Feasibility study for an
Estonian materials
technology programme
Dr. Laura Kauhanen
Tommi Ristinen
Anneli Ojapalo,
Dr Markku Heino,
Matti Kuusisto
Spinverse works with the Nano- and Materials
Technology Innovations Internationally
Finnish national Technology
Programme Coordination:
-Nanotechnology (70M€)
-Functional Materials (205M€)
-Fuel Cells (140M€)
- Etc.
Nanotech Northern Europe
2005, 2006, 2007
Helsinki, FInland
Nano- and materials tech
Business Consulting
- Technology transfer
-Markets
-- Business development
- Strategy
-Capital raising
Nanotech Northern Europe
2008
Copenhagen, Denmark
Nanotechnology cooperation agreement
between Finland and
China
Nanotech Europe 2009
Berlin, Germany
Nanotechnology cooperation agreement
between Finland and
Russia
ObservatoryNano –project
under European
Commission
Estonian national materials
technology programme
feasibility study
EuroNanoForum 2011
Nanotech Europe 2011
Budapest, Hungary
What do we mean when we talk
about innovation?
Let’s enlighten the topic with a historical
example…
Innovation begins with a discovery
In 1600, William Gilbert
coins the term electricity
(‘like amber’)
The discovery gives rise to an invention

In 1600, William Gilbert
coins the term electricity
(‘like amber’)
1879: Thomas Edison
demonstrates the
incandescent light bulb
The invention is commercialised

In 1600, William Gilbert
coins the term electricity
(‘like amber’)
1879: Thomas Edison
demonstrates the
incandescent light bulb

1890: His businesses
combine to become
Edison General Electric
What does Spinverse do?
Some background:
Materials are at the core of industrial
innovation and enable it.
/European Comission
Spinverse confidential
Background
• The European Comission has recently addressed the
relevance of materials science and engineering for the
European well-being and industrial competiveness.
• Added value materials with higher knowledge content,
new functionalities and improved performance are
critical for industrial competiveness and sustainable
development
• The materials themselves represent a key step in
increasing the value of products and their
performance
Materials technology is in challenging competitive
position in the whole Europe – it is a perfect time for
Estonia to answer these challenges
•
•
•
Materials technology eroding in Europe

USA and Japan traditional leaders

South-America, China, India and Eastern-Europe strongly emerging
Human resources are an issue

Materials technology is very research intensive

Co-operation between industry and academia is extremely important
Co-operation and concurrent engineering needed

Materials technology allows breakthroughs in other technological areas

Catalyst for innovation

Required close co-operation between e.g. machine building, process
technology and chemical technology
=> High requirement for knowledge management and clever design practices
Source: EuMaT Roadmap
Materials technology is by nature an
enabling and interdisciplinary field of
technology
• It provides significant added value on different fields of
industry enabling renewal and increased productivity of
existing industrial fields as well as development of new
business areas based on high added value products and
services.
Estonian Materials Technology
Feasibility study
Aim of the study is to analyse Estonian industry
and R&D competence in short, medium and long
term
•
Analyse technology trends in materials technology and advanced
materials in medium and long term perspective.
•
Provide an analysis of short-to-medium term technology transfer
and an overview of promising business fields for the Estonian
industry and service sector in medium and long term perspective.
•
Evaluate the Estonian materials science and technology research
areas from mid-to-long term commercialisation perspective.
Timeline for the study: What has been
done (October-March)
•
•
•
Preliminary research

Desk research, patent analysis, project analysis and publication analysis

5 preliminary interviews
Main study Desk research and analysis continued

Questionnaire to university research group leaders in materials
technology and similar

Over 30 interviews in industry and academia

Intermediate report in December
Reporting and dissemination

Workshop for preliminary dissemination, validation and discussion in
March 2011. Report was sent to 202 emails for review. Responses were
got from 15 persons.

Final report

Dissemination
Based on publications, patents and
questionnaire Strong areas of Estonian
materials technology
•
•
Advanced materials

Photovoltaic materials

Nanomaterials

Carbon based nanomaterials

Electroactive polymers and
electrically conductive polymers

Rare-earth metals

Advanced sensor materials

Metal-matrix composites
Energy technologies

Thin film solar cell technology

Supercapacitors

Fuel cells
•
•
•
•
Micro and nanoelectronics

E-paper

Atomic Layer Deposition
Coatings technologies

Advanced coatings for metals industry

Electro-optical coatings
Biotechnology and biomaterials (e.g.
biopolymers)
Measurement, modelling and processing
technologies

Computational chemistry

Measurement technology in general

Laser technology

Atomic Force Microscopy
Materials technology in
Estonia: Demand and supply
Could the industry use materials
technology for renewal and an upgrade?
Industry
Employment
Sales
Metals and machinery
25 000
1900 MEUR
Forest industry
30 000
1200 MEUR
Chemical industry
2 800
300-500 MEUR
Plastics industry
3 500
300 MEUR
Construction materials
5 000
700 MEUR
Textiles industry
15 000
350 MEUR
There is globally a huge potential for advanced
materials for metals and machinery – Estonian
research matches well with these needs
•
Metal coatings and surfaces

Tribological coatings

Wear reduction (~7% of GNP in developed countries)
•
Composites for replacing metals in various applications

Cermets (TiC, Cr2C3)

Use of other advanced materials to replace metals
•
Modelling and measurement

Non-destructive evaluation and testing

Atomic Force Microscopy, Surface Probe Microscopy, other
measurements
Conclusions
•
In conclusion, there is very high potential in the Estonian metals and
machinery sector

Large company base, high net sales and high export rates

Some companies with good potential to adopt novel materials
technologies due to their large size (e.g. BLRT and Norma)

Long traditions in specific fields such as toolmaking, which requires high
quality coatings
•
Key challenges for Estonia

Need to build more complete value chains including large companies,
smaller subcontractors and universities

Need to decrease the gap between universities and companies – this is
an important challenge also globally
•
Important companies

Norma, BLRT
The large forest industry is mostly related
to mechanical processing of wood
•
Industry overview

30000 employees, 1200 MEUR sales/year

14% of total exports, positive trade balance

Important subsectors in:

Sawmilling

Joinery and prefabricated buildings

Log-houses

Furniture

Construction supplies
•
R&D work


Very small group in Tallinn University of Technology studying chemical treatment
Development related to mechanical production conducted in Võrumaa
Kutsehariduskeskus and in Maaülikool
Forest industry is undoubtedly very important for
the Estonian economy – R&D base is rather low,
though
•
Despite the high importance of the industry, there is practically no
advanced materials research in Estonia regarding wood based
materials
•
There is only one small research group conducting wood chemistry (in
TUT), which mostly does applied research according to company needs

•
Developing high quality research in advaced wood based materials
requires a lot of time and effort

•
Large majority of the teaching and development is related to mechanical
processing
Does Estonia want to invest in this or is wood chemistry research required at all?
Important companies

Estonian Cell, Stora Enso, UPM
Chemical industry is an important raw
materials producer for other industries
•
Industry overview
 3000 employees, 300 – 500 MEUR sales/year
 Important subsectors for materials technologies
 Oil shale production
 Rare earth metals production
 Construction chemicals
•
R&D work
 Very strong R&D base in universities in fundamental research:
TUT, TU, KBFI, ...
 Also in modelling and measurement (e.g. research that lead into
establisment of Molcode)
Key implications for the plastics industry
•
There is a clear need for higher added value products in the Estonian
plastic industry

This calls for more collaboration between/within companies and
universities

Current subcontracting business models are making collaboration difficult
•
Plastics are extremelly important materials for future

Polymer composites for transportation, construction and machinery

Plastic and printed electronics (lighting, packaging, solar cells, ...)

Packaging
•
Interesting companies

Estiko Plastar, Nordbiochem
Construction materials is the most varied
sector of all compared
•
The share of advanced materials technologies is still very low globally
(~1% of products have nanoenhanced features)

Price pressure is very high for construction materials
•
There are very interesting initiatives related to advanced materials
related to construction materials

•
ENCC, Andrese Klaas, Clay Processing Services
R&D work

Very dependent of the raw material and application (minerals, oil shale,
textiles, wood, chemicals)

Dedicated research done mostly in TUT. Chemistry and physics also in
TU, KBFI and ENCC.
Textiles industry needs to start looking
for higher value added products
•
Industry overview

15 000 employees, sales 350MEUR/year

Mostly related to production of clothing and home textiles
•
R&D work

Mostly conducted in TUT, some physics research is also related (TU,
ENCC)
•
Textile industry needs more competitive products

Technical textiles offer huge benefits for many industries (medical,
construction, etc, etc.) (similar to plastics in a way)
•
Interesting companies

Esfil Tehno, Haine Paelavabrik, Toom Tekstiil, ENCC
In addition there a growing high-tech
industry based on materials technology
We identified several Interesting start-up
companies
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Skeleton Technologies
Crystalsol
Nordbiochem
Micromasch
Fits-me
Baltic Technologies Development
Elcogen
What about
Technology transfer?
Research groups working on different materials
and developing technology to different industries
Estimate of overall situation
Coatings
SemiCeramics,
and surface Optical NanoTotal Metals conductors concrete Polymers treatment materials materials
Total
19
13
11
17
20
13
21
Electronics / ICT
14
7
9
9
9
9
Forest and paper
5
Metal
8
8
Construction
10
6
Machinery
11
9
7
Energy
22
8
10
6
9
6
11
Environment
15
6
6
7
9
Chemical industry
13
9
7
Biotechnology
12
7
Education
For transfer technology there has to be
educated people to apply the new
technology in a company
• Not enough educated people in companies
• To bridge the gap between education and especially the
traditional industry co-operation is extremely important.
• In all but two of the interviewed cases most of the PhDs
were employed by the Universities, this was especially
true with the more traditional fields of materials science
such as metals and machinery.
• Some small efforts are underway to tackle these
problems: Joint PhDs, Master’s programs with industry
(ENCC) etc.
Materials technology
abroad: co-operation and
competition
International collaboration is Research
not R&D focused
• University groups in Estonia are very well connected
internationally.
• Many companies have international connections through
their clients or owners.
• Companies are less connected to international research
institutes or other companies doing R&D.
Programs enhance collaboration
but there is still low collaboration
between Nordics and Baltics
•
Most of the neighbouring countries of Estonia are focusing their
materials technology efforts on similar technology areas as Estonia.
•
All neighboring countries have established Materials technology R&D
programmes during the last ten years. Also several nanotechnology
programmes have been established.
•
The outcomes and results of these programs are still somewhat
unclear, mostly because they are so difficult to measure. Benefits:



increased cooperation between academia and industry
increased international cooperation: but cooperation has mostly been
facilitated beyond the boards of Europe.
Nordics and Baltics are not collaborating with each other
Conclusions and
Recomendation
Conclusions and Recommendations based
on Technology Readiness Level
•
•
•
•
Mature technologies and well established companies
Technologies close to market entry
Applied research
Fundamental research
Key role of ”mature” manufacturing
industry
• Largest economic potential with lowest risks




Motivate companies to create and produce higher added
value products!
More educated workforce is needed to understand new
technology and advanced materials
Interest in high technology and advanced materials need to
be awaken in companies
=>Applying materials knowledge is key to success in all
areas
• Not everything needs to be invented in Estonia
•
Support clever technology scouting from abroad
Technologies and companies close to market
entry are very important to the success of
Estonian materials technology in the short term
•
These companies have highest potential in the medium term
 Not interesting from technology transfer point of view
 Most (all) efforts are focused in commercialising the main product
•
The companies need good support from private investors, public
sector as well as highly determined and skilled team
 With good support, there is potential to grow new success stories
in 3-5 years of time
•
But, the size of investments needed is usually very much higher than
for e.g. ICT (initial investment for starting up production in scale of 1-2
MEUR or more)

International investments need to be attracted to Estonia, too
Remember: Quick wins should not be
expected from new materials
development – application oriented
solutions are quicker to implement
Applied research is not transfered enough
•
Technologies in the applied research phase typically have the highest
potential for technology transfer


•
There is currently a clear mismatch between materials technology
inventions in Estonia and requirements and capabilities of the industry
•
•
•
Highest potential for technology transfer exist in the metals industry coatings
segment (strong industry + many research groups)
There are also other interesting initiatives for technology transfer in Estonia in
various advanced materials
Universities are currently key player in applied research – their role needs to be
clarified and simplified to get more companies interested in collaboration
Universities should be more attractive partners to private companies, there is
much more value to the economy with a technology being commercialised by
an Estonian company than with a single patent sold abroad
Funding for research needs to be reorganised / reconsidered
•
This was heard from both researchers and companies
The role of Fundamental research is
important in creating knowledge and
skills to be able to adapt to future
changes
•
•
There are internationally strong areas of research in Estonia in some
areas of fundamental physics, chemistry and materials
The huge number of different areas of research mean that it is very
difficult to create world class technology on several areas
 A small country should carefully think of focus areas where it
is putting its efforts in order to provide industrially applicable
findings, either for local industry or for international technology
transfer


The country should define a national strategy and roadmap for future
focus areas in materials technology based on strong areas of research
and potential synergies in the university research (coatings technology
is a good example)
Moreover, universities and even research groups should have a
concrete strategy on where to develop their expertise
Approaches for the future efforts on
materials technology in Estonia
1. Industry driven small R&D programme on materials technology with
5-10 key players.
2. Applied research Materials Technology programme (where each
project has to have industrial partners)
3. Programme to distribute all funding given to fundamental research
and applied research funding in Materials technology development
4. Supporting actions but no Program to distribute funding
5. Programme with strong support actions to prepare for future
funding “Materials R&D to business”
“Materials R&D to business” - Programme
•
•
Programme has two phases.
First phase lasts 2-3 years where there is strong emphasis on Programme
support actions

Facilitation concentrates on







Dissemination of current materials technology research to traditional industry
Enhancement of industry-university cooperation.
Help in applying for funding of joint applied research projects (both national and
international funds)
Activation of industry to do R&D
Activating Materials technology industry-education projects
In dedicated areas (as chosen in this report), together with industry
associations technology-industry road-maps should be done and valuechains could be explored
An important part of facilitation should be on international activity
“Materials R&D to business” - Programme
•
•
•
•
After the first phase there will be a midterm evaluation to assess the
continuation of the program.
In the second phase the programme could include own funding focused on
getting materials technology to business.

However, the distribution of this funding should be made as simple as
possible.
For best benefit the programme should be started soon after this feasibility
study has ended.
The key success factor is related to the programme coordinator/facilitator.
This person has to

Understand the technology, technology transfer, and industry needs

Know the situation in Estonia

Be up-to-date with world-wide developments and trends

Work in cooperation with other iniatives (industry associations, clusters,
other programs, international programs etc.)
As a final remark. Researchers:
Companies
Government
Pingutage uuenduste nimel
WHY ESTONIA?
WHAT
MAKES A
SMALL
NATION
KNOWN
Whatever
it is
our advise
to you:
OUT-OF-THE-BOX THINKING?
CREATIVITY?
Pingutage
Uuenduste Nimel!
INNOVATION?
Materials technology can renew your
industry
Snapshot of
Estonian research
Spearheads of Estonian R&D
Semiconductors
Nanomaterials
Oil shale
•Condensed matter physics +
semiconductor physics
•Inorganic chemistry
•Nanoelectronics
•Nanoelectronics
•CNTs, graphene
•Carbides
•Thin films and coatings
•Oil shale for energy
•Oil shale for chemicals
•Oil shale waste utilisation
•UT, TUT, ENCC
•UT, TUT, ENCC
•TUT, ENCC
•TUT, TKTK, UT
•TUT, UT
•TUT, UT, EBC, TFTAK, KBFI
•Tribological coatings
•Metals replacement by
hybrids, composites
•Electroactive polymers
•Electrically conductive
polymers
•Various areas of biotechnology
•Little materials relevance
Metals
Polymers
Biotechnology
Solar cell research is mostly based in Tallinn
University of Technology
Semiconductors
Nanomaterials
Solar cell technologies
Semiconductor materials
Electrically conductive polymers
Hybrid organic-inorganic materials
Thin films, coatings and deposition
Nanomaterials
TUT
Crystalsol
Polymers
Biotechnology
Many researchers are studying subjects and
materials relevant for sensor technologies
Semiconductors
Nanomaterials
Sensor technology
Semiconductor materials
Electrically conductive polymers
Thin films, coatings and deposition
Nanomaterials
Laser technology
Biosensors
Rare-earth metals and oxides
TU
ENCC
TUT
Evikon MCI
...
Polymers
Biotechnology
Energy storage materials research is mostly
based in Tartu
Nanomaterials
Energy storage
materials and
technologies
Fuel cells and materials
Supercapacitors and materials
Electrochemistry
Nanomaterials
Carbon based materials
TU
KBFI
Elcogen
Skeleton Technologies
Metals
Polymers
There is large industry and research base
for advanced materials in metals industry
Nanomaterials
Novel coatings,
composites and
hybrids for
metals industry
Wear reduction
Tribological coatings
Novel composites and hybrid
materials
Metals
TUT
TKTK
TU
Metals and machinery
Polymers
Toolmaking
There is a lot of expertise and state-of-the-art equipment
related to materials technology ”support functions”
Semiconductors
Nanomaterials
Oil shale
Measurement, modelling and computation
•Computational chemistry
•Measurement technology
•Laser technology
•State-of-the-art equipment
•UT, TUT, ENCC, KBFI, ...
•MikroMasch, LDI, other laser companies,
Molcode, Baltic Technology development
Metals
Polymers
Biotechnology
Biotechnology and oil shale technologies are
also very much studied
Oil shale
Research mostly related to energy applications
•Oil shale for energy
•Oil shale for chemicals
•Oil shale waste utilisation
•TUT, ENCC
There is little materials relevance in biotechnology
research
•TUT, UT, EBC, TFTAK, KBFI
•Various areas of biotechnology
•Little materials relevance
Biotechnology
High materials relevance
Solar cells
and materials
Sensor
technologies
Novel coatings
and materials
for metals
industry
Energy
storage
materials
Measurement, modelling
and computation
Low materials relevance
Oil shale
Biotechnology