1. 2
FINDING OPPORTUNITIES & INCREASING SUCCESS OF INTRODUCTION
CREATE NEW BUSINESS
OPPORTUNITIES FOR ASSETS LIKE
BASIC MATERIALS, COMPONENTS &
TECHNOLOGIES
CONFIDENTIAL
Alexander Van Damme
Business Development
alexander.vandamme@verhaert.com
THEME 1 : STRUCTURED EXPLORATION IN THE FRONT END OF INNOVATION

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Alexander Van Damme
Business Development
alexander.vandamme@verhaert.com

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Agenda Situating the challenge
Risks involved
How? -A 3 step approach
Conclusions
Why should you do it?
Find opportunities
Develop opportunities
Convincing the right player

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Types of innovation
Duration of
competitive advantage
Development time &
Risk
High
Low
Low High
Technology
driven
Market &
User driven
Driven by
Company
Assets
Driven by
existing
product
Innovation driven by existing
assets,
Often this implicates lower
technological risks, but significant
market uncertainties.

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• Material?
• Process?
• Technology?
• Component?
• Patent?
• Data?
• Competence?
• Production capacity?
• Brand?
• ….
What is your asset?

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Gas barrier material
Pipes and
hoses
What are new
areas of
growth?
• Gas barrier material (oxygen, CO2, N2, etc)
• Transparent
• Hydrophilic
• Scratch resistance
• Low impact resistance

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Thermoset material Fuel system
Air supply
system
Powertrain
Cooling system
Brake
components
? Growth outside
the automotive
• Impact resistance
• Mechanical strength
• Chemical resistance
• Temperature resistance
• Lightweight
• Mouldable

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Innovating in the beginning of the value chain
Market development for technologies, for materials and
components

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Specific challenges
High risk projects
Lack of knowledge of
the value chain
Too many options
Slow adoption rates

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No guarantee of succes – but expectations are high
Long time to money
Plans are often vague at the start
High risk projects

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Lack of knowledge
of the value chain
The target customer is not your direct customer in the
value chain
The value chain is averse of change, and will be blocking
the innovation

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Few options are excluded – everything is possible
Most options and target applications are general and
unspecific
The added value in the intended application is not fully
understood
Too many options

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Since so many stakeholders have to be convinced, the
adoption rates are slow. PVC took 15 years to grow to
significant market volumes
Often capital intensive applications, requiring excellent
added value in order to justify the investments
Risk averseness of market players: changing material or
technology might bring benefits, but it will increase risks
dramatically
Slow adoption rates

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Reactive versus active application
development
Classical info sources: salesteams, suppliers,
contacts with clients, brainstorms, fairs and
conferences. This is reactive follow up of
existing opportunities
When being pro-active, you have several
advantages:
– First mover advantage
– You will end up in more disruptive
applications: new markets, not mere product
variations
– You can choose the high value applications
– More control of the process
– Supports a perception as innovative player

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A 3 step process
Finding opportunities Developing
opportunities
Convincing the
right market player
Using abstraction and
datamining to find
opportunities
Understanding the
added value it can bring
to the target application,
and maximising it
Choosing the right target,
the right arguments and
the right model

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Finding opportunities
We combine abstraction with datamining to find many
relevant opportunities from broad application fields
You don’t know the application, you don’t know how your
features are appreciated
So include secondary and unimportant features, they
might proove to be vital

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Abstracting your product:
what problems does it solve?
People don’t want to
buy a drill,
they want a hole

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High
rigidity Chemical
resistant
Low MVTR
Water absorption
Impact
resistant
Usable in challenging
environments, like
engines, production
installations
Gass barrier
Preserving
foods
light & strong
Keeping
the content
dry
Translucent
Showing
content
Abstracting

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Example: ‘Whiteboard’
Abstracting & Datamining to find new opportunities
Smooth surface
Scratch resistant
Heat treated enamel
powder (porcelain) on
steel backing
T° resistant
Easy to clean
Aesthetic look – gloss finish

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IPC Nr Description
E04F13/00 4 Coverings or linings, e.g. for walls or ceilings
A61K6/00 4 Preparations for dentistry
A47J36/00 3 Parts of cooking-vessels
F27B3/00 2
Hearth-type furnaces, e.g. of reverberatory type ; Tank
furnaces
H01M8/00 2 Fuel cells
A01K61/00 1
Culture of fish, mussels, crayfish, lobsters, sponges,
pearls or the like
A47G7/00 1 Flower holders or the like
A61K8/00 1 Cosmetic or similar toilet preparations
A61L27/00 1 Materials or coatings for grafts or prostheses
E01C9/00 1 Special pavings ; Pavings for special parts of roads
E02B3/00 1
Engineering works in connection with control or use of
streams or rivers
E04D1/00 1
Roof covering by making use of tiles, slates or
shingles
F04C18/00 1
Rotary-piston pumps specially adapted for elastic
fluids
What areas within
‘cements or building
material’ mention
‘porcelain’ or ‘enamel’
and ‘steel’ or ‘iron’ or
‘metal’
Based on +/- 400 patents
Datamining – patent resources

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Roof tile: porcelain layer on steel
backing plate.
Form stability, fire resistance,
corrosion resistance, waterproof,
surface hardness
Porcelain coated stainless steel
heating cooker.
Providing a durable, heat resistant
cooker
Protection plate for underwater
Prevents corrosion, but also
growth of marine creatures

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Outdoor table with integrated
Tepanyakki
Scratch resistant
T° resistant
Easy to clean
Aesthetic look – gloss finish

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Developing opportunities
This is about understanding the added value
Your application should be highly attractive, or it shouldn’t be
You should make a difference in the value driver

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Example
One of the opportunities we researched for Vyncolit was
the integration in induction hubs
The material allowed faster heating, and smaller
dimensions
After tests, we knew the heating speed was 8% faster,
this was not disruptive enough, so the application was
dropped

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Example New business development
opportunities based on
Quaryl material

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Launch of the Squaro Edge 12

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Convincing the right market players
Choosing who to target
– Where in the value chain
– What player?
Who within the organization
What to tell them?
What after this first introduction?

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Who to target?
• The key decision maker in the value chain
• Most of the time, it’s not your direct customer, it will
be a brand owner
• Go for a market leader or market challenger, that
has a need to innovate
Dry run your pitch with a smaller player

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Talk about their problem
and how you will solve it,
Not about how fantastic
your product is
Talk to the business Not to the R&D department

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Don’t expect them just to
buy your product
immediately
Go for a cooperation
where you can start
testing the integration of
your material

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Conclusions
So what do we bring to these projects?
Toolset
Active in
different
markets
Technical
assets
Creativity
Methodology

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It’s about bringing your current assets to new markets
– Not a mere marketing activity
– Not a mere product development
activity
But a combination of the two
Conclusions
This approach will bring a more focussed
business development approach. Aiming at
specific opportunities instead of shooting wildly at
possible new applications

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34. Slide 35
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