R&D Leads the Way in Innovation and Partnership
Our Electronics business is the undisputed market leader in liquid crystals and photoresist materials, as well as one of the leading suppliers of organic light emitting diodes materials, and decorative and functional effect pigments. We have more than 2,500 patents for liquid crystals and 1,400 patents for OLED technologies – and we owe much of our innovation and success to the partnerships we have forged across a multitude of industries.
R&D by the Numbers
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13
The number of R&D locations around the world.
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>400
Our dedicated R&D staff members focused on Electronics.
Our experienced research teams focus on developing technologies to support our Display Materials, Integrated Circuit Materials, Pigments & Functional Materials, and Advanced Technologies lines of business.
Areas of focus
As part of our innovative R&D approach, we work with our customers and display manufacturers to further develop high-performance liquid crystal technologies. To enable close collaboration, we have set up state-of-the-art labs in many key markets such as Korea, Japan or Taiwan. In 2016, we also opened an R&D laboratory in Shanghai, China. These labs enable us to better serve the needs of local customers. Our Display Materials business continues to develop liquid crystals for architectural and automotive applications, focusing on sun protection, glare protection, and privacy control. Following several successful pilots, we have established our own production plant for liquid crystal window modules using liquid crystal technology.
To alleviate the high cost of computer chip manufacturing for our customers, we offer high-quality, sophisticated, and cost-effective products with better performance and better specifications. In close contact with our customers, we conduct research on new dielectrics that are adapted to the lower process temperature budget of novel chip types.
Our Pigments and Functional Materials business achieved new levels of success in 2016, earning the Darmstadt Enterprise Innovation Award for producing additives for more energy-efficient generators in partnership with our customer Siemens. Other noteworthy accomplishments include developing new color spectra and improving product generation of the well-known high-tech effect pigments. In technical applications, we intensified our activities in additives for 3D laser direct structuring with a focus on 3D printing of plastics, and successfully further developed our range of fluorosurfactants. In addition, we are also developing innovative raw materials for cosmetics – including a new skin-firming product called RonaCare® RenouMer.
Our market-leading OLED and innovative optoelectronic materials are outstanding examples of our R&D activities in the Advanced Technologies business. In 2016, we realigned our strategic projects for future business fields to mega trends, such as hybrid electronics and electronics packaging, which are developing at a rapid pace. To focus our development efforts, we’re concentrating on markets familiar to those we already hold a leading position in, such as display and semiconductor materials. In addition, we are addressing interdisciplinary topics, such as smart combinations of materials, and working in close collaboration with our customers to create formulations specifically developed and tailored for customer processes.