necessary and Proper; We Just
Need To Properly Understand
What It Is
PROF. KARL-HEINZ PAQUÉ
GROWTH FORUM 13
PROF. KARL-HEINZ
PAQUÉ is the Dean of the
Faculty of Economics and
Management at the Otto von
Guericke University of
Magdeburg. The international
economics expert was
Finance Minister in
Saxony-Anhalt from 2002 to
2006. Afterward he led the
state parliamentary group of
the FDP party until 2008
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012

»
Sustainability
Missionaries Who Preach Water
but Drink Wine…
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012
APL. PROF. DR. NIKO PAECH
DR. NIKO PAECH is an Adjunct
Professor in the Department
of Production and Environment at
Carl von Ossietzky University of
Oldenburg. He is also the co-founder
of the Oldenburg Center
for Sustainability Economics and
Management, Chairman of
the Association for an Ecological
Economy, and a member of
the scientifi c advisory council of
Attac Germany
ORGANIC DRINKS, fair-trade, eco-electricity, and natural textiles are more
popular than ever today. Products that make for a clear conscience have become
a key factor for business success. The supposedly sustainable lifestyle is
booming—one example being special surcharges that are levied on plane trips
and paid to so-called CO compensation portals. This is no surprise, since the
2
program requires no effort or sacrifice on the part of well-off frequent flyers.
Still, no technology or product can be sustainable per se. All past attempts at
decoupling consumption and mobility from the ecological damage they cause
have been failures: The “3-liter car” is a shining symbol of sustainability, for
example. However, as long as its owner commutes 200 kilometers a day in it,
the benefit to the environment will be at best modest. In fact, any vintage car
that’s driven twice a year and consumes 20 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers
has a better ecological balance sheet. The same applies to people who use socalled
eco-electricity to power their numerous flatscreens, PCs, and stereos.
And, of course, there are shoppers who drive to the eco-supermarket in an SUV.
Our modern multi-option society brings us into conflict with parallel identities,
lifestyles, and social practices. As the number of platforms on which one
can publicly present oneself increases, it becomes easier to perpetuate a sense
of moral acceptance regarding sustainability. Ultimately though, it's the sum of
all activities of each individual and their ecological consequences that counts.
A government scientific advisory council in Germany estimates that it would
probably be possible to achieve the two-degree global temperature reduction
target if every person on Earth generated only 2.7 tons of CO emissions each
2
year between now and 2050. A roundtrip ticket from Paris to New York itself
generates around half of that emission level per person. The current CO bal- 2
ance for Germans is estimated to be 11 tons per year.
That figure is very likely much higher for the professional sustainability aficionados
who jet from one continent to another to present the same messages
to the same audience—messages that mean little when their bearer is burning
that much fuel. Ultimately, these people worsen the problem they’re supposedly
trying to solve. Sustainability missionaries who preach water but drink
wine are the cause of the greatest imaginable communication meltdown. After
all, they underline the schizophrenia of a society whose sustainability goals
have never been more loudly heralded—and whose daily habits have never been
further from what’s needed to achieve those goals.
PHOTOGRAPHY: AGENDA/WOLFGANG HUPPERTZ, DDP IMAGES/DAPD
NEOLIBERALISM. The people who rebuilt
Europe’s legal, social, and economic
systems after the Second World War knew
very well that economics was not an end in
itself. Instead, they thoroughly understood
that it was a means of improving people’s
lives. Some of the many people who criticize
so-called neoliberals might be surprised
to know that Alexander Rüstow, the
man who coined the term “neoliberalism,”
wanted to achieve exactly the same things
that many of today’s critics of capitalism are
justifiably demanding. ...
Rüstow also used the term “vital policy.”
And here he further defined the term
by saying “vital is that which promotes
‘vita humana,’—human life as lived in a humane
world. It is our neoliberal opinion that
this vital policy is tremendously important,
whereas the market is no more than
a means to an end.”
As a Catholic Bishop and a Christian
who is dedicated to social ethics, I can accept
such a “neoliberalism.” I can do so because
it demands that the economy and economic
activity be placed on a decidedly
ethical foundation. In addition, it places
the focus of attention firmly on the dignity
of the individual and the equal dignity of all
human beings...
DEVELOPMENT. If we want to combat
poverty around the world, we don’t have
to give up our prosperity completely; instead,
we need to help the poor become
prosperous themselves. To do this, we must
be willing to help poorer countries by providing
them with development aid. In other
words, we have to share with them. And if
»
rich countries offer the type of assistance
that generates development opportunities
for poorer countries, the result will be not
just a moral victory but also an economic
one for the wealthy nations. ...
I’m aware that continued high unemployment
in most industrial nations is causing
substantial anxiety. In particular, people
fear that the type of development aid I
am referring to could result in more intense
competition on the global market. And that,
in turn, could further endanger jobs in the
rich countries. This attitude might seem
selfish but it’s also understandable as far as
I am concerned, given the hardship unemployment
brings with it.
However, there is a piece of good news
here that frees us from having to deal with
a moral dilemma. To put it in a nutshell, the
attitude I have just described is ultimately
based on various incorrect economic
assumptions.
For example, it's simply not the case
that there is only a fixed sum of global capital
available for investment. If a German
invests one hundred thousand euros in an
emerging market, you can’t say that this
sum of money has been lost to Germany.
After all, the amount of available capital increases
in line with the number of investment
possibilities. It also increases in accordance
with the number of people in
developing countries who demand the sort
of goods and services that are produced by
the rich nations.
In other words, you could say that the
really important issue is not how to divide
up an existing cake but rather how to bake
a bigger one. ...
PROF. REINHARD
CARDINAL MARX is the
Archbishop of Munich and Freising.
Marx is also a former college
instructor for Christian Social Ethics.
At present, he is head of the
committee for social issues at the
German Bishops’ Conference, as
well as President of the Commission
of the Bishops' Conferences of the
European Community (COMECE).
The article to the left contains
excerpts from Reinhard Marx’ book
Das Kapital: Ein Plädoyer für den
Menschen (Pattloch Verlag)
The Issue Is Not How To Divide Up an
Existing Cake but Rather How To
Bake a Bigger One
REINHARD MARX
GROWTH FORUM 15
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012

Mind Map: The Dream of Endless Growth
The desire for more money, more prosperity, more leisure time, and a better quality of life are the forces driving economic
development in all the countries on Earth. But fulfi lling the age-old dream of prosperity has many different facets, because
theory and practice often confl ict. Sometimes the result is a big success; sometimes it’s a major blunder
Mao Zedong
(1893–1976),
Chairman of
China’s
Communist
Party
“Real
socialism”
Miner Adolf Hennecke,
a model for East German
“Heroes of Work”
Vladimir
Ilyich Lenin
(1870–1924),
founder of the
Soviet Union
Trabant P70 car
photographed in
Zwickau in 1955
In 1957 the Sputnik satellite triggers the
space race between the USA and the USSR
Dr. Karl Marx
(1818–1883), the
founder of “real socialism”
and communism
1
Friedrich Engels
(1820–1895),
philosopher and one of
Marx’s companions Jane Fonda (born in
1937), actress,
feminist, and peace
activist
Strikes for more
money and an
eight-hour
working day
Factories around 1900:
Industrialization
creates jobs
Women’s work in
factories, ca. 1890
Communist Party
election poster
Rimini, many Germans’
dream destination in
the 1950s—more leisure
time and higher incomes
boost tourism
Global protests against
the Vietnam War
Professor Jeremy Rifkin (born in 1945),
U.S. economist and sociologist
Focus on
labor theory
2
The home offi ce
workplace
The contraceptive
pill enables women
to plan their careers
Professor Oswald
von Nell-Breuning
(1890–1991),
theologian and
social scientist
3
Smartphones
Industrial robots replace
human workers
Professor Tomáš Sedláček,
(born in 1977), Czech
economist and writer
4
The Volkswagen Beetle—
symbol of mass motorization
in postwar Germany
Keynesian
economics
Dr. Lord John Maynard
Keynes (1883–1946),
British economist;
Keynesian economics
is named after him
Sunday driving ban
during the 1973
oil crisis
Dr. Helmut Schmidt (born in 1918),
German Chancellor, cofounder of the
European Monetary System
5
“Economic growth requires people to
adapt continuously to steadily changing
ways of life and work.”
Social Democratic
Party election
poster
OPEC oil embargo of 1973:
The fi rst oil crisis causes a
global recession
1973 OECD Report
Professor John Kenneth
Galbraith (1908–2006),
U.S. economist and advisor
to U.S. President
John F. Kennedy
8
6
Care packages
bring food from
the USA
Demand-oriented Supply-oriented
The Marshall Plan in
1948: A U.S. economic
recovery program for
Western Europe
7
Professor f
Joseph Stiglitz
(born in 1943), U.S.
economist, presidential
advisor, and chief economist
of the World Bank
Professor Karl Schiller (1911–1994), economist,
German Economics Minister (1966–1972),
and Finance Minister (1971–1972)
Moon landing in 1969.
The aerospace industry
creates new growth
opportunities
Hans Carl von Carlowitz
(1645–1714), inventor of
the concept of sustainability
9
ICE high-speed train
in Germany
Recycling of
plastic waste
2011: Wind Explorer,
the fi rst vehicle to cross
a continent, propelled
almost exclusively by
wind energy
1985: Scientists
discover the hole
in the ozone layer
at the South Pole
Creativity and
sustainabilityoriented
economics
Sunfl owers symbolize Germany’s
environmental movement
Professor Julian
L. Simon
(1932–1998),
economist
Alternative sources
of energy: Wind,
solar, and biomass
A new kind
of poverty in
industrialized
countries
Forest dieback,
acid rain
10
The Beatles:
New idols for
young people
Solar energy
Government
subsidies lead to a
German housing
boom in the 1960s
Industrial sites are turned
into amusement parks
Professor Joseph
Alois Schumpeter
(1883–1950),
economist and
creativity researcher
11
Women clearing
away rubble after
1945: Germany rises
up out of the ruins
Civil space travel:
Billions are spent on
science projects
In Germany, wages rose
3,600 percent between
1850 and the early 1970s
The German dream of
prosperity in 1950: Sunday
roast and cake with butter
cream frosting
1973: One out of
four people in West
Germany owns a car,
91.4 percent of
households have a TV,
50 percent have a
washing machine and
a record player, almost
every household has
a refrigerator, and 20
percent have a freezer
The Berlin Wall falls in 1989,
marking the end of
“real socialism’s” dream
of world domination
Professor Adam Smith
(1723–1790),
founder of classical
economics
12
In the 1950s the
“Fräuleinwunder”
helps to polish
Germany’s image
in the USA
Professor Alfred Müller-Armack
(1901–1978), coiner of the
term “social market economy”
y
Blue jeans, originally only
worn for manual work,
become cult objects and a
global symbol of coolness
14
The end of
colonialism
Tupperware:
Innovative sales
methods for plastic
Professor Ludwig Erhard
(1897–1977),
German Economics
Minister and Chancellor
Professor Friedrich
August von Hayek
(1899–1992),
neo-classical
liberalist economist
Free market
economy
Amazon: New
markets as a result of
online trade
13
15
Imports/exports:
Economic growth
would be impossible
without the global
division of labor
In 2007 there were
946 billionaires in
US$, compared to
793 in 2006. In the
mid-1980s there were
only 140 billionaires
U.S. President Ronald Reagan
and his economic policy advisor
Professor Arthur B. Laffer:
The start of Reaganomics and
“voodoo” economics
Craze for
German
Telekom
shares
Professor Walter Eucken
(1891–1950), one
of the fathers of the social
market economy
16
17
In the early 1970s a U.S. manager earned 25 times
as much, on average, as a factory worker. Less than
30 years later, he was earning 500 times as much
Gordon Gekko,
stockbroker in an
1987 movie: movie:
“Greed is good”
Coca-Cola
goes totally
global
Baroness Margaret Thatcher
(born in 1925), British Prime
Minister and libertarian
economic reformer
Barbie (since
1959): The most
successful fashion
doll of all time
Burj Khalifa:
Big is beautiful
and very
expensive
Anti-bank protests
Empire State Building
Lehman Brothers goes
bankrupt with junk bonds
Professor Milton
Friedman
(1912–2006),
libertarian U.S.
economist
18
The e ghetto
ghetto
blaster: The
sound machine
of teenage
underdogs
Google: Global
provision of
knowledge and
information
McDonald’s serves U.S.
hamburgers throughout the world
Ferrari:
Vrrroom—the
sound of success
Taipei 101:
Symbol of a
new economic
power
Beginning in 1840,
Santa Claus becomes
a year-end economic
growth booster
Monetarism
Bankia:
A Spanish
victim of the
euro crisis
Monopoly:
Do not pass “Go.”
Starbucks
coffee goes
global

16 GROWTH
Who’s Who: Theorists of Growth
For centuries, scholars have debated about which organizing principle leads to economic growth:
a free market or state control. Here’s an overview of the key theories
Hans Carl von Carlowitz
9
(1645–1714)
Senior Mining Director at the Saxon court in
Freiberg. Carlowitz is considered to be the
inventor of the concept of sustainability. In 1713,
he demanded that people should only fell as
many trees as would grow back as a result of
reforestation measures.
Prof. Julian L. Simon
10
(1932–1998)
Economist. In 1981, Simon declared in his
book The Ultimate Resource that there were no
natural limits to growth and resources, as
technological advances could increase them
almost endlessly. He claimed that population
growth generates more demand, which,
in turn, leads to more economic growth.
Prof. Joseph Alois Schumpeter
11
(1883–1950)
Economist and politician. In his work, The Theory
of Economic Development (1911), he showed
that capitalism depended on entrepreneurial creativity.
Schumpeter claimed that every innovative
entrepreneur would initially have a monopoly
when he entered the market. Not until imitators
appeared would the creative entrepreneur’s
position weaken. He considered this interplay
between innovation and imitation to be
the driving force of competition and growth.
Prof. Adam Smith
12
(1723–1790)
Social philosopher and founder of the classic
concept of economics. In his most important
work, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the
Wealth of Nations of 1776, he explained that the
best way to promote the common good is through
free competition. Smith postulated that the
buyers’ free choices create a balance between
the prices of goods and the wages or profits of
the producers. If supply becomes too large, prices
drop and fewer producers survive. This, in turn,
causes prices and employee wages to rise once
again, motivating additional companies to produce
the goods and thus create a renewed balance
of supply and demand. Smith called this mecha-
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012
nism the “invisible hand.” He was convinced that
free markets generate the best results if they are
not subject to government intervention and in an
environment where manufacturers, workers, and
consumers do not join forces or form monopolies.
Prof. Ludwig Erhard
13
(1897–1977)
German Minister of Economics from 1949
to 1963, Chancellor from 1963 to 1966.
Together with Müller-Armack, Erhard implemented
the basic principles of Eucken’s
theory (see below) in the form of political
measures. He thought the social market
economy would create prosperity for all
through economic growth.
Prof. Alfred Müller-Armack
14
(1901–1978)
Economist and co-founder of Germany’s social
market economy after 1945. For him, the
market economy complemented social justice.
He wanted the government to take on the tasks
that a competition-based economy could not,
such as mitigating the effects of unemployment.
Prof. Friedrich August von
15
Hayek (1899–1992)
Lawyer and political scientist, co-founder of
the Austrian School of economics. Hayek was
committed to classical liberalism and advocated
a free market economy. “A social market
economy isn’t a market economy, a social constitutional
state isn’t a constitutional state, a
social conscience isn’t a conscience, social justice
isn’t justice—and I also fear that social democracy
isn’t democracy.” According to Hayek,
economic cycles are caused by deviations in
the monetary interest rate from the “natural interest
rate”, in other words, the rate at
which savings and investments are in balance.
Prof. Walter Eucken
16
(1891–1950)
Economist, co-founder of the Freiburg school of
ordoliberalism, and one of the fathers of the social
market economy. Eucken made a clear distinction
between planned/centrally controlled
economies and free market economies. As
a classical liberalist, Eucken considered the free
market to be the basis of a thriving economy:
“The government should neither try to control
the economic process nor leave the economy
to its own devices. Should the government plan
the general framework? Yes. Should the
government plan and control the economic process?
No. ...The only kind of economic system
in which this is possible is one in which there is
unrestricted competition. ... The government
must therefore create an appropriate legal framework
for the market’s organization—in other
words, the rules by which business is conducted.”
Prof. Arthur B. Laffer
17
(1940)
An economist, Laffer became famous as
advisor to US President Ronald Reagan. During
a dinner, he once drew a curve of tax rates
and tax income on a napkin to illustrate his
thesis that an optimal tax rate would generate
maximum income.
Prof. Milton Friedman
18
(1912–2006)
Along with Keynes, Friedman was one of the
most influential economists of the 20th century.
He was a leading advocate of monetarism.
In his bestseller, Capitalism and Freedom (1962),
he called for a lower rate of government participation
in the overall economy, the introduction of
floating exchange rates, the abolition of government-imposed
trade barriers, the elimination of
occupational licensing, and cuts to state
welfare programs. He claimed that every economy
had a “natural rate of unemployment”
caused by market imperfections, such as a lack of
information, obstacles to mobility, the cost
of adjustments, and demographic change. Monetary
policies aimed at achieving full employment
are sure to fail and can, in the worst case, lead
to higher inflation. Friedman considered inflation
to be a purely monetary phenomenon, which
central banks could counteract by strictly controlling
the money supply. Friedman’s theories
were put into practice by Ronald Reagan and
Baroness Margaret Thatcher.
1
Dr. Karl Marx
1
(1818–1883)
Economic theorist and journalist. According to
Marx, the problem with capitalism is that
it exploits workers and leads to irreconcilable
class differences. He thought that capitalist
conditions posed an obstacle to human beings’
entire existence and prevented them from
exercising their right to self-fulfilment and the
free shaping of their environment. Marx
therefore advocated a classless society, in which
all means of production are communally
owned. Here, the productive forces reduce the
amount of work needed for the reproduction
of labor, and the surplus value can be used to
meet the needs of all: “From each according to
his ability, to each according to his need.”
Prof. Jeremy Rifkin
2
(1945)
Economist, sociologist, and behavioral scientist.
In his bestseller, The End of Work (1995),
he showed how the world of work was being
dramatically transformed by the use of
cutting-edge technologies. In his book The
Age of Access, which appeared in 2000,
he described the “access society” in the industrialized
countries. Here, people want to
have everything right away and also get it,
thanks to globalization and the Internet.
Rifkin warns of the consequences of a total
commercialization of our lives and the loss of
our cultural identity.
Prof. Oswald von Nell-Breuning
3
(1890–1991)
Catholic theologian, economist, and social
philosopher. When the German economic
system was reorganized after 1950, he
advocated that employees be integrated into
the industrial society and have similar
rights to employers. He also demanded that
employees participate in a company’s
success and that they be involved in decisionmaking
processes. He made these demands
because human labor was becoming
dispensable in many areas of the modern
automated economy.
2
3
4
5
8
6
7
9
10
Prof. Tomáš Sedláček,
4
(1977)
Economist and author. According to Sedláček,
the fate of economies is not determined
by mathematically expressible processes, but
by value systems that lie beyond the bounds
of mathematical rationality. As a result,
economic activities can only be effective if
they are subject to ethical standards. This moral
code also applies to economic thinking. The
fact that we have forgotten the importance of
cultural standards and values when it comes
to the economy is one of the reasons for the
current debt crisis.
Prof. Lord John Maynard Keynes
5
(1883–1946)
Mathematician and economist. Keynes was
one of the most influential economic thinkers of
the 20th century. As a result of the Great
Depression that began in 1929, he called for
overall government intervention in economic
processes whenever the capitalist system
failed. The aim of these government investments
and interventions should be to mitigate the
effects of social ills such as mass unemployment.
He stated that the government and the central
bank should enact financial and monetary
measures that would stimulate economic
demand until full employment was reached.
Prof. John Kenneth Galbraith
6
(1908–2006)
Economist, social critic, and presidential advisor.
Galbraith was a Keynesian and a leftist
liberal US economist. In his best-known work,
The Affluent Society, he showed that capitalism
produces both private wealth and public
poverty. As early as 1958 he warned that unrestricted
growth would have dire consequences
for the environment.
11
12
14
13
15
16
17
18
These “outer pages” are
directly linked to the foldout
graphic. To help you fi nd
your way around the “Dream
of Endless Growth” and
the people who have shaped it,
each of the economists
described here has a number
corresponding to that in the
overleaf diagram
Prof. Joseph Stiglitz
7
(1943)
Economist, advisor of US President Bill Clinton,
and chief economist of the World Bank.
Stiglitz became famous as a result of his criticism
of the industrialized countries’ globalization
policy, in which they only pursued their own
interests and did nothing to combat poverty and
hunger in developing countries. However,
Stiglitz is convinced that globalization also improves
people’s lives in developing countries.
Prof. Karl Schiller
8
(1911–1994)
Economist, German Minister of Economics
from 1966 to 1972 and Minister of Finance
from 1971 to 1972. Schiller introduced
Germany’s Stability and Growth Law, which
seeks to achieve a balance between the
four main economic policy goals (price stability,
economic growth, balanced international
trade, and full employment). The law’s aim was
to enable Germany to overcome its first postwar
recession, reduce unemployment, prevent
inflation, and stabilize the economy. Neoliberalist
thinkers and promoters of free enterprise
strongly criticized the law’s introduction
of universal taxation of businesses by the
federal government.
ILLUSTRATION: PICFOUR.
PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES(4), PICTURE ALLIANCE(5), ACTION
PRESS(2), ULLSTEIN BILD(2), BPK(2), IMAGEBROKER, INTERFOTO,
OLIVIER ROLLERI/FEDEPHOTO/STUDIOX, AKG-IMAGES, CORBIS,
THINKSTOCK(12), SHUTTERSTOCK(4), NASA(3), ARCHIV(8), PR(23)
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012

22 GROWTH CRITIQUE
The book was
originally
published in
English in
1972 and later
translated into
30 languages
DENNIS MEADOWS is a very experienced public
speaker who has been traveling the world for decades
to talk about the matter closest to his heart: the
limits of growth. He’s no longer satisfied with simple
lectures, though; instead he’s developed a game to
help participants in his workshops better understand
what he’s talking about. The game uses the metaphor
of fishing: Each team secretly develops a strategy
and then writes down how many fish it wants
to catch in each round, after which the fish are removed
from the “ocean” randomly. The fish population
renews itself but does so only slowly. Participants
tend to grossly overestimate the resources that
are available in their ocean. The game therefore almost
always comes to a shocking end after just a few
rounds because the fish population becomes decimated.
The ocean has been overfished beyond the
point where renewal is possible.
That this type of mechanism unfortunately also
applies to real life (and not just in terms of fishing)
was first demonstrated by Meadows 40 years ago
in his report The Limits to Growth. Together with
his co-authors (including his first wife, Dr. Donella
Meadows), Meadows warned that if the world economy
did not change drastically and rapidly, our planet
would succumb to a catastrophe by the year 2100 at
the latest. He predicted that the downward spiral into
the final crisis would begin between 2010 and 2050,
claiming the only way to prevent it would be to curb
consumption and limit population growth.
Working on behalf of the Club of Rome, Meadows
and a 16-member team of scientists drew up 13 future
scenarios that all led to more or less catastrophic
results. He summarized these scenarios as fol-
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012
PHOTOGRAPHY: DDP IMAGES/DAPD
The
Dennis Meadows’ book The Limits
to Growth was fi rst published
40 years ago. The international
bestseller launched a discussion
that continues today
TEXT DR. BRIGITTE RÖTHLEIN
Return of the
Doomsayer
American economist and system
theoretician Prof. Dennis
Meadows (pictured here in
the “Climate House” in
Bremerhaven) warns that
“you can’t have infi nite
growth on a fi nite planet”
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012

24 GROWTH CRITIQUE
The Deutsche
Verlags-Anstalt printed
the fi rst German
edition in 1972 as
well; many editions
have followed
The book was
published in France
at the same time,
but was not as
popular there as it
was in Germany
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012
PHOTOGRAPHY: RAUNER SPECIAL COLLECTION LIBRARY
The team of authors who researched
and described The Limits to Growth
pose for a picture in 1975 (from left):
Jorgen Randers from Norway;
Jay Forrester, the founder of System
Dynamics; the chemist Donella
Meadows and her husband, Dennis
Meadows; co-author William Behrens III
lows: “If the present growth trends in world population,
industrialization, pollution, food production,
and resource depletion continue unchanged, the limits
to growth on this planet will be reached sometime
within the next 100 years.”
When will the apocalypse be upon us?
Meadows was by no means the first person to issue
such a warning. As far back as 1798, Thomas Malthus
urgently warned that the Earth was becoming
overpopulated and that this would lead to food shortages.
Nevertheless, the publication of Meadows’
alarm in 1972 triggered a nerve due to the times.
His statements seemed new, or at least packaged
in a modern form. In particular, the calculations he
made using a computer—an unusual method at that
time—made a big impression on the public. The theories
presented by Meadows and his co-authors also
seemed to be confirmed rather quickly when the oil
crisis of 1973 broke out.
Just 18 months after its initial publication, The Limits
to Growth had already been translated into more
than 25 languages. In addition, the book had been
printed 2.5 million times and had been the subject of
at least 20 television programs and around 50 conferences
in countries around the world. “The Club of
Rome, whose members and mission were largely unknown
at the time, was suddenly viewed as embodying
the global moral-scientific conscience,” says Dr.
Franz-Josef Brüggemeier, Professor of Economics and
Social History at the University of Freiburg. The book’s
success has continued over time, as more than 30 million
copies of the original and subsequent updates have
been sold in over 30 languages to date.
Meadows’ theories were met with a great deal of opposition
immediately after the book was published,
however. Critics claimed his ideas were too pessimistic,
even defeatist, and that they also ignored key
aspects, most especially the development of technology
and the concept of human creativity. He and his
co-authors were also accused of errors in methodology.
In addition, the more time that passes since the
book’s publication, the easier it is to test Meadows’
predictions against reality. Indeed, his data has frequently
failed to stand up to comparisons with contemporary
situations. Still, as the famous physicist
Prof. Niels Bohr apparently once said: “Prediction
is very difficult, especially regarding the future.” In
this sense, one should accept the fact that Meadows’
calculations weren’t always right. In any case, he and
his team were prepared to review their predictions
20 and 30 years after they were made. Overall, they
believe the trends they cited have been confirmed
(see Interview on page 26), even if the data has had
to be revised. Meadows also points out that his scenarios
weren’t actually forecasts but instead merely
attempts at simulating what would happen if everything
remained the same.
So what happens now? Well, first of all, many developments
affecting us today could not have been
predicted by Meadows in 1972—for example, the Internet
and mobile communication systems, advances
in mobility and energy concepts, increased networking,
and the use of renewable energy sources. “Everything
that’s creative cannot be predicted,” Prof.
Karl Jaspers once said—and this applies to the forecasts
in Meadows’ report as well. This was also the
basis for criticism directed at Meadows at the
Survey: What signifi cance do Meadows’ theories still hold today?
“Human Creativity Is Ignored”
Professor Ernst
Ulrich von
Weizsäcker,
Co-Chair,
International
Resource Panel
The limits to growth have been,
are, and always will be a reality.
The first major report to the
Club of Rome basically acted as
a rallying call to everyone
who was no longer trapped
in the dream of eternal growth.
The Club of Rome recently
received two optimistic new
reports: “Factor Five” and
“Blue Economy.” Both show that
if our technologies were at least
five times more efficient and
elegant, we would be able to retain
the current level of growth
in prosperity for some time,
while reducing natural resource
consumption at the same time.
PHOTOGRAPHY: 13 PHOTO/SERGE HOELTSCHI, DOMINIK BUTZMANN/SPD, MAURICE WEISS/OSTKREUZ, OLIVER ELTINGER, THOMAS GEIGER, DPA PICTURE ALLIANCE, PRIVAT
Uwe Möller,
former Secretary
General, The
Club of Rome
Thinking about The
Limits to Growth
was a provocation in 1972. For a
long time, people didn’t want to
listen to the alarm that the book
had triggered. Dennis Meadows’
“Update” from 2004 shows how
the material demands of humanity
are now “overburdening”
Mother Earth’s natural capacity
by a factor of 1.4. In order for
the mass markets of the “South”
to achieve what is generally
understood to be an affluent
standard of life, more resources
are needed. In fact, we would
need three planets the size
of Earth to satisfy demand. If humanity
is to survive and peace is
to be maintained, we will need a
revolution in resource efficiency
and a paradigm shift in the direction
of value-oriented lifestyles
over the next few decades.
Sigmar Gabriel,
Chairman of the
German Social
Democratic Party
and member of
the Bundestag
Dennis Meadows has made the
future part of the political
agenda. We should think about
what he says more often. We
need to realize that not everything
that grows improves the
quality of life. We require an
economic and growth model that
offers a prosperous life to as
many people as possible—but
without burdening the environment
or future generations.
In relation to what Meadows has
presented, developing this
model and gaining broad social
acceptance for it are the major
challenges of our time.
Kerstin Andreae,
Deputy Chairwoman
of the
Bündnis 90/Die
Grünen Parliamentary
Group
Dennis Meadows’ book The
Limits to Growth was one of the
most important scientific publications
of the 1970s. Meadows
made it clear in the book that
infinite growth is impossible on a
planet with natural limitations.
We need to recognize ecological
limits and act in accordance with
them—and this is even more
important today than it was 40
years ago.
Alexander Neubacher,
Der
Spiegel magazine
The forecasts that
were made by
Meadows and his
colleagues were always overrated.
For example, the depletion
scenarios they modeled
were wildly inaccurate.
According to these scenarios,
silver would supposedly be
depleted by 1983, tin by 1985,
zinc by 1988, petroleum by
1990, copper by 1991, natural
gas by 1992, tungsten by 1998,
and aluminum by 2001. Even
the world’s gold mines hadn’t
been depleted by 1979, as
Meadows predicted; instead
they continue to generate
substantial revenue today.
Moreover, humanity as
a whole is doing better these
days rather than worse.
For example, according to the
UN, global life expectancy
has risen by ten years since The
Limits to Growth was first
published, and infant mortality
has declined by nearly twothirds.
In fact, the number of
people suffering from
obesity—the current estimate
is 1.5 billion— is actually
greater than the number of
people plagued by chronic
hunger. The latter is put at
roughly one billion.
Like all Malthusian prophets of
doom, the Club of Rome simply
ignored human creativity and
our ability to adapt—not to
mention the creative force of
the market. Ultimately, The Limits
to Growth tells us very little
about its title but a lot about the
lack of imagination of its authors.
GROWTH CRITIQUE 25
Professor Claudia
Kemfert, German
Institute for
Economic
Research
(DIWBerlin)
I grew up with The Limits to
Growth, the publication that
made Dennis Meadows and the
Club of Rome famous. The book
played a major role in the early
days of the environmental movement.
The debate Dennis
Meadows triggered with the
book launched the global discussion
on sustainability. Its results
take on even more importance
today because fossil resources,
and especially oil, are becoming
ever scarcer and more expensive.
Contrary to frequent claims,
the book never named a specific
date for the depletion of fossil
fuels; it only pointed out the
danger of resource squandering
and environmental pollution.
Dr. Johannes
Merck, Chairman
Michael Otto
Foundation for
Environmental
Protection
A lot of valuable time has been
wasted since the report was
issued to the Club of Rome 40
years ago—time that could have
been spent developing countermeasures.
Today we know it’s a
question of “when” rather than
“whether” we will reach the limits
of growth. Despite all of our
knowledge, the required transformation
process is proceeding
slowly. Governments, industry,
and leaders in society need
to get together in order to take
concerted action.
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012

26 GROWTH CRITIQUE
first sustainability conference at The Woodlands,
Texas, in 1975, by the futurist Herman Kahn, who
died in 1983. Kahn and other scientists claimed there
were no limits to anything, and if one should nevertheless
arise, the market and technologists would do
everything in their power to overcome it.
The quality of growth
The debate has yet to be settled; each side sticks
stubbornly to its point of view. Ultimately, however,
Meadows’ true achievement was getting people to
rethink generally accepted assumptions. Sustainability,
for example, which was declared to be the measure
of all economic activity by the Rio Conference
in 1992, was an unknown term in 1972. Only after
we recognized that our resources are finite did the
conviction settle in that we need to use them conservatively
and avoid plundering them. Meadows’ ideas
thus not only became the initial trigger for green political
movements; they also changed the culture at
major corporations. Today, for example, there are
virtually no relevant companies in the chemical or
energy sectors that have not made sustainability and
resource conservation key components of their corporate
governance systems.
In addition, discussions concerning growth are
now more balanced. The main goal today is not to
achieve the highest growth rates possible but instead
to ensure that growth is of high quality. In the ideal
case, such an approach should focus on individuals,
their idea of happiness, and their ability to take responsibility
for coming generations. The Limits to
Growth takes all of these aspects into account. In a
2003 interview, Meadows indicated his satisfaction
with the new ways of thinking triggered by his work:
“If you want a label that fits me absolutely, you could
call me an apostle of qualitative growth or an opponent
of stupid growth.”
SUMMARY
•The report The Limits to Growth was fi rst presented in 1972
by the Club of Rome, a forum of scientists and business
leaders. It immediately caused a huge stir
•The study’s authors warned that continuing on the path of
consistent and rapid growth would lead to a crisis for humanity
•Despite massive criticism of its claims, the book has had a
major impact on economics and society ever since
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012
The book fi rst
appeared in
Japanese in 1972
It was published in
China in 1983 by
the Publishing House
Sichuanin of the
People's Republic of
China
The 30-year update
was published in
2007 in Russia by
Akademkniga
Publishing House
“Rather
We Should Be
Dennis Meadows, co-author of
the bestselling book The Limits
to Growth, explains why climate
change cannot be stopped,
despite all our efforts to protect
the environment.
Evonik Magazine: In your book The Limits
to Growth, you predicted that key
resources would be exhausted or nearly
depleted by the end of the last century.
Since that time, however, many new technology
fields have been developed
and alternatives discovered or invented.
Did you make a mistake?
Dennis Meadows: What we meant in 1972,
and what is still the case today, is that there
can be no infinite physical growth on a planet
with limited resources. Take food, for example:
Mathematically speaking, the amount of
food available per person has declined since the
1990s. Production has increased, but population
growth has outpaced it. Behind every
calorie of food we eat, there are ten calories
of oil or fossil energy sources that are consumed
for food production, transport, storage, preparation,
and disposal. These fossil fuel reserves
are being depleted—and this will continue
regardless of whether we exploit new shale oil
and natural gas deposits. We’re already
past the point of peak oil and peak gas. And the
more oil reserves that are depleted, the
more expensive food will become. This will put
huge pressure on the entire system.
According to your model, growth of the
Earth’s population, which is expected
to reach around 9.5 billion in 2050, will
continue for another 30 to 40 years
even if food production stagnates.
Yes, and that means there are going to be a
huge number of extremely poor people—well
over half the global population. The volume
of all the resources we’re familiar with will
decline. There are too many “ifs” when it comes
than Being Concerned about Our Planet,
Worrying about Humanity”
to the future: If people get smarter, if there are
no wars, if we take a major technological leap
forward. We can’t even solve our problems today,
so how are we going to solve them 50
years from now?
Aren’t you underestimating the ability of
people and the system to develop creative
solutions to current problems?
Our economic and financial system is a tool we
developed, one that reflects our goals and
values. People generally don’t care about the
future; they’re only concerned with momentary
problems. That’s why we’re facing this huge
debt crisis. Accumulating debt is exactly the opposite
of thinking about the future. Those
who create it are basically saying they don’t care
what comes next. Moreover, if a lot of people
don’t care about the future, they’re bound
to create an economic and financial system that
destroys it, so to speak. You can tinker with
such a system as much as you want—but as long
as people’s values don’t change, you’ll not see
any improvement.
Aren’t you ignoring the impact of environmental
movements in many countries
that have changed the way people think
about such issues? A lot of nations have
accomplished a great deal here.
Yes, but people remain the same. We have a
system in the USA, for example, in which it’s
considered normal to have a few super rich people
and a large number of poor people, some
of whom go hungry. As long as we find that acceptable,
changing the system won’t help at all.
That’s because the prevailing values will always
lead to the same result. These values also impact
attitudes about climate change, which no
one seems to care about in the USA either.
We have seen a change in consciousness in
Europe, however.
China, Sweden, Germany, Russia, and the USA
all have different social systems—but CO 2
emissions are rising in all of those nations. More
CO 2 was emitted in 2011 than the accumulated
total in human history prior to that—and this
despite the fact that everyone supposedly wants
to reduce emissions.
Over the next few years, we’ll be seeing
the impact of renewable energy sources
and the efficiency gains we’ve made.
Yes, we’re working on the technical aspects, but
we’re completely neglecting population
“As long as people’s values don’t change,
you’ll not see any improvement”
PHOTOGRAPHY: IMAGO/HORST RUDEL
GROWTH CRITIQUE 27
figures and we also continue to believe our
standard of living will improve, or at least stay
the same. What we’re ignoring are the social
elements; instead we continue trying to solve
the problem from a technical point of view.
We’re going to fail if we keep doing this because
both population growth and gains in the
standard of living are much higher than the
savings we can achieve through efficiency improvements
or the use of alternative energy.
That’s why CO 2 emissions will continue to rise.
We will not be able to come up with a solution
to the climate change problem until we take into
account the social factors involved.
Isn’t it possible that groundbreaking
technology might still save the Earth?
No, it isn't. Even if we succeed in dramatically
improving energy efficiency, make much
greater use of renewables, and restrict consumption
through painful sacrifice, we will still
have practically no chance of extending the
life of the current system. Oil production will
decline by roughly 50 percent over the next
20 years, even if we go after oil sand and shale
oil. It’s all happening too quickly. Moreover,
technology is merely an instrument—just like a
neo-liberal financial system. As long as our
values remain the same as they are now, the technologies
we develop will accommodate them.
So how can humanity get out of this
miserable situation?
We need to change our nature because basically
we’re still programmed exactly the way we
were 10,000 years ago. When one of our
ancestors was attacked by a tiger, he didn’t think
about the future—he only thought about his
own survival at that moment. My fear is that our
genes make us unequipped to deal with longterm
issues like climate change, and as long as
we fail to learn to do so, we will never come
up with a way to address all of these problems.
People always say we need to save our planet.
But that’s not true: Our planet is perfectly able
to save itself. It has always done so. Sometimes
it took millions of years, but in the end the Earth
did what it had to. In other words, rather than
being concerned about our planet, we should
be worrying about humanity.
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012

Phoenix from
the Ashes
The US auto industry is reinventing itself—and becoming
greener in the process. Smaller, more effi cient models are
taking over the market. Infl uenced by European role
models, the sector has embraced energy-effi cient mobility
TEXT CHRISTINE MATTAUCH
Ford employee Eddie Coleman building the new “Escape” on the assembly line in Louisville. The automaker spent $600 million to renovate the facility and created 1,800
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012
new jobs. An additional 1,300 are planned
PHOTOGRAPHY: 2012 FORD MOTOR COMPANY
GROWTH MODERNIZATION 29
DELIVERY BOTTLENECKS in the US automobile industry?
Three years ago, that would have sounded like
a bad joke, but today it has almost become a reality. Because
of high demand, long waiting times are threatening
to affect Ford customers. Managers have been
quick to respond—for example, they cut the traditional
summer holiday in half at 13 plants in the USA. Around
40,000 additional cars were manufactured. “The need
to increase production at our plants is a problem that
we are glad to have,” chuckles Jim Tetreault, Vice President
North America Manufacturing.
And Ford isn’t the only automaker that’s back on
track for growth. In the spring of 2009, General Motors
and Chrysler both had to declare insolvency. Since then,
however, they have recovered so quickly that even industry
insiders are amazed. Detroit’s “Big Three” are
making profits again. Last year, all three increased their
market shares—something that hasn't happened since
1988. Now they are spending money on new capacity.
Ford has invested some US$600 million in a plant in
Louisville, Kentucky, where the new Escape has been
rolling off the assembly line since the summer. Chrysler
hired 1,800 people in Belvidere, Illinois. One of their
tasks is to assemble the new Dodge Dart. And GM, number
one in the sector, promised to invest $2 billion in its
US plants and create 4,000 additional jobs. It is also expanding
capacity in Mexico, where the Chevrolet Trax
will be manufactured for the world market.
Pressure to innovate from the government
It seems that the stolid old companies have finally made
it into the 21st century. “They’re producing the best cars
they’ve ever made,” says Michelle Krebs, an analyst for
the automobile research company Edmunds.com.
But they haven’t secured their future just yet. The
biggest challenge facing the sector is the transition to
environmentally friendly cars. For the big three in Detroit,
fuel consumption was a marginal issue until very
recently. Now they have to play catch-up. At the end
of August, President Barack Obama made ambitious
standards for reducing fuel consumption compulsory—
with the agreement of the industry.
For a long time, Detroit concentrated on producing
big heavy cars that would easily make money on the
US market. “High-quality, efficient small cars—automakers
couldn’t earn anything with those. But that has
changed,” says Bruce Belzowski of the University of
Michigan Transportation Research Institute. The
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012

30 GROWTH MODERNIZATION
America aims to once again be at the
forefront of the next revolution
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012
PHOTOGRAPHY: BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES
fact that the government is driving innovation is
slightly ironic. American cars are, after all, the epitome
of freedom and independence for many people.
But the Obama administration already played a central
role during the economic crisis. It guided GM and
Chrysler through restructuring, made credit available,
reduced the outstanding debt and lowered labor
costs. The number of automobiles sold in the US
actually climbed to almost 13 million in 2011. This
year, that number could reach 14 million and in 2016
it could rise to 16 million according to the Center for
Automotive Research (CAR) in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
According to a law, which President Obama has
called “historic,” by 2025 American motorists should
be getting 54.5 miles per gallon on average. That is the
equivalent of 4.3 liters per 100 kilometers, or about 50
percent less consumption than today. The new standards
apply to small cars as well as to light pick-ups.
There are special regulations for heavy trucks.
Americans pay attention to fuel consumption
The industry probably went along with this goal because
higher fuel prices are considered to be inevitable.
Drivers of small cars are already citing fuel cost
savings as the main reason for their purchase, according
to a Ford survey conducted last year. Fuel economy
is a key consideration when purchasing a mid-size car
as well. Sales in both segments are experiencing double
digit growth in the US market, while the demand
for heavier full-size automobiles is shrinking drastically.
Sales of larger cars were around 90 percent lower
in the first six months of 2012 compared to 2011.
Detroit’s product range is changing radically. This
year GM presented the Chevrolet Spark—the first minicar
in its history—in response to the Fiat 500, which the
Italian company is selling in the US through its subsidiary
Chrysler. The new Cadillac ATS, designed to compete
with the BMW 3 Series, is also a reflection of the
times. “For the first time, we’ve got a model that isn’t
bigger and heavier than its competitors,” says Mark Reuss,
President of General Motors North America. And
Ford is boasting that it will bring eight models onto the
market this year that use less than six liters for 100 kilometers—that’s
over 39 miles per gallon. Cars are becoming
lighter and more aerodynamic. Their engines also
shut off when the cars stop for several seconds.
Technology from Europe is helping with this new orientation.
Ford has made particularly good progress in-
tegrating European ideas according to industry experts.
The Ford Focus, which is already successful in the US is
essentially a European development. The energy-efficient
“Ecoboost” engine has roots that span the Atlantic,
and the 1.6 and two-liter versions will be manufactured
in Spain and Great Britain. Chrysler, on the other
hand, is profiting from its parent company Fiat. The new
Dodge Dart, a racy compact chalked full of technology, is
based on the platform of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta. This
is exactly the right way forward, says auto expert Krebs.
“Standardize components that consumers don’t see, and
offer them choices in design and accessories instead.”
Tastes are becoming more similar internationally anyway.
“The world is getting smaller and smaller, and for
the most part people want the same things.”
Of course, national differences remain. SUVs and
pick-ups are still popular in the US, accounting for about
half of the market. It won’t be easy for the big three to
make these gas-guzzlers more economical. Denselypopulated
and rapidly growing Asian cities, on the other
hand, are the ideal market for small electric vehicles,
like those GM presented at the Beijing auto show this
spring. Prototypes of a futuristic two-seater that looks
like a cross between an egg and a bumper-car will hit
China's roads in the next few years. The industry giant
cooperated with the small cult firm Segway during development—a
collaboration that shows how much things
have changed for the number one company in the sector.
Meanwhile, automakers are preparing for intelligent,
self-driving vehicles. A study conducted by CAR and the
business consulting firm KPMG predicts that by 2025
these cars will be driving on US roads. Google is already
experimenting with robotic cars in California. The companies
in Detroit have just managed to get themselves
up-to-date. They have to be careful not to miss the boat
again. Ford realized that, and just about doubled its budget
for research on intelligent vehicles last year.
SUMMARY
• The big US automobile companies have gotten back on
track for growth through the development of new,
compact models.
• The decisive stimuli have come from the US government,
which has recently even set strict fuel economy standards
for the automakers in Detroit.
• The pressure to innovate remains: new market players
are appearing as part of the trend toward electric cars.
GROWTH MODERNIZATION 31
Sergio Marchionne, Chairman and CEO of the Chrysler Group, at a press conference in the production plant in Belvidere, Illinois. Chrysler announced that
it would be hiring an additional 1,800 workers. The assembly of the new Dodge Dart alone will create 500 new jobs
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012

PHOTOGRAPHY: MAURITIUS IMAGES/ALAMY, MARCUS BENSMANN
32 GROWTH RAW MATERIALS
The Boom Years
Large oil reserves and valuable
raw materials have created an economic
miracle and never-before-seen
prosperity in Kazakhstan. But how
can the petro-dollars be used to
safeguard the future of the country
and its 17 million inhabitants?
Economic growth isn’t easy to manage.
Kazakhstan therefore plans to
utilize international expertise and
partnerships to develop new
growth sectors
TEXT MARCUS BENSMANN
Astana, the capital:
Showplace of growth
and prosperity
Oil pumping on the Kazakh steppe:
New pipelines and previously
untapped reserves will pour money
into government coffers for many
years to come
GROWTH RAW MATERIALS 33
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012

34 GROWTH RAW MATERIALS
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012
Russia
Russia
Astana
Kazakhstan
MEHMAN SHOKIROV IS A BOATSWAIN who
used to sail the world’s oceans, but today he’s just talking
a trip on the Caspian Sea. The Azerbaijani oil tanker
the 56-year-old sailor has hired on with—the Shusha—
travels back and forth between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.
The salty inland sea is still the only route for shipping
oil from Central Asia past Russia and into Europe.
The Shusha moves 11,000 tons of oil from the Tengiz
field on the Kazakh coast to the west each time it sails.
With total reserves of around one billion tons, the Tengiz
oilfield is one of the biggest to have been exploited
in recent years. The black gold it gives up also triggered
the first surge of economic growth in the former Soviet
Republic after it became independent.
After the Soviet Union collapsed in the 1990s and
Kazakhstan declared its independence, the new nation
initially experienced a major economic crisis. In particular,
energy was scarce and power outages were common,
even in the capital at that time, Almaty. Oil prices
had fallen and the fields that had been put into operation
during the Soviet era did not produce enough to
stave off economic collapse. What’s more, all the pipelines
in place led only to Russia.
The U.S. oil company Chevron subsequently
signed an agreement with the Kazakh government
under President Nursultan Nazarbayev that would allow
a consortium to assume control of opening the
Tengiz oilfield. The consortium increased the annual
production from one million to more than 25 million
tons (2011) in less than two decades—and during this
time the money began pouring in. Billions of U.S. dollars
subsequently began filling the coffers of the Kazakh
government in 2001 after the completion of a
new pipeline that transported oil from Tengiz to the
PHOTOGRAPHY: MARCUS BENSMANN; GRAPHIC: PICFOUR
Uzbekistan
China
Newcomer
in the East
Kazakhstan’s neighbors are globally
established suppliers of raw
materials. But as China rises, it is
increasingly using its rare earths for
its own computer industry
port of Novorossiysk on the shore of the Black Sea in
southern Russia.
Strategies for the post-oil era
The accompanying rise in oil prices benefited other
Kazakh oilfields as well. New petroleum transport
routes were established, such as the pipeline completed
by the Chinese from the Kumkol field in the
heart of Kazakhstan straight into China in 2005. The
other end of that transport route runs to the Caspian
Sea and was finished in 2009. It is there, not too far
from Tengiz, that another new oilfield is waiting to
be tapped.
The Kashagan oilfield, which is even bigger than
Tengiz, is located around 100 kilometers off the Caspian
coast and is scheduled to go into operation either
this year or in 2013. The existing pipelines will be unable
to handle the amount of oil that will then be produced,
so the Shusha and her sister ships in the Kazakh
and Azerbaijani fleet will soon have a lot of sailing to do.
Nazarbayev used the profits from Tengiz—the first
economic miracle—to build a flashy new capital, Astana.
Now, however, he wants to harness the second burst
of growth—to be generated by the Kashagan field—to
make his country with its 17 million inhabitants one
of the richest nations on earth. Instead of constructing
shiny magnificent buildings, Nazarbayev has decided
to focus on international expertise. A few years ago he
came up with the idea of holding international conferences
in Astana in order to transform the city into a major
think tank that not only promotes Kazakh economic
development but also creates new global solutions for
the world’s problems. To this end, he invited current
and former heads of government, scientists, and top
Workers in the oilfi elds on the
steppe: Jobs for rugged men—in
temperatures of up to 50 °C in
summer and as low as -30 °C with
cutting winds in winter
GROWTH RAW MATERIALS 35
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012

PHOTOGRAPHY: PANOS PICTURES/VISUM
business leaders to the Astana Economic Forum in
2008. These conferences led in 2011 to the creation of
the Astana Club of Nobel Laureates. The club now has
14 members, including Dr. Robert Aumann, who was
awarded a Nobel Prize in 2005 for his work on gametheory
analysis. The purpose of bringing together economists
and chemists in the club is to ensure that Kazakhstan
can “effectively utilize the investment and financial
resources” that will accumulate in the boom years.
Economic activity in Kazakhstan has long since
moved beyond oil. Geologists are firmly convinced
that the seemingly endless steppe harbors more treasures.
The region is an El Dorado for rare earth compounds—i.e.
the metals without which we would have no
smartphones or flatscreens today. If the right approach
is taken, Kazakhstan could become one of the world’s
leading suppliers of these coveted raw materials.
A free-spending middle class
Dr. Albert Rau, First Deputy Minister of Industry and
New Technologies, wants to use these resources to initiate
a second wave of industrialization. “We want to
not only supply raw materials but also be a partner in
their extraction and processing,” says Rau as he stands
in an office with a breathtaking view of the city and the
endless steppe beyond. Rau, whose family is from Germany,
was a big proponent of the German-Kazakh raw
materials partnership agreement that was signed in Berlin
during a state visit by Nazarbayev in February 2012.
The agreement gives German companies access to raw
materials. In return, the Germans will provide their expertise
in building and modernizing industrial facilities.
The country’s long-term development strategy
also includes measures to utilize the huge oil reserves,
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012
An El Dorado
of rare earth
metals
An American production complex
near the Caspian Sea: Raw
materials partnerships with foreign
companies will also bring
know-how into Kazakhstan
rare metal deposits, and the Astana Club of Nobel Laureates
to prepare Kazakhstan for the post-oil age. The
fast money from oil has made many people rich and created
a free-spending middle class, especially in the cities.
Iskender, a 32-year-old lawyer who lives in Almaty, got a
job with a Chinese oil company after he graduated from
college. A few years later he bought an apartment and a
car. “My next plan is to buy a house in the mountains for
me and my wife,” he says. But although oil has brought
prosperity to Kazakhstan, it has also led to very difficult
working conditions for many of the country’s citizens.
The Uzenmunaigas oilfield has been operating since
the 1960s. It contains more than 5,000 pumps that suck
the black gold up from a depth of 1,500 meters. Temperatures
here can reach 50 °C in the summer and drop
to -30 °C in the winter. “When the wind blows, it’s like a
thousand knives cutting your face,” says Erkin, 23, who
comes from an oil-worker family and has worked here
for six years. “The summers are even worse,” he adds.
That’s because there’s no water; it has to be shipped in
from the Volga River over a thousand kilometers away.
Erkin works in a brigade that drives from pump to pump
to change pipes. Sometimes they cross paths with camels
or horses. Of his two children, Erkin says, "I don’t want
them to work here when they grow up."
SUMMARY
• Huge petroleum reserves and new oil discoveries are
generating rapid economic growth in Kazakhstan
• The wealth of capital and raw materials will safeguard the
country’s future and promote further industrialization
• International forums and Kazakhstan’s Club of Nobel
Laureates are developing strategies for the post-oil era
Who’d Have Thought…
that coffee in capsules or miniature lights could revolutionize old traditional
products and ignite what is absolutely phenomenal growth in their markets.
Here we present fi ve of these surprise success stories
TEXT CHRISTIAN TRÖSTER ILLUSTRATIONS DANIEL HOPP
Name: Nespresso | Date of birth: 1970 | Market debut: 1986 | Potential for growth from 2010 to 2015: +47 percent
The coffee capsule: A license to print money
THE GERMAN GRANDMA brewed her coffee with a hand filter,
the Italian “mamma” with an espresso maker on the stove.
Then came Nestlé, and created a market with its aluminum capsules
that had never existed before: the sale of coffee by the portion.
That earned the company a tidy profit margin. In Germany,
at 36 to 39 cents, a Nespresso capsule costs three to four times as
much as a regular portion of espresso. The Nespresso machine,
which is required in order to use the capsules and which must be
purchased separately by the consumer, has played a key role in
the success story. Worldwide in 2011, Nestlé sold its capsules at
a rate of 12,300 per minute—that’s equivalent to around 6.5 billion
per year. The result was sales of 3.2 billion Swiss francs. For
ten years Nespresso sales had a growth rate in the double digits.
GROWTH PRODUCTS 37
But even such an innovative device needs time to make an impact.
The system was already invented in 1970, but didn’t go on
the market until an unbelievable 16 years later. It then took another
five years for the system to be a financial success.
Today, capsules and pods are the engines of growth in the
coffee market, which is teeming with Nespresso competitors,
including ex-Nespresso Manager Jean-Paul Gaillard. He left the
company on not so friendly terms in 1998 and in 2008 founded
Ethical Coffee as an alternative brand that is less expensive. Ethical’s
bio-degradable capsules are intended to take advantage of
what is regarded as the giant competitor’s Achilles heel—the aluminum
waste that each cup of espresso produces is a problem
for many consumers.
Evonik Magazine 2| 2012

38 GROWTH PRODUCTS
Electric bikes: Powerful performers
DOPING FOR BICYCLES: Anyone cycling up a
steep mountain slope who is overtaken by a retiree
racing uphill on his or her bike, need no longer worry
about being out of shape. That’s because an increasing
number of people, among them many seniors, enjoy
riding pedelecs—bicycles that assist pedaling using
an electric motor. The motor is usually located in the
axle, but newer models are expected to have a motor
amid-ships. The bikes with the built in tailwind are
bringing growth to the mobility market as are electric
bikes, whose motor assist can also be used without
pedal movement.
In Europe, sales have tripled inside three years to
700,000 units in 2010, thanks mostly to the develop-
ment of more powerful batteries. The power packs
can provide assistance for up to 80 kilometers on a trip.
The leading producer of these bikes is China, where
22 million units were manufactured in 2009, the majority
of those being intended for the domestic market.
At this point in time, 120 million electro-bikes are
on the road between Peking and Guangzhou. Across
the ocean, in the land of low gas prices, there are currently
around 200,000 electro-bikes on the roads of
the USA. By contrast, in Europe and Asia growth is influencing
existing market conditions. Bicycle manufactures
are now competing with automobile producers
and manufacturers of electrical home appliances
and lawn mowers.
Name: Pedelec/electric bike | Growth prediction: from 200,000 bikes in 2010 to over one million in Germany
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012
Name: NFC chip | Potential for growth: Over 20 million people in the U.K. today, in Germany more than 70 million by 2015
Cashless payment: Virtual billfold
HOW EASY it is to make “proximity” payments can
be experienced in London. The Oyster Card was introduced
there in 2003 by public transportation operators
and since then over 20 million cards have been
distributed. The user just whisks his or her card past a
terminal, and the cost is automatically deducted from
the card. The search for small change is a thing of the
past, waiting times are cut, and if a person rides several
times in a day, the less expensive day ticket price
is charged. The technology used is called Near Field
Communications, (NFC) and is good for wireless data
transfer across a distance of up to four centimeters.
Because the system has worked so well for subways
and busses, vending machines, post offices, gas
stations and supermarkets will probably soon get in
on the act. Already, Visa and Mastercard have positioned
themselves with their Paywave and PayPass
systems and the German Sparkasse banks are launching
Girogo—all driven by Apple, Google, and Microsoft.
Most market players expect that the technology
will find its way into cell phones in the medium term,
and that money will be transferred via phone bills and
SIM cards.
Many mobile phone manufacturers have already
announced NFC capability. Google has said that it intends
to launch the Google Wallet, an app that combines
geographical data, payment information and advertisements,
which will be free for users.
Evonik Magazine 2| 2012

40 GROWTH PRODUCTS
LED lamps: Small but efficient
THE MARKET FOR LEDS is growing at the speed of
light. In 2010 a British study predicted that the market
would more than double within three years to $17
billion. Philips Lighting, one of the biggest suppliers
in the market, assumes that in ten years, 70 percent
of all light sources will be LEDs. As a result, so-called
energy-saving lamps (compact fluorescents) will be
consigned to the museum—just like oil lamps and incandescent
bulbs before them. The advance of LEDs is
leading to the digitalization of lighting—and the transformation
of an entire industry. The atmosphere in cities,
offices and apartments will all improve as a result.
The reasons for the success are clear. LEDs are far and
away the most efficient light sources. As semiconductors
that give off light when electricity flows through
them, they are small, just about indestructible, and require
little maintenance. They can work for up to 11
years without interruption, after which they can be
disposed of in an environmentally friendly way. After
all, they don’t contain mercury—in contrast to compact
fluorescent lamps. The only barrier to an even more
explosive takeover of the market is the price. Today an
LED with the illuminating power of a 60W incandescent
bulb costs between €30 and €60. The price will
have to be reduced by a factor of ten—a feat that many
other semiconductor markets have achieved.
Name: LED lamps | Potential for growth: The total surface area covered by LEDs will increase from 22.5 billion mm 2 in 2012 to 80 billion mm 2 in 2018
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012
Name: App | Potential for growth: from 0 in 2007 to almost $57 billion by 2015 worldwide. In Germany app sales reached a total of €210 million in 2011
Apps: Smart business drivers
DEPENDING ON WHAT YOU WANT, they can
transform a smartphone into a piano, a weather station,
a toy or a newspaper to name just a few of their
capabilities. Apps—little programs for smartphones
and tablet computers—have created a growth market
such as the world has seldom seen. Starting from zero
in 2007, the year that the first iPhone went on the market,
apps are predicted to generate $56.6 billion in
sales by 2015.
This forecast is supported by real figures. Alone in
Germany a good 962 million apps were loaded onto
smart devices in 2011. That represents growth of 249
percent compared with 2010. Sales climbed to €210
million—an increase of 123 percent over the previous
year.
With a certain delight, the New York Times documented
the holiday season trade for 2011, in which
6.8 million smartphones and tablet computers were
used for the first time. Within hours of the traditional
Christmas Eve gift-giving, the number of app downloads
skyrocketed. Because people had time to play
with their new gadgets, 392 million apps were downloaded
giving their vendors the gift of record sales.
During the Christmas holidays Apple reached its
10 billionth app download for 2011, while competitor
Android reached its 10 billionth in total. Only a
few of the little programs cost anything up front, but
income from sales and advertising has so far generated
$3 billion in revenues for vendors in the Apple
App Store alone.
Evonik Magazine 2| 2012

42 GROWTH CREATIVITY
EVEN IF YOU’RE LEFT WITH NOTHING, you still
have your creativity. It can’t be gambled away or taken
away. So it's no surprise that creativity is at the heart of a
popular new theory: that the power of creativity can be
used to overcome the economic slump. The hope is that
a renewed bailout consisting of fresh ideas will help the
economy to recover.
The solution sounds simple: harnessing our mental
strength to solve the economic crisis affecting Europe.
According to Professor Adam Grant from the Wharton
School at the University of Pennsylvania, to unleash our
inner creativity we must first switch our point of view.
“Creativity is the currency of societal progress and the
hallmark of success in organizations. To innovate, adapt,
excel, and survive, organizations depend on their employees'
creativity,” Grant explains. In this regard, organizations
are very similar to countries. In both cases,
creativity can drive economic change. Companies such
as Michelin, Apple, and IBM are examples of a new corporate
approach that is moving beyond selling products
to offering creative solutions.
Before embarking on his academic career, Adam
Grant worked as a professional magician. As a result, he
knows how to attract attention and transfix an audience.
From his stage performances, Grant knows that the key
to creative success lies in our own social networks, and
he has demonstrated this in several studies.
If you carefully analyze the needs of people within
and beyond your social network, you’ll find that the most
well-connected individuals are also the most creative.
This is because new ideas can usually be traced to external
rather than inner impulses. The more people you
know, the more impulses you’ll receive. However, this
also means that a crisis can have serious effects.
If you lose your job, for example, you become isolated
and can’t afford to go out and maintain your so-
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012
In the end, only creativity can
lead to growth—it’s a resource
that doesn’t cost anything
and is accessible
to everyone. This applies not
only to companies but
also to countries and regions,
according to visionaries
around the world such as the
Greek entrepreneur Peter
Economides and the American
professor Dr. Adam Grant
TEXT JAKOB VICARI
Growth from
Zero—the Economics
of Creativity
PHOTOGRAPHY: NIKOS PILOS, HELLINIKON SA
Peter Economides wants
to rebuild Greece as a
brand: Ginetai will
support creative startups
and pave the way
toward a more promising
future for the
debt-ridden country

44 GROWTH CREATIVITY
Creativity has become an economic force
Google’s Swiss
headquarters in
Zurich inspires
employees with
colorful pods,
cow-print cushions,
and birch trunks
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012
cial contacts any more. If you’re mainly concerned
with your own survival, you think of yourself first and
others second. That’s why, according to Grant, the image
of the lone creative genius who changes the world is
misguided. “If you concentrate on other people, you’ll be
more creative,” he says.
The Rise of the Creative Class is the title of a pioneering
study published by the American economist Richard
Florida in 2002 that outlines how creativity has become a
driving economic force. Florida’s main thesis is that a society’s
creative class is a key force driving innovation and
the economic growth of countries. According to him, this
class has always promoted innovation. One of the earliest
examples he gives is the invention of the plow, a creative
idea that immediately revolutionized medieval agriculture.
Whenever farmers used the new invention instead
of hoes and spades to till the earth, yields increased dramatically.
Using numerous historical examples, Florida’s
study demonstrates that creativity has always thrived in
periods of social and economic upheaval, because people
are forced to find new solutions. At first Florida was
criticized for his theories. However, neither the collapse
of the New Economy nor the effects of the 9/11 attacks
have prevented the developments he predicted.
In fact, the rise of Google and Facebook have only
confirmed how right he was. Florida also sees the posi-
PHOTOGRAPHY: GOOGLE; MICHAEL KAMBER
tive side of the current economic crisis. He points out that
every previous crisis has cleared away the old and made
way for the new. He believes that we are now experiencing
one of the most pivotal moments in American economic
history since the Great Depression of 1929. According
to his current predictions, industrial cities will
shrink and centers of creativity will grow in the future.
Inventors becoming entrepreneurs
One of the most creative spots on earth, Silicon Valley,
owes its success to various crises. Perhaps the most
important one was the personal crisis of William B.
Shockley, a professor who helped invent the transistor,
the building block of the information age, and
later won the Nobel Prize in physics. In order to experiment
with silicon, he founded a company in what
later became known as Silicon Valley. The project was
sluggish, and Shockley took his frustration out on his
employees. As a result, eight of his most talented employees
left. This miniature crisis could easily have led
to the demise of the area’s silicon technology. However,
the former employees decided to stay there, pool
their ideas, and establish the Fairchild Semiconductor
company, which became a driving force in the booming
semiconductor business and ultimately a symbol
of modern America. But can such effects be planned,
perhaps even for an entire country?
Yes, says a marketing executive from Greece, of all
places. His name, appropriately, is Economides. This cosmopolitan
advertising executive is the founder of the Ginetai
initiative, which is based in Athens. As an advertiser,
Economides has advised Apple and Nescafé on creative
solutions. Now he’s establishing a new creative center on
the site of the old Ellinikon airport in Athens. The initiative
has already attracted interest from investors such as
Microsoft. Economides is well aware that Greece has no
industrial economy—construction machinery and smartphones
probably won’t ever be built there—so why not
focus on new energy resources and information technology?
Economides wants to transform Greece into a
brand of ideas. He intends to build on the brand’s rich
traditions: the country’s beaches, its mythology, the sea,
and the birth of democracy.
His new project Ginetai—the name means “it’s
achievable”—promises to open up a creative future for
the country. In essence, it’s an idea factory for creative
professionals who can apply to participate. “Our country
is going down the drain, so we have to start somewhere
now,” Economides told the magazine Der Spiegel. “We
need crazy types who will think outside of the box.” He
believes that in order to focus on growth the Greeks need
to start thinking creatively first. “The only thing we have
is our soft power,” says Economides.
Creativity is a force that comes out of nowhere and
changes the world. From advertising to tourism, from
software development to design, from architecture to
entertainment—creativity influences how we think, how
we work, and how we build.
One model for the Greek entrepreneur is an initiative
called Start-Up Chile, which awards US$40,000 to
creative professionals who have a promising business
PHOTOGRAPHY: MICHAEL KAMBER
GROWTH CREATIVITY 45
New impulses for new
ideas: The management
expert Professor
Adam Grant has shown
in his studies that
people who network
tend to be more
creative

46 GROWTH CREATIVITY
Tricks for creative thinking
Apple co-founder and
creative genius Steve
Wozniak is pictured
here in 2012 with his
team at Start-Up
Chile and in 1976
with Steve Jobs
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012
plan and are willing to move to Santiago. As a result,
even young German entrepreneurs are moving to South
America to put their creative ideas into practice. One of
them is Tobias Lorenz, who has started an online language
school called Glovico.org. To make the move, he
quit his previous job and now regularly writes about his
experiences on his blog. “I now hope to successfully complete
the next steps in the process, and then approach and
attract social investors,” he writes.
However, this doesn’t mean that creativity can be
bought. In fact, money can actually limit creativity. According
to research conducted by neuroscientists over
50 years ago, a regular salary and high bonuses can
lead to a narrow outlook—the exact opposite of what is
needed in order to switch perspectives. This was demonstrated
by Dr. Sam Glucksberg of Princeton University
in his famous candleholder experiment, in which the
participants were given a candle, a box of matches, and
a box of tacks and were told to attach the candle to the
wall so that it wouldn’t drip. As it turns out, the task can
only be solved creatively: by placing the candle in the box
and tacking the box to the wall. Interestingly, the participants
who were promised a monetary incentive needed
three minutes longer than their competitors to attach the
candle to the wall.
Are creative people cut out to be leaders?
But research has also taught us something else: that creative
types tend to be poor managers. A study recently
conducted at the University of Pennsylvania found that
creative people often do not make the best managers.
One well-known example is Steve Jobs, a creative genius
with plenty of charm—however, even his supporters conceded
that his managerial style was a disaster. He would
not hesitate to belittle his employees and call them “bozos.”
Yet the power of his ideas smoothed over these deficiencies—and
allowed Apple to grow.
Another challenge to creativity lies in the fact that
many people have a deep-seated suspicion of “creative
solutions.” Companies often have good reason to be
skeptical, because if creativity influences productivity,
then traditional structures can be called into question.
The foundations of a well-organized company—for example,
order and hierarchies, tradition and experience—
can suddenly be questioned. What’s more, companies
might suddenly have to tolerate seemingly useless results.
And why would they want to do that?
Yet the belief in creativity is still going strong. In
the online business network LinkedIn, the word that
members most often use to describe themselves is
“creative.” Visionaries such as Grant, Florida, and Economides
have shown the way—now it’s up to us to use
their ideas to develop something new.
SUMMARY
• Creativity drives economic growth and is especially
sought after in diffi cult times. Specifi c initiatives can
jump-start innovative startups—and entire regions
• Traditional business values such as incentives, leadership,
and effi ciency are at odds with a culture of creative
experimentation
PHOTOGRAPHY: START-UP CHILE; APPLE
PHOTOGRAPHY: PIERRE BESSARD/REA/LAIF
Ready for Takeoff
Unlike Europe’s airlines, which are making massive losses, China’s
aviation industry is experiencing one boom after the other.
THE FIGURES ARE AMAZING by European standards. According
to the Chinese civil aviation authority, 70 new airports will
be built and another 100 airports refurbished by 2015. Although
the speed of expansion may seem break-neck, even by Chinese
standards, it is necessary. Since Chinese air traffic began opening
up, the number of passengers has doubled every seven to eight
years. That’s why China plans to buy almost 1,000 new aircraft
in the next three years alone, according to a government spokesperson
at the Annual General Meeting of the International Air
Transport Association (IATA), which took place in Beijing this
summer. The Chinese fleet will thus soon include 4,000 aircraft.
In 2016, the first passenger jet made in China, the C919 from
Commercial Aircraft Cooperation of China (COMAC), will be
ready for takeoff. Conceived as an alternative to the machines
On cloud nine:
Just like the Chinese
economy, the
country’s aviation
industry is booming
GROWTH MOBILITY 47
of industry giants Boeing and Airbus, the Chinese model will be
able to travel up to 5,500 kilometers and carry 160 to 190 passengers.
Industry partners with many years of aviation experience
will help with planning and construction. For instance,
General Electric will provide the engine of the C919 while
Evonik will contribute the extremely stable and lightweight
ROHACELL construction for the rear of the fuselage.
The material, which is already being used by large manufacturers
such as Boeing and Airbus, helps reduce weight by up to
60 percent. This in turn reduces fuel consumption, thereby lowering
costs and the environmental impact. Says Uwe Lang, an
Evonik marketing expert in the aviation sector: “Aircraft manufacturers
want high-quality lightweight materials. And they expect
our solutions to be economical at the same time.”
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012

48 GROWTH E-COMMERCE
Cashing In on the Boom
Online retail is the latest promising growth sector on the Indian subcontinent. The business
got off to a slow start because credit cards aren’t widespread and online banking is considered
risky. A solution was found by using an old-fashioned method—cash
TEXT STEFAN MAUER
An internet café in
Jaisalmer—a gateway
to e-shopping for
the wider population:
Only about 20 million
Indians have their
own Internet access
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012
PHOTOGRAPHY:PASCAL SITTLER/REA/LAIF
ROHIT starts his day very early by Indian standards.
At eight o’clock in the morning, he and three colleagues
are gathered in a courtyard in suburban
Mumbai, impatiently waiting for a delivery truck to
arrive. The four men then move quickly to unload
two large bags marked with a yellow and turquoise
logo. The bags contain several hundred packages,
which the men register in a computer system using
hand-held scanners. After that, they sort the packages
according to addresses and stow them away in
their backpacks. Then Rohit jumps onto his motorcycle
and takes off with his deliveries.
We are visiting one of the local distribution centers
of Flipkart, India’s largest online retailer and
the engine behind what many people consider to be
potentially one of the largest growth stories on the
subcontinent.
According to estimates produced by First Data, a
consulting company, and the ICICI bank, the market
for online orders in India more than doubled from
2009 to 2011, rising to about 500 billion rupees (approximately
€7.3 billion). What's more, this development
is taking place even though barely 20 million
out of the country’s 1.2 billion inhabitants can use the
Internet to make purchases.
For a long time, the Indian market was considered
hard to reach by online retailers such as Amazon. It
is estimated that only one out of 50 Indians owns a
credit card—an important prerequisite for online payments.
But even credit card owners often refuse to
divulge their credit card information on the Internet,
because they do not trust the security of online networks.
That is one reason why online retail only really
got started when retailers began offering alterna-
tive payment methods and accepting cash payments
upon delivery.
It also explains why couriers such as Rohit are
obliged to carry quite a lot of cash around. More than
half of all online orders now specify payment by cash
on delivery. For retailers, it’s an expensive set-up: administering
each payment by cash on delivery costs
about 50 cents per order. But for most companies, the
increase in customers more than makes up for any
losses. “Our growth has forced us to reduce our margins,”
says Sachin Bansal, the founder of Flipkart and
the firm's Managing Director. “But next year we expect
to make a profit once again.” Flipkart has also set
ambitious sales goals. By 2015, the company’s annual
revenue is expected to rise from 5 billion rupees today
(about €73.2 million) to 45 billion rupees (about
€645 million).
New competitors and nervous investors
However, competition is steadily increasing, too. Just
a few weeks ago, real estate brokers in Bangalore reported
that Amazon had decided to rent large-scale
office space. At present, the American company only
offers price comparisons between different retailers.
Indians can only order products via the United
States—something most Indian customers cannot afford
or are unwilling to pay for given the expensive
shipping and handling costs involved. Following its
recent takeover of the e-commerce platform junglee.
com, Amazon is now also seeking to establish a foothold
in India.
In view of the company’s keen interest in office
space and its recent acquisition of a direct investment
license for India, change is certainly on the way.
A courier for Flipkart
has packed his backpack.
He delivers almost all
online orders via
motorcycle—if need be,
he's even willing to
transport fl at-screen
televisions
The boom in online retail has created new jobs for delivery agents: Packages are often still delivered using old-fashioned hand carts
PHOTOGRAPHY: KAINAZ AMARIA/REDUX/NYT/LAIF
PHOTOGRAPHY: KCHRIS STOWERS/PANOS PICTURES
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012

50 GROWTH E-COMMERCE
PHOTOGRAPHY:DDP IMAGES/AP/RAJESHKUMAR SINGH
Indeed, Amazon’s entry into the Indian online market
seems to be only a matter of time.
Even though no one yet doubts the overall growth
potential of e-commerce, the new competition is a
cause for concern as far as investors are concerned.
This in turn might have dangerous consequences for
online retailers. Due to Indian regulations, young
start-up companies are very rarely financed through
the stock market because they are required to report
profits first. Banks also seem to be shying away from
offering financial support to start-ups. Even larger
companies such as Flipkart mainly rely on venture
capital investors who have become increasingly cautious.
During the first six months of 2012, they invested
more than US$100 million in the sector. During
the same time span a year earlier, the equivalent
investment figure was almost US$180 million.
Price war in the online market
With the market entry of retail giants like Amazon,
pressure on profit margins is set to increase. Today,
retailers are already selling certain articles—particularly
electronic equipment, which traditionally has
low profit margins—below their buying price in order
to increase customer loyalty. In addition, orders
worth just a few euros are usually already shipped
free of charge. Even in the case of the leading retailer
Flipkart, the average order is not even worth €20.
But while the future of individual companies
looks uncertain in this competitive market, demand
for online retail is steadily growing. Almost half of
India’s population is under the age of 25, and their
purchasing power is rapidly rising. The average annual
middle-class income in India is currently esti-
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012
Internet customers of
tomorrow: School
children gather around a
mobile virtual classroom.
The information cart
is an educational aid
Delivery agents for
India’s largest
online retailer Flipkart
sort out packages
containing online orders
mated to be around US$1,455 per capita and is set to
increase to US$2,226 by 2017, according to the International
Monetary Fund. What’s more, online retail
promises to improve the flow of supplies to smaller
towns and villages.
For his part, Rohit has noticed that his employer
offers a growing range of products. More and more
often, he is asked to deliver cell phones and MP3 players
rather than books. And every once in a while, he
even transports flat-screen televisions on his motorcycle.
In large cities such as Mumbai, Flipkart uses
its own delivery service and large warehouses that
guarantee a delivery of most articles within three
days. In smaller towns and villages, external delivery
agents are used. Says Managing Director Sachin
Bansal: “We don’t want to start a price war. We define
ourselves through our service.” Flipkart recently
raised its minimum order price for free delivery by
50 percent, up to 300 rupees (just over €4). There
are no official figures yet on whether customers have
remained loyal. At least as far as Rohit is concerned,
things haven't noticeably changed: He still takes several
daily trips to the warehouse in order to refill his
backpack.
SUMMARY
• Online retail is considered a promising growth sector in
India. After all, at present only 20 million out of 1.2 billion
inhabitants have Internet access
• New competitors are squeezing profi t margins and
worrying investors
• Pioneers in the online retail sector are relying on improved
service in order to gain and retain customers
PHOTOGRAPHY:KAINAZ AMARIA/REDUX/NYT/LAIF
PHOTOGRAPHY: PER-ANDERS PETTERSSON/LAIF
Africa’s Einstein
Numerous geniuses are waiting to be discovered in
Africa, whose population today is about one billion people.
That's the belief of Professor Neil Turok, one of the
most highly decorated African scientists. He has established
innovative universities all over the continent in
order to foster education in the mathematical sciences
TEXT MARTIN FREY
NEIL TUROK has ambitious plans: He intends to discover the next
Einstein in Africa. To that end, the South African physicist and
astrophysicist has established academic institutions in Nigeria,
Senegal, Ghana, and South Africa. This year Ethiopia will follow,
and ultimately Turok plans to set up a total of 15 African Institutes
for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) across the whole continent.
The 54-year-old is one of the most highly decorated African
scientists, and he is utterly convinced of his cause. He compares
the situation in Africa with that in Europe a hundred years ago.
Back then a generation of young, ambitious Jews first gained access
to higher education—and quickly brought forth legendary
scientists such as Jacobi, Einstein, Bohr, and Pauli. According to
Turok, if a billion Africans were given similar opportunities, we
would see a corresponding development.
In the British magazine Wired, Turok explains that in Africa
brilliant individuals “have almost no opportunity to develop their
GROWTH EDUCATION 51
Neil Turok has
taught at Princeton
(NJ, USA) and
Cambridge (UK)
and is the Director
of the Perimeter
Institute for Theoretical
Physics in
Ontario (Canada)
minds further or to connect with the global science community... I
don’t think it’s stretching things to say that when a continent with
the diversity of Africa enters basic science in a big way, they’re going
to bring a whole lot of creativity and originality to bear.” Turok
points out that higher education can act as a job engine and accelerate
the continent’s social and economic development over the
long term, just as it has in Singapore and South Korea.
Day-to-day activities at the AIMS institutes are very different
from those at European universities. “Africa is the ideal place to
be completely innovative in advanced education,” says Turok. At
AIMS, professors live on campus together with the students and
are accessible 24 hours a day. There are no exams, only discussions
and group work. So far, a total of 412 students from 32
African countries have graduated, including Lesotho’s first cosmologist.
So if you ask Neil Turok, it’s just a matter of time until
the next Einstein is discovered.
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012

52 GROWTH INNOVATION
A Traveling Chemical Factory
Chemical production is becoming more customer-focused and decentralized,
thanks to individually equipped mini-plants housed in containers
TEXT KLAUS JOPP
A chemical factory
“on a hook”: The
complete production
facility in a container
can be easily transported
anywhere
in the world by
truck, rail or ship
PHOTOGRAPHY: GERD SCHEFFLER, EVONIK INDUSTRIES AG 2012
GROWTH INNOVATION 53
THE KÜBLER FREIGHT FORWARDING COMPANY
almost always transports special heavy-duty shipments
at night, when there are fewer vehicles on the road. A
brawny tractor unit with a long trailer has now been on
the road for over five hours on its way from Blaubeuren
to Hanau. Only a few more kilometers and some curves
remain before it reaches the Hanau-Wolfgang industrial
park, where a heavy crane is waiting for its valuable
cargo, which weighs nearly 20 tons. After three
hours of intense shunting, the approximately 12-meter-long
“Evotrainer” now stands securely in its designated
location behind Building 1024. The container
doesn’t exactly look spectacular at first glance; only
its many doors and cables indicate its special purpose.
Indeed, this colossal “tin can” could revolutionize the
way chemicals are produced.
The Evotrainer is the latest instrument developed
by Evonik Industries AG for substantially accelerating
the time it takes to transform an initial idea into
an innovative product that can be manufactured efficiently.
It also makes it possible to more quickly exploit
growth potential. “We’ve created a universal infrastructure
for chemical processes that treats the lab,
the technical department, and the production facility
as a single unit, so to speak,” says Dr. Jürgen Lang, Senior
Scientist at Process Technology & Engineering.
The Evotrainer was developed for several reasons.
First of all, time is playing an ever-greater role when
it comes to penetrating new markets. Secondly, the
chemical industry is becoming more and more global
and following its customers to the farthest corners of
the earth. Finally, the German chemical industry in
particular needs to maintain the innovative capability
that gives it a competitive edge. Creating a chemi-
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012

54 GROWTH INNOVATION
The “tin can” is
revolutionizing the
production
of chemicals
cal factory with a complete infrastructure in compact
form is a major step forward.
The fine and specialty chemicals segment in particular
does not necessarily need large-scale manufacturing
facilities, because customers often require
only several kilograms of many substances, mixtures,
and preparations, rather than tons of them. Nevertheless,
the products involved are indispensable because
they perform important functions or else ensure
high quality. A mini-factory like the Evotrainer is
ideal for producing such chemicals. The 3x12-meter
steel container holds everything needed for production—including
reactors, process control and safety
systems, and storage space for raw materials. It also
comes with cables for data transfer and everything else
required for a chemical process—i.e. electricity, water,
and technical gases. The complete environmental protection
and occupational safety concept employed in
the container covers everything from fire and explosion
protection systems to emergency exits and collection
pans for all types of fluids.
“This basic equipment setup allows the various
standards and regulations that differ from country to
country to be complied with quickly,” says Ali Hartwig,
who is responsible for small-scale processes at Process
Technology & Engineering. This means the Evotrainer
can be used anywhere in the world for chemical
production operations. One of the first Evotrainers
ever developed is located at Evonik’s Rheinfelden
plant, where it has been producing highly pure silane
compounds for use in chip manufacturing since
2010. The mobile chemical plant that was shipped to
Hanau-Wolfgang in the special heavy-duty truck will
be prepared for production operations by the end
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012
GRAPHIC: EVONIK INDUSTRIES AG 2012, DR. DIETER DUNEKA(3)
LAB
The fi rst step involves setting up a lab for a new
process. The process is then tested on a small
scale to see if it functions properly and whether
1 improvements need to be made
TECHNICAL DEPARTMENT
In the second step, the new process
is further automated and tested again
on a technical scale. If all goes well, 2 it’s then ready for use in production operations 3
The EU and the
chemical plant of
the future
PRODUCTION
Pack a complete chemical production facility into a
small space—that was the task assigned to the European
Union’s (EU) Copiride research project, which Evonik
and several other companies and universities have been
working on since 2009. A second EU project known
as Polycat has Evonik developing a high-tech infrastructure
for production processes based on the Good
Finally, the manufacturing facility is built and put
into operation. All three steps are carried out in the
Evotrainer, which saves time and money.
The container can be used almost anywhere
GROWTH INNOVATION 55
Manufacturing Practices (GMP) standard. The EU is
conducting these types of projects, which also
include the F3 Factory (fast-flexible-future), in order
to strengthen the competitiveness of the European
chemical industry. The idea is to introduce flexible
production processes that will help to keep this key
industrial sector operating in Europe.
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012

56 GROWTH INNOVATION
New ideas for the future: RENT-A-PLANT
of 2012. “As soon as the production process for a
special polymer is in place, the finished factory will be
moved to another chemical manufacturing location,”
says Lang. A new container will then be sent to Hanau
and equipped for further production operations.
Eliminating traditional borders
The chemical production containers largely eliminate
the traditional borders between lab testing, pilot facilities,
and actual production. The manufacturing process
is completely set up and tested in the Evotrainer,
and after that the container is sent by truck, rail or
ship to its final destination. “The benefits are obvious,
because the working environment is the same
from beginning to end,” says Dr. Hannes Richert, Senior
Project Engineer at Process Technology & Engineering.
“The process control technology, which is
available from the start, is especially helpful here.” In
other words, the Evotrainer is not a lab that works with
Bunsen burners, double boilers or rotary evaporators;
it’s a facility equipped with heat exchangers and columns
that are electronically monitored and controlled.
Moreover, in a completely new development, the processes
are designed with continuity in mind from the
very start. The degree of automation is also much
higher than normal; that helps to reduce costs.
This small-scale approach to production also gives
the Evonik team the opportunity to protect its valuable
knowledge and expertise. “Bringing our processes
to customers around the world in a type of black box,
so to speak, enables us to safeguard our specialized
knowledge more effectively,” Lang says.
The relative simplicity of the Evotrainer also offers
other advantages. In view of the fast pace of innova-
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012
Thinking ahead:
Dr. Jürgen Lang (left),
Dr. Hannes Richert, and
Ali Hartwig (right)
played a major role in the
development of the
Evotrainer. The fi rst such
complete factory,
located in Rheinfelden,
is now manufacturing
silane compounds for use
in chip production
tion, it’s important for companies to get their products
to market as quickly as possible, while at the same
time lowering potential risks in the period between
product development and the production launch. “The
Evotrainer makes it much easier for us to adjust to requirements
regarding volumes, for example,” Richert
explains. “With it, we can now also produce large volumes
in a small facility, and we can immediately double
capacity or increase it many times over by operating
the facilities in parallel.”
The mini chemical factory has even made it possible
to develop completely new business models at the
Evonik Group. One such model is RENT-A-PLANT,
which works as follows: Experts from Process Technology
& Engineering develop a process in cooperation
with the research and development departments
at a particular Business Line. After that, the fully
equipped production container is sent to the desired
location following its successful commissioning. Once
it is no longer needed, it can be brought back and reequipped.
Crane and shipping companies like Kübler
then step in—with drivers who will most probably be
given a night shift.
SUMMARY
• Mini chemical factories in containers are revolutionizing
the production of chemicals. These plants can be set up
close to customers nearly anywhere in the world
• The fl exible structure of the manufacturing units in
containers has made it possible to create a new business
model known as RENT-A-PLANT. After production
operations are completed, the mini factory is removed and
re-equipped for a new assignment
PHOTOGRAPHY: STEFAN WILDHIRT(2), EVONIK INDUSTRIES AG 2012
Evonik Global
PHOTOGRAPHY: TIM GARTSIDE/AGE/F1ONLINE
A Bright Future
A journey around the world to international Evonik locations
S O U T H A F R I C A From the economic powerhouse that is South Africa, Evonik Industries
is developing its PLEXIGLAS business throughout the entire continent
ot long ago, the acronym BRIC stood
Nfor a select group of ascending
economic powers: Brazil, Russia, India,
and China. Now there’s talk of BRICS,
indicating that South Africa has also joined
the ranks of countries on the rise. This
achievement is mainly due to the role this
country of 50 million plays as the gateway
to the African continent. With approximately
one billion inhabitants, almost as
many people live here as in China or India.
And many African economies are
booming. Ghana, for example, boasted the
world’s second-strongest economic growth
in 2011—an impressive 13.6 percent.
In Nigeria, Botswana, Kenya, and Tanzania,
the economy grew by five to seven
percent. Indeed, many places are seeing
a rise in wealth and a growing middle class.
“The situation in Sub-Saharan Africa
has changed drastically,” explains Holger
Morhart, General Manager of Evonik
Acrylics Africa (Pty) Ltd. He has worked in
Africa for 15 years and at Evonik for nine
years. “The average per capita income and
the standard of living are increasing. New
markets are opening up—for us as well.”
New markets every year
That’s why Evonik Industries intends to use
its base in South Africa to strengthen its
activities for one of its traditional products:
PLEXIGLAS for the construction and lighting
industries. This material is both durable
A new perspective on Africa: From Johannesburg,
Evonik Industries is working to intensify
its PLEXIGLAS business in the continent’s
dynamically growing economies
and light, and is particularly in demand
for neon signs and other lighting solutions
in the vibrant cities throughout the region.
Together with the South African plastics
processing company Ampaglas Plastics
Group, Evonik has set up a joint venture in
Elandsfontein that will supply the region
with locally extruded PLEXIGLAS sheets as
of spring 2013. “We’re starting with the
booming markets, but every year we plan to
expand our sales to more countries,” says
Morhart, who is the only European on the
team. “It’s important that we are producing
locally and understand the specifics of
these regional markets,” he continues.
“We’re doing development work within the
market—with promising results.”
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012

58 GLOBAL
Lightening Up Electric Cars
CHINA Evonik Industries has all the materials that are needed for modern mobility.
Several innovations presented at Asian auto shows are pointing the way forward
xperts all agree that the future of mobil-
Eity is electric. Indeed, every well-known
automaker is now developing electric
vehicles for the mass market, in many cases
in cooperation with battery manufacturers
and energy supply companies. Evonik
Industries AG is heavily involved in pioneering
projects in this sector. Electric mobility
is being pursued on a broad scale in China.
Practically no other country has set itself
such ambitious goals in this area: The Chinese
government plans to put five million
purely electric vehicles on the road by
2020. It will take a while to get to that
point, and for the moment the technology
leadership is still largely held by German
and Japanese automakers. Nevertheless,
conditions in the “Middle Kingdom” are
good for electric mobility. The government
supports the development of new vehicles
and is also helping to build the required
infrastructure. The process is also being
driven by the fact that China is constructing
new urban centers from the ground up
and the country’s large new middle class is
becoming more mobile and affluent.
Solutions for series production
All of this has generated a lot of interest in
prototypes like the Roewe E50, which was
presented by China’s biggest automaker,
SAIC, at the Shanghai International Industry
Fair and the Beijing Motor Show. Plans call
for this small city car to be launched on the
market as a series-produced vehicle by
2013 at the latest. The model will be able to
travel 135 kilometers on a single battery
charge. This feature makes it ideal for
everyday use—and it’s made possible in the
Roewe E50 in part by customized lightweight
design solutions from Evonik. For
example, the prototype is fitted with
special PLEXIGLAS windows that weigh 40
to 50 percent less than conventional
windows. The taillights are equipped with
a special variant of the material that not
only reduces weight but also improves light
diffusion. However, the truly exceptional
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012
component in the Roewe E50 is the model’s
hood, which Evonik manufactured with a
partner in Germany in accordance with the
automaker’s exact technical specifications.
The hood is made of the Group’s own
ROHACELL structural foam and is up to
70 percent lighter than a conventional
steel hood. The ROHACELL is mounted in
the hood like a “sandwich” between two
carbon fiber composite layers, each of
which is only 0.5 millimeters thick. Here
as well, a special epoxy formulation
based on Evonik’s VESTAMIN curing
agent was used—with everything optimized
to ensure cost-efficient production.
More rapid manufacturing
The weight savings are obvious, but automakers
are also used to molding
metal sheets in just a few seconds,” says
Dr. Rainer Lomölder, who worked on the
project as the Director of Application
Technologies for Epoxy Formulations in
Marl. “That’s why we need to ensure
that our composite can be processed at least
almost as fast.” Components that can
be built less expensively and in very short
manufacturing cycles thanks to VESTA-
MIN have made what used to be considered
impossible a reality today.
It therefore comes as no surprise that
Evonik recently laid the cornerstone for an
isophorone production plant at the Group’s
Multi User Site China (MUSC) in Shanghai.
The isophorone product family includes
VESTAMIN, which is also found in industrial
flooring and is increasingly being
used as a curing agent in lightweight materials
for automobiles and wind power
plants. If the electric car revolution does in
fact begin in China, Evonik will therefore
be more than ready to participate.
Successful cooperation: The Roewe E50 prototype from SAIC owes its light weight and long range
to materials from Evonik Industries—especially the ROHACELL used in the electric vehicle’s hood
PHOTOGRAPHY: IMAGO/XINHUA
“Extremely
Complex”
PHOTOGRAPHY: EVONIK/CARSTEN PAUL
CHINA In this interview, Sven Augustin
from the Automotive Industry Team talks
about China’s role in the development of
electric mobility and other topics
Is the future of electric mobility in China?
Global automakers are clearly in the lead
at the moment in terms of technology.
Japan and Germany are strong in lightweight
design and battery-operated
vehicles. Nonetheless, the size of China’s
domestic market for urban mobility and
its government’s positive attitude toward
electric mobility will make it a key
market for electric vehicles. Those who
develop the technologies today
will reap the benefits in the future.
What major challenge still remains?
Electric cars require a new vehicle architecture
that’s not based solely on steel.
Significant weight reductions can be
achieved at a reasonable cost through the
use of smart material concepts and series
production. But this is an extremely
complex process. The goal is to achieve a
balance between weight, battery capacity,
range, and overall vehicle cost in
order to enable mass production. In addition,
electric vehicles need to become
financially attractive in the medium term
even without government subsidies.
What is Evonik Industries contributing
to the new vehicle architecture?
The automakers are coming to us to test
new materials for vehicle bodies and
other components. The success of series
production heavily depends on the
materials that are used, and Evonik
has indispensable expertise regarding
materials and applications.
Sven Augustin,
Technical Marketing
Manager from the
Automotive Industry
Team (AIT), which
acts as an interface
to automakers
New materials: Nanotubes made of carbon, like those shown in this computer model, promise to
make possible entirely new applications—for example in the semiconductor and electrical industries
Getting In on the Ground Floor
CANADA The Corporate Venturing unit at Evonik Industries AG is never far away
when groundbreaking technologies are created at young startup companies
emiconductors from 3D printers, carbon
Snanotubes, insecticides made from
spider venom—products that sound like the
inventory of a science fiction novel are
just part of the everyday routine at Pangaea
Ventures. This investment firm in Vancouver,
Canada, specializes in supporting startups
that have developed forward-looking
technologies. Evonik Industries began
working with the company in the summer
of 2012 and is now participating in
the “Pangaea Ventures Fund III,” which
provides capital for energy,
environmental, and nanotechnologies.
Access to new technologies
This investment focus fits in well with
Evonik’s strategy. “With our investment in
the Pangaea Ventures Fund III, we now
have a strong partner in one of the world’s
most dynamic venture capital markets,
one that’s also directly related to our own
activities,” says Evonik’s Chief Innovation
Officer, Dr. Peter Nagler.
GLOBAL 59
Evonik plans to invest up to €100 million
in promising startups in the medium term.
The investments will be targeted at key
megatrends and focused on companies in
Europe, the USA, and Asia.
“Evonik is pursuing an ambitious
growth strategy,” says Evonik Executive
Board member Patrik Wohlhauser.
“Corporate venturing is an ideal supplement
to existing innovation processes
and structures at the Group.”
The goal here is for Evonik to gain
access to new technologies and contribute
its own expertise through a presence on
supervisory boards, for example. This is
already happening in North America.
The partnership also offers advantages for
Pangaea, as Chris Erickson, General
Partner at Pangaea Ventures, points out:
“The companies in our portfolio benefit
from cooperation with Evonik when
they move into new markets.” In other
words, Evonik is also never far away
when science fiction becomes reality.
PHOTOGRAPHY: MAURITIUS IMAGES/SPL
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012

Three Times More Effi cient
Seven billion people now live on Earth and an additional 78 million will be added each year between
now and 2015. According to the UN, our planet will have to feed nine billion people in 2050. Raising livestock is
very important because meat consumption is also rising rapidly around the globe. Special amino acids from
Evonik Industries can help reduce the associated burden on the environment. Biolys offers one example of how
Evonik is addressing the challenge by expanding its global amino acid production capacity
Biolys I: More from Every Acre
RUSSIA Amino acids are helping to make livestock breeding more efficient,
and thus farmland cultivation more effective, in the biggest country on Earth
here’s no shortage of space in Russia:
T The country with the largest land area
in the world used to be known as the
“breadbasket of Europe.” Agricultural
production plummeted in the 1990s,
however, and has only recently recovered
to a large extent—mainly due to more
efficient production methods, which are
vital to farming success. Russia is now the
world’s fourth-leading wheat producer
and plans to catch up in meat production
as well. Modern animal feeds, and especially
the essential amino acids they contain,
play a key role here. Mammals cannot
produce these protein building blocks
themselves, so they have to be ingested
with their food. Evonik Industries is
the only company in the world that supplies
all the important amino acids livestock
need. Production capacity is being
sharply expanded at the moment—in
Russia as well.
The Essen-based specialty chemicals
company has teamed up with Russia’s
Varshavsky Group to establish the OOO
DonBioTech joint venture. The new com-
PHOTOGRAPHY: DDP IMAGES/AP 60 GLOBAL
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012
pany will build a factory for producing
lysine in Volgodonsk, a city of 170,000
located north of the Caucasus. The facility
will have an annual production capacity
of 100,000 tons after it opens in 2014.
Biolys will be manufactured very
efficiently using the Group’s own biotechnology
process, which also employs
special microorganisms. The wheat
grown in the region will serve
here as a renewable raw material.
Better feed
While the capacity expansion is a response
to higher demand, it’s also good for the
environment. “Only if the amino acid concentration
is right can animals put the
nutrients in their feed to work,” says Dr.
Walter Pfefferle, head of the Bioproducts
Business Line. “If the concentration
is wrong, the nutrients will be excreted
unused—in other words, a large share
of a harvest will end up as slurry for
no good reason.” To prevent this, large
amounts of soy, fish meal, and wheat are
normally used to balance out the natu-
rally fluctuating mixtures of amino acids
in feed. However, a huge amount of land is
needed to cultivate soy for this purpose:
A land area nearly the size of Great Britain
is required for growing the soy that’s
used for feed in the EU alone. Feed manufacturers
are therefore relying more
and more on amino acid additives like
lysine. Such additives replace millions of
tons of soy every year just in the EU—and
they also significantly reduce the burden
on the environment.
Evonik has demonstrated in an ecological
balance sheet certified by TÜV Rheinland
that adding Biolys and other substances
to animal feed is an
environmentally friendly way to ensure
proper and healthy nutrition standards for
animals. Evonik not only supplies all four
key amino acids for animal feed but
also manages the world’s largest database
of amino acid profiles for raw ingredients.
The Group’s labs analyze around 260,000
samples each year in order to identify
the amino acid mixtures of various types
of grains from different regions. Experts
use this information to create optimal
feed mixes—which is the only way to get
the most out of every acre of farmland.
This ability is becoming more and more
important—in Russia and everywhere
else in the world.
Biolys II:
Far from Full
Giant farms, like the
one in Brazil pictured
here, cannot
safeguard the future
food supply by
themselves. Effi ciency
must also increase
USA The food superpower is also looking
to boost efficiency. Here, too, Evonik
Industries is expanding production capacity
here’s a very good reason why Nebraska
T is called the “Cornhusker State”:
It’s practically an agrarian nation in its own
right, with a total area of 200,000 square
kilometers. Its population of 1.8 million is
relatively small, however, but Nebraska
makes up for this lack of people with an
abundance of corn, wheat, soy, cattle, and
pigs. Blair is a small town in the far-eastern
corner of the state. It is here, right on
the border to another corn state, Iowa, that
Evonik Industries has been manufacturing
amino acids for livestock husbandry for
quite some time in cooperation with the
US food and agricultural company Cargill.
The demand for Biolys produced using
biotechnology processes is also growing
significantly in the USA, which is why
Evonik decided to expand its facility in
Blair. The final phase of the project
was completed in the summer of 2012;
capacity in Blair has now been
Biolys III: Powerful Technology
BRAZIL The country has advanced to become a global food production heavyweight
in just a short period of time. Now, Brazil is focusing on sustainable growth
city’s coat of arms often tells the story
A of intrigues and grand weddings, war
and peace, and the crafts that shaped it
for centuries. Expert knowledge is often
required to decipher the codes in the
crests—but this is not the case with the coat
of arms of the city of Castro in the southernmost
region of Brazil. Anyone can figure
out the story because the crest clearly
shows a river and green fields dotted with
grazing cows and horses. The entire scene
is framed by cobs of corn and ears of grain.
There’s no doubt that Castro is all about
agriculture—and agriculture on a grand
scale. The state of Paraná, where Castro is
located, is an important agricultural
center that supplies corn, cotton, wheat,
soy, peanuts, and beans. A lot of pigs and
poultry are also raised here. Poultry in
particular plays a very important role in
Brazil, as the country is now the world’s
biggest exporter of chicken. In fact, Brazil
has increased its chicken production fivefold
over a period of just one generation.
Local raw materials, global markets
As is the case in many other emerging
markets, the agrarian revolution in Brazil
has been driven by technologies that
increase efficiency. Improved animal feed,
for example, allows land to be farmed
more effectively. Amino acids are very important
here—and Evonik Industries is
the only company that manufactures all
four amino acids used in animal feed: methionine,
threonine, tryptophan, and
lysine. The Evonik Group and the US feed
company Cargill are now constructing a
new facility for biotechnological production
of lysine (brand name: Biolys) in Castro.
The new plant, which is being built
on a site already occupied by Cargill, will
go into operation in 2014 and supply the
entire region with lysine. “We’ve seen increasing
demand in Latin America and
especially in Brazil for years,” says Evonik
Executive Board member Patrik Wohlhauser.
“By also investing here, we are
moving closer to customers, strengthening
our position in these important markets,
and laying the foundation for further
growth for our business with lysine.” Castro
was chosen as a production location
not only because of the large number
of customers and the good logistical infrastructure
in the region but also because of
the excellent local supply of raw materials.
The Biolys manufactured in Castro will
be produced from corn—the same crop that
adorns the city’s coat of arms.
doubled to 280,000 tons per year. Both farmers and the environment benefi t when Biolys helps chickens get more out of their feed
GLOBAL 61
PHOTOGRAPHY: DPA PICTURE-ALLIANCE
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012

62 LIVING
On the Trail
of the Hippo
Tom Schimmeck looks at the
mystery of how nature regulates
biological growth
ILLUSTRATION PETER PICHLER
GROWTH IS ALL AROUND US. When
we think of Mother Nature, we picture
abundance: lush green forests, luxuriant
pastures, vast flocks of birds. And yet, in
the natural world at least, there are limits
to growth. Every tree, insect, and germ
only reaches a certain size. The same is
true of leaves, organs, and blood vessels.
But how does an organ know when to stop
growing? “That’s by no means a stupid
question,” says the developmental biologist
Professor Georg Halder. He has been
investigating the biological regulation of
growth processes ever since his student
days. “Growth,” he says with a laugh, “is
always an interesting topic!”
Following positions in Switzerland and
the USA, the 45-year-old now heads a major
research project that is looking into growth
control and cancer mechanisms at the Center
for Human Genetics of the University of
Leuven in Belgium. Along with other scientists,
Halder discovered the “Hippo pathway.”
As he explains, each cell has a pathway
via which it receives external signals.
The unusual name for this pathway arose in
the course of experiments with fruit flies.
Manipulation of their growth processes by
humans produced insects with oversized
heads and a dark and wrinkled skin similar
to those of a hippopotamus.
Halder’s work began with a basic question.
Is cell growth programmed according
to a simple command of the form “Divide
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012
1,000 times”? This seems highly unlikely,
because if some cells were to die, part of
the organ in question would fail to develop.
“But that’s not the case,” Halder explains.
“The organ continues to grow until
it reaches its designated form.” In other
words, there must be some kind of control
mechanism that monitors and regulates
growth. Is this similar to an architect
who is supervising a building project? “Exactly,”
says Halder. “Like an architect who
knows that ten windows have been damaged
during installation and now have to
be reordered.”
As soon as the organ is fully grown, a
Hippo signal halts the process of cell division.
What biologists still don’t understand
is how this is regulated, and by what kind of
signal. “That’s still a mystery,” Halder admits
with refreshing frankness. “We still
have no idea how this is measured.”
There is a lot of interest in the Hippo
pathway. After all, uncontrolled growth is
what is commonly known as cancer. More
knowledge here could lead to new drugs.
Links to certain cancers have now been discovered,
and the problem seems to lie in the
signal pathway. Yet Halder urges caution:
“We still don’t know why.”
Is there both good growth and bad
growth? “Good and bad are human labels,”
Halder warns. “But there’s certainly growth
that is unfavorable for an organism, the species,
or the world.” So how does nature reg-
ulate growth? “In a very abstract sense,
there seems to be some kind of feedback
for organs, for example, that tells the cells to
stop as soon the organ has reached the right
size.” Similarly, bacteria produce chemical
signals as soon as they reach a certain
concentration, and these halt their growth.
“Obviously there are certain mechanisms
in nature that say ‘stop’ as soon as a certain
amount of growth has been achieved.”
A researcher must devise experiments
to show how the various aspects of this
mechanism function, before assembling
them all into a whole. According to Halder,
biologists tend to think like engineers
and look for a magic switch that controls
everything—in this case, cell growth. Yet
he is skeptical that nature can be understood
in this way: “Isn’t what we call nature
really the product of seemingly random
events that are arranged in a seemingly
random way and that function in a miraculous
manner?”
In other words, a living creature is not a
machine where each part has its designated
purpose. “In biology 1,010 random events
conspire to make a cell do precisely one
thing and not another.” But if you change
the context, you’ll also change the correlations.
According to Halder, this is especially
true of in vitro tumor research: “Cancer
biology is going through big changes.
We really should be thinking about starting
anew.”
At a Glance
Here you will fi nd all of the developments and products from Evonik Industries AG
that are referred to in this issue, sorted according to the article where they are mentioned
A Bright Future, page 57, and
Lightening Up Electric Cars, page 58
PLEXIGLAS® molding compounds are thermoplastics
made of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA).
The compounds can be given a wide variety of
shapes, colors, and functions. A number of chemical,
physical, and application-related properties make
PLEXIGLAS® brand molding compounds an excellent
choice. These properties are indispensable
in the production of high-quality components in
injection molding, injection-blow molding, and
extrusion processes.
Application: Paint, plastics
Link: www.plexiglas-polymers.de
Ready for Takeoff, page 47, and
Lightening Up Electric Cars, page 58
ROHACELL® is the name of the finely porous
hard foam made from polymethacrylimide (PMI)
that Evonik Industries AG supplies for the production
of high-quality lightweight composite components.
The material, which is both very reliable
and very light, is used for lightweight sandwich
structures in automobile and aircraft manufacturing
in particular, but also in railroad applications,
medical technology, and sports equipment.
Application: Lightweight construction, insulation
Link: www.rohacell.com
Lightening Up Electric Cars, page 58
VESTAMIN® products are used as crosslinkers for
epoxy resins, which are used in corrosion protection,
concrete restoration, industrial floor coatings,
and composite materials.
Application: Automobiles, wind power systems
Link: http://crosslinkers.evonik.com
More from Every Acre, page 60,
Far from Full, page 61, and
Powerful Technology, page 61
A Plexiglas windshield and ROHACELL
foam components save a considerable
amount of weight in the SAIC Roewe E50
Biolys® supplies the essential amino acid L-lysine.
It is manufactured using fermentation and also
contains valuable byproducts from the fermentation
process. Evonik is the only company in
the world that supplies all four of the essential
amino acids for animal feed from a single
source: DL-methionine, L-lysine, L-threonine,
and L-tryptophane.
Application: Animal feed additive
Link: www.evonik.com/health-nutrition
Powerful Technology, page 61
Methionine is an amino acid. Like vitamins,
amino acids are vital nutrients for human beings
and animals. Between eight and ten amino
acids—known as essential amino acids—cannot be
produced by animals, and therefore have to be
ingested daily with the intake of food. Because
Evonik produces the four key amino acids for
advanced animal feed, it makes a major contribution
to securing the world’s long-term food
supply. Evonik is the world’s leading supplier of
products for this segment.
Application: Animal feed additive
Link: http://corporate.evonik.de/de/content/
product-stories/Pages/tierernaehrung.aspx
Threonine is an essential amino acid. Evonik
Industries produces L-threonine under the brand
name ThreAMINO®.
Application: Animal feed additive
Link: http://feed-additives.evonik.com
Tryptophane is a well-known protein-forming
(proteinogenic) amino acid. Tryptophane is
used to ensure an adequate supply of essential
amino acids, in particular when low-protein
pig feeds with a high cereal content are used,
because these types of feed mix may be
deficient in amino acids.
Application: Animal feed additive
Link: http://feed-additives.evonik.com
FINDING 63
Evonik Magazine 2 | 2012

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