We’re the largest global paints and coatings company and a major producer of specialty chemicals. We supply industries worldwide with quality ingredients for life’s essentials. We think about the future, but act in the present. We’re passionate about developing sustainable answers for our customers. Based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, we are a Fortune 500 company and are consistently ranked as one of the leaders on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. We have operations in more than 80 countries, and employ more than 50,000 people, who are committed to excellence and delivering Tomorrow’s Answers Today™. © 2010 Akzo Nobel N.V. All rights reserved. “Tomorrow’s Answers Today” is a trademark of Akzo Nobel N.V.
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TOMORROW’S ANSWERS TODAY
THE AKZONOBEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 4 MAY 10
UK Pavilion, Shanghai Expo 2010, designed by Thomas Heatherwick; heatherwick.com
A
THE AKZONOBEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 4
Supporting future generations Since early 1995, our Education Fund has been providing support and offering the chance of a better future to deprived children in developing countries around the world. Working with Plan International, the aim is to help young people fulfill their potential by improving the quality of their education. Money is raised through active fund-raising by AkzoNobel’s businesses and employee donations, with around 65 projects in 15 countries having been supported during the last 15 years – benefiting thousands of children aged three to 16 and their communities. The number of indirect beneficiaries is too high to count. As well as constructing entire schools, projects have also involved providing furniture, training teachers, improving facilities and promoting health and hygiene in countries such as Brazil, China, Vietnam, Bolivia, India, Indonesia, Ecuador and the Philippines. By ensuring that children have access to full pre-school and primary education – giving them a crucial advantage over those without – we are investing in individual talent and the development of economically and socially-empowered future generations.
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WELCOME Jim Kakalios Greetings, people of the 21st century, and welcome to issue four of A Magazine. As a physics professor at the University of Minnesota in the US and author of The Physics of Superheroes, I am honored to be featured in this edition, which focuses on technology. We are now well into a new century, and still awaiting the jetpacks, flying cars and robot housekeepers promised in science fiction pulp magazines and comic books. Yet we take for granted the technology of our everyday lives, such as cell phones, laptop computers, DVDs, iPods and digital cameras. It turns out that we are living in the World of Tomorrow after all. In his 1930s pulp adventures, the science hero Doc Savage employed a tri-motored streamlined plane capable of cruising speeds of 200 miles per hour! Think of what Doc and his band of adventurers could accomplish with the Concorde, whose incredible history is reviewed in this issue. Travel that was considered pure fantasy 60 years ago, such as supersonic flight or manned missions to the moon, may perhaps serve a new generation of commuters. While the superpowers possessed by the characters in comic books nearly always involved massive violations of the laws of physics, there was one hero who required only a modest suspension of disbelief – the armored avenger Iron Man. The technology to duplicate much of Iron Man’s suit of wonders exists nowadays, if only one had a small, lightweight power supply (such as Tony Stark’s “arc reactor” – the size of a hockey puck producing the energy equivalent of three nuclear power plants) to drive the jet boots and exoskeleton. But the efforts of researchers of today do not only mirror the pulps and comic books of yesterday in designing the technology of tomorrow. Biomimicry has a long, honored place in inspiring technological innovation. To cite one example, over 60 years ago, George de Mestral’s investigations of how burrs clung so fiercely to his woolen trousers led to the development of fasteners consisting of millions of tiny hooks and loops, and Velcro was born. Scientists are developing artificial tape which mimics the electrostatic attraction of millions of microscopic filaments that enables geckos to walk up walls and across the ceiling. If this “Spider-Man tape” ever becomes as common as Velcro, I, for one, will never wait for the elevator again! The technology of the future, brought about in part by the researchers and developers at AzkoNobel, will continue to transform science fiction into reality. If comic book super heroes can provide not just technological inspiration, but also guidance in the ethical development of such technology – well, it wouldn’t be the first time these heroes have saved the day!
Your friendly neighborhood physics professor
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The A team Chief Editor David Lichtneker AkzoNobel Design and Art Direction Pepe Vargas AkzoNobel Design Consultancy Angus Hyland Pentagram Corporate Director Communications John McLaren AkzoNobel Head of Corporate Branding Berry Oonk AkzoNobel Traffic Manager Sarah Roozendaal AkzoNobel Publisher Akzo Nobel N.V. The Netherlands Editorial address A Magazine AkzoNobel Corporate Communications PO Box 75730 1070 AS Amsterdam The Netherlands Printing Tesink, Zutphen The Netherlands Additional imagery ANP, Getty Images, Kiyoko Gotanda, Matt Cross, Peter Mueller, Victoria & Albert Museum. Awards Art Directors Club Bronze Cube (2009) European Excellence Award (2009) SABRE Awards Certificate of Excellence (2009) Opinions in this magazine do not necessarily represent those of AkzoNobel, and AkzoNobel accepts no responsibility for these opinions. While the information in this publication is intended to be accurate, no representation of accuracy or completeness is made.
We master science and technology to deliver beauty, protection, stability and transformation
Contents
6 Imagine Find out what Elvis and The Beatles have got to do with our innovation strategy. 10 Open to suggestions More and more companies are venturing outside their own walls in search of external expertise. Welcome to the world of open innovation. 12 Field of dreams We look at how staging soccer’s 2010 World Cup tournament is impacting South Africa. 20 Fact vs fiction Could super hero technology like Iron Man’s ever become reality? Physicist and author Jim Kakalios unravels the science. 28 When tomorrow comes As innovation continues to gather momentum, what does the future have in store? 32 Oh sh*t! They say you learn by your mistakes. And history is littered with them. Sometimes, however, two wrongs can make a right. 34 Ahead of its time An interview with Mike Bannister, former chief Concorde pilot with British Airways, who flew the supersonic airliner for 22 years. 42 Back to the future Find out which inventions the great minds of yesteryear thought would change the world. 48 Embracing Mother Nature An investigation into how the natural world is influencing research and product development. 52 Can you Digg it? It’s more popular than porn. Why social media is the only thing to do online. 56 Fighting for survival The world’s becoming more hi-tech, yet millions are still going hungry or suffer from poor nutrition. What’s being done to help?
Photograph: Iain Crawford; iaincrawford.com
imagine WORDS David Lichtneker
The Beatles aren’t necessarily the first thing you think of when it comes to innovation. But genius comes in many forms, and there’s much to learn from their creative insight and understanding of what the world was missing.
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echnology, like time, never stands still. Whether it’s iPods replacing walkmans, DVDs edging out videos or e-mail sending the fax and telex packing, it’s usually just a matter of time before inventions that were once heralded as works of genius are themselves left to look nervously over their shoulders. Let’s face it, there was a time when owning a TV – such a basic possession for many people today – was nothing short of mind-boggling. OK, the early electronic televisions had tiny screens, mainly broadcast in black and white and were a bit cumbersome, but they were cutting-edge in the early 20th century. The iPads of their day if you like. They didn’t stay that way for long, however. Soon they could broadcast in color, then they went stereo, then along came widescreen, flatscreen, plasma. Now they’re going 3D and becoming broadband enabled. All within a matter of decades. The progress has been relentless, but there’s been one common factor.
Something which all new inventions and next generation technology can’t do without – innovation. It’s the only constant, the one thing that has been needed to enable all those great leaps in capability and functionality. Some call it progress, but what’s driving this constant change? Why the need for all these new technologies? Simple. We just have to look at ourselves. As consumers, users and customers, we demand it. We want things to be better, faster, cheaper, more functional, more convenient, increasingly sustainable and easier to use. So it’s the marketplace which is prompting much of the feverish work going on in laboratories and research facilities around the world. And for those doing the innovating, finding the right technology isn’t necessarily the first step. The trick is to think big, really tune into the market and deliver something that people want – or even better, something they don’t even realize that they want.
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
This is precisely the philosophy that Graeme Armstrong subscribes to. AkzoNobel’s Corporate Director of Research, Development and Innovation, he firmly believes in the insight-driven approach which involves delighting customers and giving people exactly what they need. “It’s happened a few times in my career, when you really hit the nail on the head, and it’s a great feeling,” he enthuses. “Because to be honest, it’s not really technology that drives me. It’s that wonderful combination of really understanding how some sort of innovation is going to make life better for a consumer, supported by the elegant right choice of technology. That’s what I want to bring to AkzoNobel. It’s all about that insight which you then turn into great innovation. So we’re not actually pushing technology at people, we’re providing them with a solution.” It’s not always had a name, but innovation has been around as long as we have. When our distant ancestors needed clothes, they used animal skins; when they wanted to decorate their caves they made their own pigments. The discovery of fire, the invention of the wheel, primitive weapons made out of stone and flint. Man has always found a way to make life easier and more comfortable. And the great innovators haven’t always been dedicated scientists. Picasso, Michelangelo, Elvis and Leonardo Da Vinci were all great innovators in their own fields, while the likes of Alexander Fleming (penicillin), John Logie Baird (television) and Alexander Graham Bell (telephone) are perhaps more traditionally recognized as being groundbreaking inventors. They had that insight, that ability to
really understand what people needed, while The Beatles, for example, knew exactly what the world was missing. But how does all that translate to an organization like AkzoNobel? Armstrong has been working on it. He joined the company following the acquisition of ICI in 2008 and he’s spent much of the last two years putting the proper structure in place. “You can’t build a hugely innovative engine off a fragmented base. Your foundation has to be strong,” he notes. “We’ve got the scale, the people, the reach, the leadership positions and the way we focus on our customers is a huge strength. Now it’s time for us to move into true, insight-driven innovation and concentrate on developing bigger ideas for the future. The foundations are solid and I’m really excited about where we’re going.” So where is the company going? Well, there are targets. We’ve already said that we want 30 percent of our revenue to come from eco-premium products by 2015. But Armstrong’s strategy goes much further. Supported by an R&D team of around 4,000 – who are based in almost 170 labs around the world – he’s striving to develop five major new technology platforms within the next few years. “These need to be game-changing innovations,” he explains. “Elegant solutions for customers that really deliver on our brand promise of providing Tomorrow’s Answers Today.” He uses decorative paint as an example. A paint’s reflectance is obtained through the use of titanium dioxide, but it’s also the biggest drain on a coating in terms of its carbon footprint. “We’re looking to completely replace it and radically improve sustainable alternatives,”
The Beatles, London, August 11, 1967. Photographs by Richard Avedon © The Richard Avedon Foundation.
reveals Armstrong, who goes on to say that putting sensors big ideas is one thing, but what technologies are we going into protective coatings – used on bridges for example – to need? We have to involve people from outside the comso they indicate specific areas that need maintaining pany so that they can throw in new ways of thinking on top (rather than needlessly repainting the whole structure) is of what we traditionally do. This will allow us to arrive at another area under investigation. “Coatings could do so new technologies much faster than if we had to invent evemuch more,” he continues. “It’s all about expanding func- rything ourselves. Because for me R&D is about speed. tionality, such as making paint capable of generating It’s not just about owning and protecting everything. energy. A 200 square meter roof could actually power a The quicker you get there the better.” factory through photo-voltaic technology placed in a coil He cites Apple as being a classic example of a comcoating. So the challenge is to make coatings energy pany which has perfected this approach. “Not only do they managing in some way.” have the insight and the ability to think through what their Trying to develop new horizons in product functionality customers would dearly love to have, but the way in which – such as coatings that do more than just beautify and pro- they pull their technology together is also a massive open tect surfaces – is just one of the five so-called solution exercise. I don’t think they created the iPod or iPhone by promises that Armstrong and his team have developed to having a few people in their labs, who have always worked help drive AkzoNobel’s push for bigger innovation. “We’ve in their labs, put them together.” In fact, you don’t really conducted a lot of high level strategic marketing around have to look much further than Apple when it comes to these solution promises and will be collaborating with our game-changing technology. Grammy Award-winning singbusinesses, with customers and with combinations of the er Mary J. Blige has described the iPod as “more than just two to build a bigger set of innovative ideas going forward.” a music player, it’s an extension of your personality,” while The list of solution promises, he adds, also includes focus- singer-songwriter John Mayer is quoted as saying “the ing on the world’s mid-markets and truly achieving zero iPod experience has kept the spirit of what it means to footprint. To help deliver on these promises, Armstrong be a music-lover alive.” When your innovation can spark has embraced the open innovation approach (see page this sort of response and become such an integral part 10). “We need to be more interdependent with each other of the cultural zeitgeist, you know you’ve truly made that and with people outside the company,” he states. “It insight-driven leap. But as Armstrong knows only too well, means we’ll have to change our own culture so that we it requires collaboration and creative thinking, because become more open and less risk averse, but that’s critical you can’t deliver Tomorrow’s Answers Today with yesterif we want to start forcing the pace of change. Having the day’s technology.
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open to
suggestions WORDS Rebecca Parsley
Trying to do everything yourself isn’t always the best way to develop new technology. Sometimes, it’s better to take a different approach and ask for help.
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hen was the last time you asked for help? It’s not something we find easy, whether as children struggling with complicated math or as adults juggling a hectic work schedule. So it’s not surprising that people often come up short when confronted with the prospect of having to look outside themselves in order to develop new technologies. Welcome to open innovation – or, as we call it, AkzoNobel Networked Innovation (ANNI). “What this essentially means is that if a company is looking for innovation – maybe to develop a new technology or a better way of doing something – there are two possible directions to take,” explains Dick van Beelen, who is Director of the Communities of Practice established by AkzoNobel’s Research, Development and Innovation organization. “The first option is to look within – doing it yourself with your own people, strengths and capabilities – while the second is to seek an external party. The latter is open innovation. “The beauty of teaming up with an external party,” he adds “is that in addition to your own strengths, you can connect with others who bring skills outside your own portfolio. Ultimately, it can lead to a situation where one plus one makes more than two. It’s about being more open, co-operating and achieving more together.” Of course, it’s not as simple as looking in the telephone directory to find someone who can help you. Which is why we have brought in NineSigma – world leaders in open innovation – to help put in place the necessary formal approach that enables the plan to really work.
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“There are three circles,” continues Van Beelen. “Firstly, “There can be resistance to the idea of open innovation. we can look within our own company and business units. People feel they have to invent everything in-house or that Secondly, we have an existing external network of poten- they don’t need to look outside because they already know tial partners – suppliers, universities, consultants; and everything. But the underlying fear is usually for their job – thirdly, there is the rest of the world. You don’t know them, it’s seen as another form of outsourcing. That’s not how it they may be looking at the same subject from a different works. When a company hires a technical person to solve a angle and present you with some really interesting solu- problem, they don’t ultimately care how that happens. tions. The first two circles are relatively easy to reach An analogy would be if a person said: ‘My job is threatened because we already know them. That said, our businesses if I don’t do it all. I have a problem but won’t look in any are used to operating independently of each other, so it’s technical books to learn how to solve it, because then the still a new thing for us to liaise like this. book replaces me.’ “But the real difficulty is in accessing the third circle, “Looking outside for help is just one more tool in the probwhich is where NineSigma can help. They have a massive lem-solver’s armory. It can help get the job done better and global database – more than a million addresses built up faster, bringing rewards and recognition that they would get over the past decade or so. We can submit our need, or if they solved the problem any other way. What we’ve got Request for Proposal, and it can be sent out to everyone within AkzoNobel is a strong, six-month program with regular on it to see what comes back.” meetings, seminars and training. There’s the chance to cover The possibilities, therefore, are mind-boggling. In 2003, and recover topics so they really sink in.” for example, the industry R&D spend worldwide was apGiven the industry we operate in, however, there is proximately $750 billion. AkzoNobel’s contribution to this need for caution. Requests must be carefully drawn up to figure was around 0.04 percent. So doesn’t it make sense ensure no confidential information is disclosed. “NineSigma to try and access this wider expertise? are teaching us the step-by-step process that leads from David Feitler, who is the Principal Program Architect initial inquiry to the point where you work with someone with NineSigma Europe, certainly thinks it does. “So far, under a protected formal agreement,” notes Van Beelen. everything within AkzoNobel seems to be going extraordi- “Obviously, intellectual property rights have to be considnarily well,” he explains. “We’ve conducted training sessions ered. We’re not giving away R&D priorities or trade secrets for the people who are essentially learning to do what I do but, on the other hand, if you don’t give correct informaand they were very enthusiastic. I see a lot of buy-in tion you won’t get the feedback you’re looking for. It’s a and commitment. balancing act.”
fi e ld of dreams
WORDS David Lichtneker
Soccer’s World Cup is about to thrust South Africa into the global spotlight. It’s a golden opportunity, but is the country ready, and can it cope with the huge pressure of hosting such a prestigious tournament?
15 Food traders outside the Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg. The traders have to leave the area as they are not allowed to sell food outside the stadium during the FIFA World Cup.
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he biggest sporting showpiece on the planet is coming to South Africa – and it could be a defining moment for the Rainbow Nation. Soccer’s keenly anticipated World Cup takes place from June 11 to July 11. But much of the attention during the build-up has concentrated on whether or not a country which only 16 years ago was still in the grip of apartheid can fully grasp the opportunities that hosting the tournament undoubtedly presents. It’s the first time Africa as a continent has staged a sporting spectacle of such magnitude, and while it offers a real chance to shine in the global spotlight, the event could quite possibly be a poisoned chalice. Up to 450,000 people are expected to travel to South Africa, while the television audience will total close to a billion viewers. The last time the eyes of the world were so intently focused on the nation was in 1990, when Nelson Mandela was finally released from captivity. So it wouldn’t be the best time for things to go wrong. Yet while the venues may well be ready – the 2009 Confederations Cup was a more than useful trial run – there are serious concerns over security, crime, transport and continuing racial divisions. The blanket TV coverage is also unlikely to include images of the thousands of poor and disadvantaged who have been forcibly relocated from their ramshackle dwellings in the shadow of the main stadiums. So while the promise is immense, only time will tell what the reality will bring. One man who is predictably brimming with confidence is Danny Jordaan, CEO of the event’s South African organizing committee, who is quick to acknowledge Mandela’s role in securing the tournament. “It is thanks to Mandela and his comrades that we as South Africans could even dare to dream about hosting the world’s biggest tournament,” he says. “It is also thanks to him that the world could finally trust us to deliver this event at a world class level. He gave us a momentum and self-belief that we could achieve what many thought was impossible and we, and this country, will be forever grateful for that.” He’s also fully aware that this is South Africa’s chance to truly engage the world and keep the country at the forefront of people’s minds. It’s a chance to rekindle the feeling of hope that so many South Africans felt when Mandela regained his freedom on that unforgettable day 20 years ago. So the pressure to deliver is palpable.
16 Below: The Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg.
President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, is equally exuberant and has thrown his weight behind the global charm offensive, insisting that the tournament will enable the world to see and experience Africa in a different way. Addressing delegates at January’s World Economic Forum in Switzerland, he said: “It is an opportunity to tackle stereotypes and preconceptions and explore new frontiers of interaction and cooperation. It is an important milestone in the regeneration of the continent. Other than the football games that South Africans will be privileged to be part of, the country’s potential as a destination for business, trade and tourism will be on display.” He added that hosting the event had also prompted major infrastructure improvements, with significant investments being made in transport, energy and telecommunications. Some, however, claim that the government is focusing too much on international visitors and is neglecting the many poor communities, regarding them as an image problem rather than a human one. One of the main investments has involved a nationwide Department of Transport action plan. Around R11.7 billion (€1.1 billion) is being spent on a major revolution of the country’s
transport system, with Johannesburg – which will stage a total of 15 games at its two stadiums, including the opening match and the final – being one of nine host cities to have benefited the most from the cash injection. These infrastructure investments represent the most obvious longterm benefits, and while some of the work is still ongoing, last year’s Confederations Cup helped to shine the spotlight on areas that still need improving. “We had some transport challenges and that’s where we’ve put the most emphasis in the last year in making sure we can get everyone to the stadium,” explains Lael Bethlehem, Chief Executive of the Johannesburg Development Agency. “We want to be able to share our culture and show our competence. We want to be able to demonstrate that our cities are interesting, modern, fun places to be. But we are a developing country, our level of infrastructure is not like that of Germany and the efficiency of our transport is nowhere near what it is in London or Munich. However, I believe we will have sufficient transport and other kinds of infrastructure to give people a really exciting visit.”
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Crime is another major concern. Around 50 people a day are reportedly murdered in South Africa, slightly more than the rate in the US, which has six times the population. There were also more than 14,000 carjackings between 2007 and 2008. In an effort to ensure the safety and security of the visiting supporters and all those attending the 64 matches, around R665 million (€63 million) has been spent on crowd control equipment and various other crime-fighting initiatives, while a dedicated force of 41,000 police officers will be deployed. “People do worry about safety and security, but there has been a great deal of preparation, we’re very determined,” continues Bethlehem. “Crime is one of the big problems for us in Johannesburg and it’s a problem we’re very engaged with all the time, but particularly for this event. Having said that, I think people sometimes have a very exaggerated idea of the kind of problems that we have and an unrealistic notion of it.” Ticket sales outside of South Africa have been slightly lower than expected, suggesting that visiting fans have certain concerns. But in the country itself, expectation is approaching fever pitch. “South Africans are already in a state of frenzy,” reveals Terry Gilhooley, Protective Coatings Manager South & East Africa for AkzoNobel’s International Paint business. “Most are awaiting the start of the World Cup with bated breath and there is a sense of unified pride now they realize that they are on the verge of achieving their dream.” Market research carried out by soccer’s ruling body, FIFA, indicates that 90 percent of South Africans are deeply proud of the fact that theirs is the first African nation to host the sport’s premier event, while 88 percent think it will strengthen the country’s image abroad and 95 percent think it will boost the tourism sector. “The whole African continent will benefit from the worldwide exposure,” continues Gilhooley. “There has been a
major upsurge in tourism and foreign companies are already looking at South Africa as a major investment country. It’s clear that the plethora of upgraded infrastructure, transport and amenities – especially the new Gautrain – will benefit people for years to come and the government has done a fantastic job in making sure that everybody will feel safe.” According to event ambassador Phil Masinga, an exprofessional who played for the South African national soccer team for nearly ten years, hosting the World Cup is FIFA’s way of recognizing and supporting freedom and democracy in Africa. “It will bring humanity together in brotherhood and will aid the renaissance of Africa as a whole,” he says. “It means a lot for a developing country like South Africa to host such a big occasion and it will benefit a lot from the legacy that will be left behind.” Mattijs Willenborg, Commercial Manager for AkzoNobel’s Powder Coatings business in South Africa, is also confident that the tournament will be a success and will reflect well on the hugely expectant nation. “I hope it will show that South Africa is well capable of hosting such an amazing event,” he says. “During the build-up there has been a huge increase in the number of jobs in order to enhance the country’s infrastructure. These extra jobs came at a time of great economic turmoil and have given a lot of people the opportunity to build an employment history and develop themselves. There is a strong feeling of pride among the people and it promises to be another exciting chapter in the country’s already intriguing history.” It seems only fitting that the last word should go to Nelson Mandela, who has a newly-built stadium named after him in the host city of Port Elizabeth: “The World Cup will help unify people. If there is one thing in this planet that has the power to bind people together it is soccer.”
grounds for excitement When the soccer World Cup begins in South Africa in June, all eyes will be on the nine host cities and the ten stadiums where the 64 matches will be played. Collectively, the venues seat more than 570,000 people, the biggest being the 94,700 capacity Soccer City in Johannesburg – which will stage the first and final matches. Five of the stadiums are newly-built, while the other five have been extensively refurbished. Arguably the most visually striking is Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium, which will host one of the semi-finals. Seating 70,000 people, it is characterized by an expansive 350-meter arch which rises as high as 106 meters above the pitch. It even has a cable car which travels to a viewing platform at the arch’s zenith. As the world’s largest coatings company – and with a track record which includes supplying high performance products for numerous Olympic, World Cup and sporting venues – it was somehow inevitable that AkzoNobel would become involved in preparations for this year’s tournament. “With our International Paint range being used to coat the stadium structures, our Interpon powder coatings on the aluminum sections and our Dulux products providing the final finishing,
we have demonstrated that AkzoNobel offers an unmatched, one-stop, world class coating solution for any project, no matter how ambitious,” notes Mattijs Willenborg, Commercial Manager for AkzoNobel’s Powder Coatings business in South Africa. The company’s coatings have been used on five of the main venues – the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium (pictured), the Moses Mabhida Stadium, Soccer City, the Free State (Vodacom) Stadium in Bloemfontein and Cape Town’s Green Point Stadium. One of the biggest technical challenges involved coating the huge arch in Durban. The components were manufactured at three different factories in two countries and all of them had to match exactly in terms of color, gloss and appearance. But thanks to the global presence of our Marine and Protective Coatings and Powder Coatings businesses, the project ran smoothly and the impressive complex was completed in 32 months. The Durban stadium, like many of the other venues, is also located close to the coast. This means that the externally exposed steel is subject to an environment typically found in offshore areas, where high salinity raises the risk of corrosion. Special coatings systems were
therefore developed by our Marine and Protective Coatings business to ensure that the steel frames will remain protected until well after the tournament ends, leaving a valuable legacy. “The whole community in every city where a new stadium has been built will benefit from the facilities once the competition is over,” says Terry Gilhooley, Protective Coatings Manager South & East Africa for AkzoNobel’s International Paint business. One of the most artistic venues is the new Green Point Stadium in Cape Town. Covered with noise-reducing cladding, it has the iconic Table Mountain as a backdrop on one side and the ocean on the other. Seating 70,000, it will host one of the semi-finals. Also notable is the design of Johannesburg’s Soccer City. Newly-reconstructed, its distinctive look was inspired by an African pot known as a calabash. Given the high profile nature of these projects, it’s no surprise that working on them is something of a privilege, as Gilhooley confirms: “It’s not often that one gets the opportunity to work and become involved on a day-to-day basis with an iconic project like the World Cup from start to finish. It’s a project I’ll remember all of my life.”
fact vs fiction WORDS David Lichtneker
They defy science! Use weird names! Wear incredible costumes! But could the fantastical world of comic book super heroes such as Iron Man soon become reality? We went in search of the answers and bumped into your friendly neighborhood physics professor.
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Top: A relaxed Tony Stark gives his super hero persona a break [Photography: Industrial Light & Magic/Paramount Pictures]. Above: Iron Man in the heat of battle. [Photography: Double Negative/Marvel]. Right: Robert Downey Jr is back as billionaire industrialist Tony Stark in Iron Man 2. [Photography: Industrial Light & Magic/Marvel].
Now in cinemas worldwide. Directed by Jon Favreau, with Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell, Mickey Rourke, and Samuel L. Jackson. Iron Man: TM & © 2010 Marvel Entertainment, LLC and its subsidiaries. Used with permission.
ould your everyday super hero step off the silver screen and, using existing technology, be just as super in the real world? It’s an intriguing thought, although one which most people would probably dismiss out of hand. After all, how is someone going to come over all Superman and leap tall buildings in a single bound – not to mention manage all that heroic flying around? How could Spider-Man’s web-shooters be made to work? And where is the energy going to come from to power a suit like Iron Man’s? Admittedly, much of the comic book fantasy many of us have come to know and love is likely to remain just that – fantasy. But not all of it. Technology may never quite catch up with Tony Stark (the billionaire industrialist who becomes Iron Man), but you’d be wrong to dismiss his iconic Mark III armored suit – so effectively visualized in director Jon Favreau’s movies – as mere science fiction. Because some aspects of Stark’s distinctive red and gold armor could actually become a reality. “The good super hero stories require only one miracle exemption from the laws of nature, only one suspension of disbelief,” explains James Kakalios, a professor at the University of Minnesota’s School of Physics and Astronomy, who references super heroes in his lectures to help explain scientific theory. “In Iron Man’s case, the suspension is in the power supply, the reactor he has in his chest. It’s about the size of an ice hockey puck, yet is able to produce power at the rate of a nuclear power plant. We already have exoskeleton suits and jet packs and enhanced body armor. But the problem is the energy required to run all this is extreme and we can’t store that energy in a convenient way which would last more than a few minutes. But once you buy into that [a portable, high storage density power supply], pretty much everything else is OK. In fact, there is one aspect of his armor that is not only scientifically sound, but may be available for our use someday soon – his cybernetic helmet.” The helmet, for those not familiar with the character, enables Stark to control his suit using the power of thought. Now it might sound like it’s been ripped straight from the pages of a comic book, but one of Kakalios’ university colleagues – biomedical engineering professor Bin He – has actually created a helmet much like Iron Man’s. He’s working on a device which uses an electroencephalograph (EEG) to pick up signals sent by the firing of neurons in the brain. “Obviously he’s not interested in developing control helmets for crime-fighting super heroes,” continues Kakalios. “He’s hoping to develop devices that will enable people with paralyzing injuries to communicate more easily, or eventually to activate artificial limbs and prosthetic devices.”
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24 Below: Professor James Kakalios studies a first edition of his fascinating book The Physics of Superheroes. [Photography: Alex Schumann/University of Minnesota]. Right: Mickey Rourke’s villainous Whiplash makes his own power suit in the blockbuster sequel Iron Man 2. [Photography: Francois Duhamel/ Paramount Pictures].
Not every scientist is so keen to use fantasy fiction and super heroes as an educational tool. But then again, Kakalios – whose personal comic book collection numbers around 1,000 – isn’t your average scientist. Let’s face it, many of us found science lessons in school painfully boring. Realizing this, our friendly neighborhood physics professor hatched a cunning plan. “Back in 2001 the university was introducing a program to encourage professors to create new seminar-type classes, not tied to any curriculum. Just as an exercise, I thought I could teach an entire physics class with all the examples coming from super hero comic books. The students seemed to really enjoy it and it took off from there. I particularly like to use The Flash during lectures. He’s great for teaching physics because when you deal with velocity there’s lots of different physical phenomena you can discuss. The Atom is another favorite, not only due to his ability to shrink, but because in his secret identity he is Ray Palmer, physics professor!” Kakalios has even taken his unusual approach out of the classroom – with considerable success. In 2002, he wrote an article for a local newspaper about a physics problem which had been frustrating comic fans for decades – what killed Gwen Stacy, girlfriend of Spider-Man alter-ego Peter Parker? Was it the actual fall when she was dropped from the top of the George Washington Bridge by the Green Goblin, or was it Spider-Man’s web, which stopped her just before she hit the water? The article was printed around the country, then around the world. Before long he’d even written a book – The Physics of Superheroes – then he was asked to be the science consultant on the 2009 Watchmen movie: “When I stopped vibrating like a gong I said I was interested.” Originally published in 2005, his book, which has been translated into Spanish, Italian and German, has been a big hit, with a new second edition hitting stores last November. “There are three new chapters in which I talk about fluid mechanics and Aquaman, angular momentum
and the Human Top and materials science as it relates to both the Justice League of America and The Avengers,” notes Kakalios. “Plus the jokes are now 12.7 percent cornier.” The book has also become something of a reference bible for comic book authors and TV script writers. “I give quite a few talks and attend a lot of comic book conventions and I was recently on a panel at the American Association for the Advancement of Science with a couple of writers from the TV show Heroes. They told me that they use my book in their script meetings and several other writers have also said that the book is on their shelves.” To illustrate Kakalios’point that real life isn’t as far removed from the pages of comic book fantasy as some people think, you only have to look at the research into super strong metal which is already ongoing in the US. Over at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), experiments are being carried out by its Institute For Soldier Nanotechnologies designed to create better armor. One of the most promising projects has been inspired by the discovery of a deep-sea snail, whose unique three-layer shell structure is able to withstand heavy blows (a defense mechanism against crab attacks). This tri-layered structure – which consists of an outer layer embedded with iron sulfide granules, a thick organic middle layer and a calcified inner layer – is designed to crack when hit, but in a way which absorbs energy. Copying various aspects of this structure could help scientists develop stronger armor for the military, echoing the super strength of the Iron Man suit. The discovery of the remarkable armor-plated snail is just one example of how nature is playing an increasingly important role in the development of new technologies (see page 48). “Life in nature is not idyllic,” states Anders Waren, a biologist at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, who described the snail in a 2003 paper in the journal Science. “Predators evolve to being more efficient hunters and specialize in their capacity to catch and kill their prey.
26 Look beyond: ironmanmovie.marvel.com physicsofsuperheroes.com
At the same time, the prey responds by developing new methods of defense, like escaping by swimming or running faster, producing toxins that make them less desirable, or by evolving different kinds of armor.” Of course, it won’t be lost on fans of Iron Man that Tony Stark’s character – played on the big screen by Robert Downey Jr – graduated from MIT summa cum laude in electrical engineering at the age of 17. In this year’s sequel to the original Iron Man movie, he puts that education to further use by creating his more aerodynamic Mark IV armor. In reality, working examples of powered exoskeletons have actually been constructed, but progress has been limited and no systems are known to have reached more than prototype status. So for now, we’ll have to settle for the fabulous suits created by Stan Winston and his team for the Iron Man movies, which essentially become a character in themselves. “When Tony Stark puts on this suit, he doesn’t just become a man in a powered suit,” explains executive producer Louis D’Esposito. “He becomes an iconic character, so it was very important for the suit itself to have a heroic level of personality, as well as make us believe there’s actually a human being inside of it.” For Kakalios (whose prized possession is a copy of Fantastic Four #5 from 1962), believing in the educational – not just the physical – power of super heroes is perhaps more important. “When I give talks at comic book conventions, sometimes I’ll spend hours talking to fans about stuff that doesn’t have anything to do with the book or my research. They have general questions about physics and they think it’s great to have access to a physics professor. So it’s clear that there is genuine interest in science and we just have to find a way to address it in a fun and accessible way. Our goal is to communicate this really cool stuff about physics in a way that doesn’t come off as condescending. “That’s the real goal of the book,” he adds, “to talk to people who are never going to be scientists or engineers. These are the people who are interested in science, but they’re also very nervous about science and insecure about their abilities. The first time they don’t understand something, they think it’s because they’re not ‘smart enough’. They don’t ask questions or interrupt. When you’re talking about Spider-Man or Superman, people don’t have the same shields up, so you can get an actual dialog going to try and convey some information. These people are going to be called upon to have opinions about things like climate change, nanotechnology and stem cell research and the more grounding we can give them in the basic scientific principles, I think the better.”
for a chance to win one of five signed copies of James Kakalios’ Book…
…make like the flash and dash to
akzonobel.com/a/competition
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new technology takes off History is littered with technologies that failed. But occasionally, fate offers you an unexpected second chance. Maskin is a prime example. Developed by AkzoNobel’s Car Refinishes business several years ago, the potentially lucrative product was a temporary, peelable coating designed to be used on vehicles for special events. But problems during testing meant it was never commercialized and that appeared to be that. Until our Aerospace Coatings business latched onto the technology and began to develop it further in collaboration with the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dtsl). Teams of researchers worked together for three years to optimize the original Maskin formulation for use as a temporary camouflage coating suitable for military vehicles. Improvements made to the formula included increasing the tensile strength at lower gloss levels and adding specialist pigmentation. The result was Intergard® 10220, a waterborne polyurethane coating which is not only peelable (pictured right), but also has unique chemical agent absorbency properties. “A coating which offers a new approach, such as a peelable coating, was
inevitably going to attract interest,” explains Robert Walker, Business Development Manager for Land Defense at AkzoNobel Aerospace Coatings, who set up the partnership with the Dtsl. “Intergard 10220 has solved a number of problems previously encountered in the camouflage of military vehicles – such as paint removal and chemical agent decontamination – and is easily disposed of after being removed, which limits any environmental damage.” But that’s not all. Because the Intergard coating range also offers other hi-tech advantages, which wouldn’t sound out of place in the latest Iron Man movie. For example, not only can its infra-red signature be manipulated to influence its visibility to radar, but it also offers solar heat reflecting properties – reducing the surface temperature of vehicles in hot countries – and is available as a chameleon coating which changes color at different day/night temperatures. “The technology is still very much in its infancy and is only going to advance,” continues Walker. “Once we learn more about how to remove and manipulate it, this type of technology is likely to become standard in years to come.” Having already been used in active
service, one of the keys to Intergard 10220’s success is its unique combination of elasticity and strength. Able to absorb aggressive chemicals without destroying the film, further research is now being carried out to develop a super-absorbing version of the coating capable of dealing with the full range of likely contaminants. Work is also ongoing to develop additional functionality which will allow the coating to change color when exposed to sunlight/UV (as opposed to reacting to a temperature change, which is difficult to manage) so enabling a distinct color change from day to night. There are additional markets to explore as well. Authorities around the world are already looking into the peelable coating’s potential role in the protection of vulnerable infrastructure, such as stadia or government buildings, while the technology could be developed to help cut the cost of removing graffiti – peeling it off could be quicker and cheaper than current techniques. Then there are the decorative possibilities. “Think about it, it’s basically brush-on wallpaper,” continues Walker. “You can just peel it off and change the color whenever you want to. So in the future, why would you want to put wallpaper up?”
when tomorrow comes WORDS Jim Wake
What can we expect from technology in the years to come? Will computing and electronics continue to dominate, and is our growing mastery of biotech in danger of spiraling out of control?
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our next mobile phone might not quite be able to feel your pain. But if any trends are going to be common to the products we’ll all be buying in the next couple of years, it’s likely that they’ll be sensitivity and self-awareness. At least, that’s the view of Shawn DuBravac, Director of Research and Chief Economist for the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) – the US-based trade organization which represents most of the major players in consumer electronics, from chipmakers, to software houses, to consumer electronics retailers. “It’s not about cramming in the fastest processor that you can find and the fastest chip set,” he claims, “it’s about functionality. Looking ahead, especially in the case of mobile phones, we’re going to see much greater use of sensors. I think the next big leap will involve leveraging these sensors.” Your cell phone, he predicts, will have a sophisticated touch screen which can distinguish between a tap and a caress. With built-in GPS, it will tell you not only where the closest Mongolian barbecue is, but also who else in the immediate vicinity is looking for Mongolian barbecue – and quite possibly more things than you’d care to know about his or her private life. The phone’s camera and microphone, along with its Bluetooth and WiFi systems, will also serve as sensors. DuBravac uses the term “augmented reality” to describe a scenario in which you hold up your cell phone with the camera operating, scan the horizon and messages pop up on the screen telling you not just which way to walk to get to the nearest bus or allnight shop, but who’s tweeting whom about what, and who’s looking for a date. Internet dating? So last Tuesday!
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The use of various types of sensors is likely to extend far beyond the mobile phone. With microphones and voice recognition software, voice-controlled appliances will become increasingly common in the next few years. Motion sensors have already been built into Nintendo’s Wii™ games console for several years, while both Sony and Microsoft are expected to follow suit with considerably more advanced systems in 2010. “To me,” continues DuBravac, “the Holy Grail of computing has been to mimic the human body and now, for the first time, we are starting to see computers getting there. With Moore’s Law on our side [the assumption that computing power doubles every 24 months], I think we are on the verge of some very interesting developments.” DuBravac sees a blurring of boundaries in the electronic devices on the horizon. Games consoles will double as entertainment centers, for example, and more of the tasks we now perform on a desktop or laptop will migrate to our telephones. “A cell phone is, of course, a computer which sits in your shirt pocket,” he goes on, “but just because it’s a computer doesn’t mean that we want to use it like a computer.” What is important, he says, is getting the right information in a way that you can use. It’s the “apps” that deliver the functionality and define the experience. We’ll also see more interaction among our appliances. OK, so the refrigerator won’t exactly put the chicken into the oven and the dryer won’t fold the laundry. But you can already
use your cell phone to check if your front door is locked, and DuBravac expects that you will soon be able to re-program your oven if you are stuck in a traffic jam and want to start the roast an hour later. An organization called DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) has been established to support standards to weave a tighter digital network linking computers, mobile devices, cars and consumer electronics products. So the day might really come when one remote control is all we’ll need – or perhaps we’ll be able to do away with remotes altogether and just raise an eyebrow and wink in order to watch the movie of our choice. Does it all sound a bit far-fetched? Not compared with the predictions of two well-known futurists. Ray Kurzweil (noted author and inventor of the earliest optical character reading devices, among many other breakthrough inventions), says that humans will be upgrading their internal biological software within ten years. “How long do you go without updating the software in your cell phone?” he teased in a recent article in the New York Daily News. “Yet we are walking around with obsolete software in our bodies that evolved thousands of years ago.” According to Kurzweil, the rapid increase in computing power – and its implications for information technology – “will power changes in every imaginable realm over the next decade.” He predicts smart, genetically-engineered medicines to treat everything from obesity to cancer; expects memory
our scientists lift the lid To most people, paint is just a colored liquid that dries. But to the researchers working in our labs, paint is a complex mix of chemicals. The more our scientists understand about how to manipulate these chemicals, the more functionality they can deliver. “Traditionally, people have seen paint as serving two purposes – protecting the surface and providing color,” explains Klaas Kruithof, Head of Research at AkzoNobel’s Car Refinishes business. “We are now adding a third dimension. Functionality. “For example, we’ve developed temporary paints that you can peel off (see page 27). We recently introduced a clearcoat which is self-healing – scratches virtually vanish when the painted surface is exposed to heat. In the future, we’ll extend the functionality to other properties as well.” He says this could include coatings that generate electricity via integrated
micro-photovoltaic cells, or paints that are so slick that dirt won’t stick to them. “Basically, you have a substrate and you put a coating onto that substrate,” continues Kruithof, who uses the term “polymeric architecture” to describe the manipulation of chemicals to develop coatings. “The result is that you add to the value of the substrate because the coating acts in such a way that it makes the substrate do new things. For example, to make Autoclear Exclusive – our self-healing clearcoat – we triggered the morphology of our polymers in a way which allows them to re-flow when they are exposed to heat.” Meanwhile, researchers at our Decorative Paints business have used science to help develop brighter paint. Our Dulux Light and Space range of decorative coatings reflect substantially more light than a standard matt
color. “It essentially makes smaller rooms feel more spacious,” states the company’s UK Paint Technical Manager, Richard Barcock. Besides the inherent aesthetic benefits, these paints also deliver sustainability benefits, since they require up to 20 percent less light energy compared with conventional colored matt paints to achieve the same brightness. In fact, Barcock expects significant advances in the environmental performance of paints, adding that AkzoNobel has just launched a new wall paint called Ecosense in the Dulux retail range, which is virtually odorfree because it contains no added solvents. “Not only is this paint better for your world,” he says, “but it’s also better for the world, because it has a 50 percent lower carbon footprint compared with our standard matt paints.” He adds that AkzoNobel’s polymeric architecture enables the company to lower
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devices to be integrated into clothing and says it won’t be long before we’re able to hold 3D virtual meetings that span the globe. Kurzweil also sees a revolution in energy technology and the application of nanotechnology. Solar energy efficiency, he points out, has been doubling every two years for the past 20 years. He therefore calculates that only eight more doublings are required to meet all the energy needs on Earth. If Kurzweil has some fairly wild ideas of where we are heading, then octogenarian mathematician and physicist Freeman Dyson has even wilder ideas about the implications of biotechnology. Applications of a technology that we now consider exotic and inaccessible will, if Dyson is correct, become commonplace in our lives in the not-too-distant future. He cites the possibilities that might present themselves to the breeders of plants and animals. “Imagine,” he says in a highly speculative piece he wrote for the New York Review of Books, “what will happen when the tools of genetic engineering become accessible to these people. There will be do-it-yourself kits for gardeners who will use genetic engineering to breed new varieties of roses and orchids. Also kits for lovers of pigeons and parrots and lizards and snakes to breed new varieties of pets.” He imagines kids playing biotech games, competing to see who can grow the prickliest cactus or hatch the cutest dinosaur. And yes, he ac-
its environmental footprint while maintaining product performance. Are there more radical shifts in the world of paint lurking in the future? Possibly, and as Barcock points out, we are always looking for such opportunities. One interesting area is paints that can contribute to temperature control in buildings, such as external infrared reflective coatings that might make it possible to use colors to achieve the same results that are now typically achieved with white paint. More fantastical possibilities include coatings that actually shift color based upon known light-emitting polymers. As Barcock explains, “If you could produce a coating of such a polymer in a very controlled manner, then it might be feasible to generate color changing coatings. With color being so important to people’s lives and moods, it could be very powerful.”
knowledges that it could be dangerous, and that it raises serious ethical questions, but doesn’t offer any advice on how to resolve them. These biotech capabilities may verge on the frightening, but Dyson sees them as potentially world-saving. Where Kurzweil expects materials scientists and nanotechnologists to lead the way to a solar energy future, Dyson thinks it will be biotechnologists. How? In the scenario he envisions, we will be designing plants with black leaves of silicon that will be exploiting sunlight to generate our electricity for us. We will also design earthworms that can extract metals such as aluminum from the earth; plants that can extract gold from seawater; insects that can digest household and industrial waste; and trees that can produce carbon fuels instead of cellulose. Scientists seem to be fairly divided about whether or not we’re setting ourselves up for a catastrophic fall. Some, like Bill Joy – a co-founder of Sun Microsystems – fear we are creating technologies that we won’t be able to control. Others, including Dyson, are cognizant of the danger but remain optimistic. Kurzweil acknowledges the potential risk, but says it would be unconscionable to abandon our pursuit of knowledge when the potential for good is so great. Kurzweil also suggests that the day is not far off when we will achieve a kind of immortality by “uploading” our consciousness into some kind of computer. What he doesn’t say is what to do if the computer crashes.
While our Car Refinishes business is not investigating chameleon-like coatings to extend its product line, Kruithof does reveal that they are pursuing another coatings concept which is almost a re-invention of the concept of paint – paint film. The film products consist of extremely thin foils coated with paints in the factory, which can then be applied to auto parts, damaged panels, or new vehicles. These paints are perfectly matched to the vehicle color and the foils are as durable as standard automotive coatings, able to withstand the wear and tear of car washes and other stresses. As well as the applications of foils in manufacturing and repair, there are also consumer applications. Last year, for example, we launched a DIY repair system called StickerFix. It consists of foil sheets coated with a perfect match of a car owner’s vehicle color. Instead of using a touch-up pen,
motorists can hide those inevitable nicks and scratches using the adhesive foil. Another important research focus at Car Refinishes is the complete digitization of color. Humans, of course, distinguish millions of colors without considering what it is that makes one red distinctly different from another. But describing colors involves very complex analysis of reflected light which takes into consideration the angle of viewing, texture and the composition of the surface. We’ve been using one of the most sophisticated measurement devices available, a six-angle spectrophotometer, to measure color and build a massive database of formulas. “Eventually,” concludes Kruithof, “we want to get to the point where we can create any color that you can see, based on our digital formulation database – and even create virtual colors that no one has seen.
sewage treatment. So in certain cases, heroic failure might be a more accurate turn of phrase, given that the underlying technology for inventions that misfire can often end up finding another lease of life. So the trick is to avoid developing technology platforms that can only be applied narrowly. Which partly explains why many of ICI’s most ingenious technologies actually ended up in applications far removed from the originally intended application – the concepts were generic enough for other uses. Gamlen illustrates this by referencing the highly developed polymer and polymerization skills in the ICI Paints Division. This led to materials as diverse as highly filled acrylic materials, called Asterite, used to make kitchen sinks, which had only moderate success. And Occlusin, a light cured acrylic based ionomer which is still widely used as a filling material in dentistry. He adds that it’s also important not to get things wrong in public, remembering a product called FM-9. It was developed to avoid catastrophic explosions of aviation fuel clouds in the event of aircraft crash landing. It was quite effective in doing what it was supposed to do. Unfortunately, during a very public controlled crash test, the remotely controlled aircraft burst into flames (primarily because the remote controlled crash landing went awry). Needless to say, it did not help FM-9’s commercial prospects.
Perhaps the most fundamental problem is what might be described as a lack of empathy. “In many cases,” explains Gamlen, “the value systems of the organization don’t match the value systems of the end consumer.” Put another way, inventors often get caught up in their own cleverness and fail to think through what purpose their invention really serves for the customer. But even early failures don’t necessarily mean that all is lost. Pruteen is one example of a technology which succeeded in the end. Another ICI product – Saffil – was originally developed as an alternative to asbestos and used as a lining for furnaces. Consisting of spun alumina fibers, it eventually found niche applications in the brake linings of Formula 1 sports cars, heat resistant mounts for catalytic converters on automobiles, in automobile air bags and the binding between the thermal insulation tiles on NASA’s Space Shuttle. A more famous case of snatching commercial success from the jaws of abject failure is Viagra, which pharmaceutical giant Pfizer developed to treat hypertension and angina pectoris. The clinical trials conducted in the UK in the early 1990s indicated that the drug was not especially effective. But the story goes that the men taking part in the trials did not return their unused pills. When the researchers asked why, they discovered that the compound had an entirely unexpected side effect. The rest is history – and provided a huge windfall for Pfizer.
oh Sh*T! WORDS Wake Jim
Wrong sometimes we get things. But even when all seems lost hopelessly, fate can a second chance offer.
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ack in the 1960s, Pan American World Airways – the once iconic but now defunct airline – gave away 93,000 so-called First Moon Flight Cards. No cash was exchanged, but the cards ostensibly gave each holder a claim to a seat on a passenger flight to the moon. Those were the heady early days of human space flight and the sky seemed, literally, to be the limit. Film buffs may recall that Pan Am also featured in 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film, which depicted space travel as routine. As it is, it looks like space flight will remain out of reach for most mere mortals for some time to come. According to Phil Gamlen, who managed technology projects for many years at the former ICI (since acquired by AkzoNobel), technology failures usually occur for reasons that rarely have anything to do with science or engineering. “You can usually predict whether you will be successful with a piece of technology,” he says. “Most of those things are doable, and the success rate for achieving your technical objective is 90 percent plus. Where you come unstuck is principally around marketplace timing, consumer acceptance and judging the position of the government.” Looking back on his own career, Gamlen – who now lectures on technology management at the Manchester Business School in the UK – notes a number of projects that failed to live up to their promises, or at least not as originally envisioned. For example, ICI created the first-ever genetically engineered organism in commercial use. It was used to create d hope p a ny com providing y h th e whic unger, b rming teen, h e fa sh d Pru o addres by by t approved calle b t r orld fe e d otein he lo as neve ell pr eloping w e. But t imal th e een w n an t gle-c a sin in the dev substitu that Prut tion as a rs later, t ll at ita ea ct, a mean to se r me ro d u h e explo me y p o r d S e n e UK t eape h a . a ch unit y in th mption, lly viable uce anot d into he ia m od ir-lif t nsu com m e rc launc to pr n co th e a m d e o d t c n p uma fully uce for h was not were ada success Quorn. A to prod d ie d e s a skills alone tensif stitut elope h w ology t sub ICI dev ed for in whic a e techn m ein t h e h t - p r ot whic ad o p myco tplace as hnology be en e ec ntly mark ion t ubseque e nt at fe r m n h a s s e Prute
ahead of its time
WORDS David Lichtneker and Brian Guest PHOTOGRAPHY Adrian Meredith
Just imagine it. A supersonic passenger aircraft capable of traveling faster than the planet rotates. That flies so high it flirts with the edges of space, where you can see the curvature of the Earth. That can cover the distance from New York to London in under three hours. Could such a wonder of aviation, such a technological marvel, ever exist? Well, it did. And its name was Concorde.
36 Previous spread: Concorde’s famous nose was dropped for take-off and landing to give pilots better visibility. It also had a heat resistant windshield, which protected the main cockpit windows from extremely high temperatures—the heat on the end of the nose reached 127ºC (260ºF). Right: One of the first air-to-air photographs of Concorde G-BOAA flying above 18,000 meters (60,000 feet), where you can clearly see the curvature of the Earth. This is the stratosphere, where the aircraft is on the edge of space and burning 22.75 liters of fuel per mile.
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genuine icon of the skies which broke countless records and set unparalleled benchmarks for innovative achievement, its retirement in 2003 has become one of the great ironies of the 21st century. Because while the latest newfangled technologies continue to push back boundaries and develop at breakneck speed (the Bloodhound SSC, for example, is attempting to break the world land speed record by going 1.4 times the speed of sound), the days of stepping onto a commercial airliner and traveling faster than a rifle bullet have long gone. Has mankind, therefore, taken a supersonic step backwards now that we can no longer fly as fast as we did towards the end of the last millennium? The man best qualified to answer that question is Mike Bannister. Now an aviation consultant, he became the youngest pilot on the Concorde fleet in 1977 and was appointed British Airways’ Chief Concorde Pilot in 1995. In total, he clocked nearly 9,000 Concorde hours – around 7,000 of them supersonic – and was Captain on the last ever Concorde flight from New York to London in 2003. So there are few who know the aircraft, or what is was capable of, better than he does. “I wouldn’t say that technology has gone backwards,” he remarks. “Today’s technology is very different and is focused towards achieving something very different. What has gone backwards is the ability of people to travel around the planet very quickly, and the ability of people to buy back time; to literally leave London and arrive in New York earlier than they left. To go to New York and do two days business in two days. So in that sense, the human race has taken a step backwards with the retirement of Concorde, because everything takes so much longer. “On a purely technological level, the objectives are now different. The latest technological advances in aviation are much more cost-based. They are focused on finding stronger, lighter materials; finding more fuel efficient engines and shapes for aircraft wings; and uncovering more environmentally-friendly ways of flying aircraft. It’s not purely about finding a method of transporting people as quickly as possible from one place to another. But if you look at it in terms of the absolute thrill of aviation, I have no doubt that we have taken a very large step backwards.”
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Designed in the 1950s and built in the 1960s, Concorde – fa- he reveals, “but we on the operational side had to point out mous for its drooping nose – entered service with British Air- to our commercial and marketing colleagues that for techniways and Air France in 1976. It captured the imagination of a cal reasons, Concorde had to be white to dissipate the heat. world which had been mesmerized by the earlier Apollo moon And it had to be a very specific formula of white coating.” It’s missions, but which had been starved of anything truly fantas- worth noting that the coatings for all Air France Concordes tical since NASA cancelled the program in 1972. Here, at last, were supplied by what is now AkzoNobel’s Aerospace was something mindblowing. An aircraft which could travel at Coatings business. twice the speed of sound. Which could fly twice as high as any Sadly, it all came to an end in 2003 when Concorde other commercial airliner, and which Bannister once described flew for the last time. It may have been a technological as “the aviational equivalent of Disneyland.” Not surprisingly, it marvel, but the decision to retire the iconic aircraft was was brimming with the very latest technologies, many of which essentially down to one simple factor – money. Concorde had been specifically developed, and which can still be found was no longer profitable. Aside from high maintenance on today’s subsonic aircraft. costs, both operators cited low passenger numbers in the “Even in the perspective of the 21st century, Concorde wake of the tragic Air France Concorde crash in 2000 and was a technological marvel,” continues Bannister. “When the slump in air travel which followed the 9/11 attacks. you consider that original concepts for Concorde were from Bannister was heavily involved in the discussions over the 1950s and the design was from the 1960s, it’s quite an whether or not British Airways would retire its Concorde amazing feat that the brilliant people who had the vision and fleet, and he argued strongly for its survival. ability to design and build it could do it so long ago. Because “It was one thing that set British Airways apart and made there were quite a few things introduced on Concorde that it uniquely different from any other airline in the world, were unique and were being used for the first time in aviation. particularly if Air France chose to stop flying Concorde,” In fact, a lot of the technology has since gone on to be incor- he says. “Unfortunately, my argument didn’t carry the day. porated into other aircraft. For example, Concorde was the Then I was faced with a choice. Do I lose my temper and get first plane to have carbon fiber brakes, most aircraft have annoyed about it, or do I get engaged and make sure that them now. It was the first commercial aircraft to use “Fly-By- the retirement of Concorde is done in a graceful way that is Wire” computer-controlled flying controls and again a lot of a real tribute to the aeroplane, but more importantly to the modern airliners and jet fighters now have this technology. people who had been involved with it from the very beginThe ability to transfer fuel within the aircraft during flight to ning. I obviously chose the latter and got very much trim it to its most efficient configuration can also now be involved in planning and carrying out the retirement found in ultra-long range subsonic aircraft. Could it all be program and it went very well.” done again today? I think so, but some of the technologies All seven of the British Airways Concordes are now on that were included would have to be reinvented.” display in various countries around the world – mostly at muThe list of Concorde’s technical and technological achieve- seums – and they continue to attract tremendous interest. ments – not to mention the number of records it broke – is But why? What is it about Concorde that has kept people so virtually endless. But there are a few lesser-known facts about fascinated? “There are a number of reasons,” suggests the distinctive aircraft that Bannister was happy to share, Bannister, who is a trustee at the Brooklands Museum in including its amazing ability to grow in length during flight. “As it rushed through the air at high speed, because of friction and compressability, the plane heated up,” he explains. “In supersonic flight, the temperature on the nose could be as high as 127° Celsius and on the wings 100° Celsius. Because you’ve got an aircraft that’s at the boiling point of water, it’s going to expand. So in flight, Concorde grew by between six and ten inches (15 and 25 centimeters) in length because of this heating.” He adds that there were a number of areas where this expansion in flight was accommodated, the most readily visible being on the flight deck. According to Bannister, Concorde was also the only aircraft which had to be predominantly white, simply because of the temperatures that it reached. “At one stage, British Airways began looking at applying a different livery,”
39 Left: Concorde was often used as the backdrop for new uniform fashion photography. In 1977, Baccarat & Weatheral designed the city slicker pinstriped suit with the famous bowler hat design. For the first time, stewardesses wore trousers. Below: Concorde flying out of New York’s JFK. Special permission was needed from the FAA to fly over the city. The photographer took the shot from a hired Learjet, but only had a small window of opportunity due to Concorde’s speed after take-off.
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the UK, now home to one of the test Concordes and the “It’s one of the few occasions when I became emotional world’s largest Concorde Collection. “Firstly, it is a very beauti- about it, but Concorde was a big part of my life. I flew Conful looking aircraft. Psychologists will tell you that its beauty corde for a total of 22 years, having always wanted to be a appeals to one side of the brain and its technical achieve- pilot from the age of seven. It was the largest single part of ments appeal to the other side of the brain. Secondly, it did my career, yet if you ask me what I miss the most, that’s spectacular and unique things. It was born out of development easy. The people. Concorde was a fabulous aeroplane, it after the Second World War, when the driving force of industry could do amazing things. But in the end, it was just another and aviation was: ‘If we can do it, let’s do it.’ Now the driving aeroplane. A very special one, but just another aeroplane force is: ‘Are we going to make any money out of doing it?’ I’m nonetheless. What made it particularly special for me were not saying that’s necessarily wrong, it’s just different.” the people, my fellow pilots, cabin crew, engineers, ground Bannister, who holds the record for piloting the quick- staff and the passengers who flew on it. I’d like it to be reest trans-Atlantic passenger flight traveling east to west membered as a spectacular and unique aeroplane that (3hrs 5mins 34secs), still has vivid memories of that No- could do superb things that no other aircraft could do. That vember day in 2003 when Concorde flew for the very last could turn heads and draw attention. But most importantly, time. Perhaps the most poignant moment came that same Concorde was a very special aeroplane made unique by the evening after a reception for the whole Concorde family. “I people that were involved in it and on it.” was the last one to leave and it was quite misty outside,” he remembers. “As I walked across the tarmac, the sodium lights cast a really ghostly glow and standing there To find out if Mike Bannister thinks another were five, perfectly serviceable Concordes. It was just me supersonic passenger aircraft will ever be and these five aircraft. developed visit akzonobel.com/a/concorde
Above: The Concorde flight simulator at Filton in Bristol, UK. It was an exact replica of the interior of the flight deck. In total, 189 flight crew flew the British Airways Concorde from 1976 to 2002. Right: A group of men shelter under Eugene Lefebvre’s Wright Type A Flyer at Reims, France, during Aviation Week.
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THE WRIGHT STUFF For many people, the names of Orville and Wilbur Wright still conjure up images of derring-do and remain synonymous with innovative genius, the methodical application of scientific knowledge and the relentless pursuit of a dream. Now, a century after they set up their Wright Company aviation business, close to two billion people will criss-cross the globe in an airliner of some kind this year alone. They achieved their obsessive quest to single-handedly design and build the first heavierthan-air flying machine totally from scratch with little understanding of how it would revolutionize travel and make the world a smaller place. Not only did the success of the Flyer, as the brothers’ first flying machine was called, spawn the emergence of a burgeoning industry, it also created a market for aerospace coatings. Highly specialist and increasingly hi-tech, the paint used on aircraft has developed almost as quickly as the planes themselves – even quicker in some cases. Having been involved in the industry for almost 80 years, AkzoNobel Aerospace Coatings is a global leader and stands firmly at the cutting-edge of product development. “One of our first customers was KLM, the world’s oldest airline, which has been operating since 1919,” explains Kevin Fleetwood, Managing Director of AkzoNobel Aerospace Coatings. “Among our first products was a fairly run-of-the mill paint for what was then the first all-metal airliner, the Douglas DC-3. It was only after the Second World War that commercial airline travel really started to take off. This sparked the technological development of ever more advanced coatings designed to help prevent corrosion, stress cracking and metal fatigue.”
He adds that the first priority was to supply products that provided protection against corrosion and basic cracking of paint along rivet lines. “Aircraft fly for long periods in salt-laden corrosive air and they flex and bend continuously during flight. So the paint has to expand and contract with the aircraft. It’s crucial at the same time that passengers feel safe and confident. This can only be achieved if an aircraft passes the bill as a safe mode of transport, but at the same times looks good.” For modern aircraft, the stresses and strains are far more exacting. For example, at twice the speed of sound, the now out-of-service British/French Concorde would stretch by up to 25 centimeters in overall length. To “take up the slack” in the cabin, engineers built overlaps into the aircraft’s floor. “Hi-tech coatings are a must, but that’s only just the beginning,” continues Fleetwood. “Over the years we’ve worked ceaselessly to improve our ecological footprint, which in turn has spawned new technologies. A case in point is our Aerowave® range of anti-corrosive waterborne primers, and our high solids exterior topcoats, Aviox® and Eclipse®. With these products, we’ve helped slash emissions of volatile organic compounds by up to 60 percent and continue to seek alternatives to the use of heavy metals.” Looking ahead, Fleetwood points to the launch of a new topcoat technology, clear over base, which will allow operators to apply a basecoat in one session, then apply the livery all within one working day. A clearcoat is then applied to give the high gloss and protection against aircraft fluids. Not only can the new coating be applied quickly and easily,
it will also reduce the weight of the coating on the airframe by between 15 to 20 percent, a significant figure in terms of operating costs, representing about eight kilos of fuel savings per flying hour on a Boeing 737. “I’m sure chrome-free coatings will be the next big development,” Fleetwood continues. “KLM has been flying 747s for the last 15 years with our chrome-free technology on the exterior. And we have managed to prove it prevents corrosion. The next step will be to persuade our customers that it is possible to protect the interior structure without the use of chrome. We’ve also just introduced an extremely flexible wing coating which can be applied in one layer, making the wings much lighter and enabling them to bend without cracking. To give you an idea of the forces at work, on an Airbus A380, the wing is capable of flexing through an arc of 35 feet.” Another crucial future driver for AkzoNobel Aerospace Coatings will hinge on whether the industry will continue to develop and build aircraft made from advanced carbon-fiber composite materials, or return to traditional aluminum designs. To date, the Airbus A380 has the most composite for a large aircraft, 25 percent of its surface being made from composites. “If composite wins the day from aluminum it will mean a huge sea-change in technology for us,” claims Fleetwood. “You don’t have to protect a composite aircraft against corrosion, but you do need to protect it from water and make it behave like metal to protect against lightning strikes. At this point, it’s unsure which way the battle will go, but we are well-positioned to respond, whatever the outcome.”
back to the future WORDS David Lichtneker
People have been forecasting the technology of the future for centuries. However, as the lingering absence of the oft-touted flying car proves (time-traveling DeLoreans don’t count), those predictions haven’t always been so accurate.
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Above: The China Pavilion at this year’s 2010 Shanghai Expo. The event, which runs until October, is expected to attract more than 70 million visitors. Left: The Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, was built for the 1889 Exposition Universelle and remains one of the world’s most instantly recognizable structures. Previous spread: The State Opening of The Great Exhibition, 1851; by Louis Haghe (1806-85); English; 19th century. The color lithograph shows the interior of the Crystal Palace. In the center is the Royal Enclosure with members of the Royal Family, including Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
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eople like to predict the future. They don’t come much more famous than Nostradamus of course, but if it’s the end of the world, planetary strife or global human despair you’re after, then look no further than the movies. We all know Hollywood can portray futuristic technology with its eyes closed (Avatar; The Matrix; I, Robot; Minority Report), but the silver screen does have a habit of painting a grim vision of what lies ahead. If it’s not murdering androids laying waste to the planet (the Terminator series), we’re either living in a state of paranoia (1984), roaming the world as zombies (I Am Legend), facing a global cataclysm (2012) or fighting off cannibals in a post-apocalyptic wilderness (The Road). It hasn’t always been quite so bleak and depressing, however. Trying to predict the technology of the future used to be far more entertaining – and a lot less terrifying. One of the most prominent global platforms for gazing across time to contemplate how people will live in decades to come has always been the World’s Fair. Now known as the World Expo, these lavish events go way back to the 19th century (the first one was in London, England, in 1851) and became renowned for their predictions of futuristic living. More than 50 have been held over the years – the Eiffel Tower is a permanent reminder of 1889’s Exposition Universelle in Paris – with the latest (Expo 2010), being staged in the Chinese city of Shanghai between May 1 and October 31. As has become traditional, countries will be exhibiting in various national pavilions, with around 70 million visitors expected to attend (AkzoNobel is one of the sponsors of the Dutch pavilion).
46 The Biosphère in Montreal is a spectacular reminder of Expo 67. Now a popular museum, its interactive exhibits help visitors to better understand major environmental issues such as biodiversity, climate change and sustainable development.
what we thought would happen Some of the finest brains within AkzoNobel haven’t been averse to allowing their imaginations to stray into the future. Only six years ago, several of them were asked to dust off their crystal balls and come over all hypothetical. They duly obliged. One man who was full of fascinating insights was Piet van Hensbergen, then Research Director of the company’s Coatings business. He not only talked about paint that never peels or rusts and changes color to suit a person’s mood, but also mentioned coatings designed to cure sick buildings and conduct electricity. He went on to reference
chameleon paint developed for military purposes, along with coatings that repair their own scratches – technologies that we have since developed and introduced. He focused in particular on smart coatings – systems that respond to an external stimulus – and claimed that nanotechnology was still very much in its infancy, with major advances being just around the corner. “Believe me, we ain’t seen nothing yet,” he teased. The chemicals industry proved more difficult to gauge. As Frans Verhelst – the company’s Head of Research and Technology within the Chemicals business at
the time – explained, this was because inventions and advances in other markets would almost inevitably drive demand. However, he did predict a fantastic future for the Sahara Desert: “You could put up a world chemical factory there, a complex which serves the whole planet, powered by solar cells with water brought in via a huge pipeline.” He also discussed human skin, claiming it could be more elegantly repaired, while new materials could be developed for use in replacing bones such as knee and hip joints. Colored car tires were another distinct possibility.
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The theme this year is Better City, Better Life, which organizers say represents “the common wish of the whole of humankind for better living in future urban environments.” One of the most striking pavilions in Shanghai has been constructed by the UK (see back cover). Designed by Heatherwick Studio in London and nicknamed the Dandelion, it explores the relationship between nature and cities. Twenty meters high, it’s made from 60,000 slender, transparent fiber optic rods, each 7.5 meters long and each encasing one or more seeds at its tip. During the day, they draw daylight inwards to illuminate the interior. At night, light sources inside each rod allow the whole structure to glow. As the wind moves past, the building and its optic “hairs” gently move to create a dynamic effect. The Expos – and increasingly their pavilions – are still considered to be hugely influential, but nowadays they serve a somewhat different purpose to the original vision. Showcasing new technology and cultural exchange remain important elements, but countries have recently started to put far more emphasis on grasping the opportunity to improve their international image. Whether this has resulted in the Expos losing some of their fascination and quirky charm is open for debate, but things have certainly changed since the 1960s, when the crystal ball gazing of the Seattle World’s Fair (1962) was typical of what the event used to be all about. Around ten million people attended that Seattle showcase – which saw the construction of the city’s iconic Space Needle – when the focus was very firmly on space, science and the future. One of the main attractions was a so-called Spacearium, which took up to 750 people at a time on a simulated voyage through the solar system and the Milky Way galaxy. Having conquered the cosmos, visitors were then left to marvel at a fantastical future world in which people flew to work in their personal “gyrocopters” and lived in cities covered by giant domes. Jet-propelled monorail systems and new, inexhaustible sources of food were also forecast, while it was claimed that most homes would not only have a private heliport and an indoor swimming pool, but they would also rotate to take advantage of the sun. All of this
was expected to become reality by 2001. Other predictions, however, weren’t so wide of the mark. Cordless and pushbutton telephones were foreseen, for example, along with the use of home computers for shopping. So at least they got something right. This obsession with second-guessing the future carried on through the New York event in 1964 and into Montreal’s Expo 67, which proved to be a notable triumph. Attracting more than 50 million visitors and still regarded by many as being one of the most successful Expos of the 20th century, its adopted theme was Man and His World. One of the key attractions was Habitat 67, a housing complex of 354 modular, interlocking concrete cubes. Integrating the variety and diversity of scattered private homes with the economics and density of a modern apartment building, it was believed to illustrate the new lifestyle people would follow as cities around the world became increasingly crowded (the 148 residences that make up Habitat 67 remain fully occupied to this day). Another structure originally built for the Canadian Expo has also survived and is still in use. A geodisc dome which formed part of the American pavilion – a distinctive landmark now known as the Montreal Biosphère – has been converted into a popular museum dedicated to water and the environment, while the French and Quebec pavilions have been transformed into the Montreal Casino. Although much of the former Expo 67 site has now been incorporated into a municipal park, at one stage many of the buildings fell into disrepair and became shadows of their former selves. This decaying, futuristic backdrop proved ideal as a film and video location during the 1970s, with an episode of TV sci-fi show Battlestar Galactica being shot at the site, as well as most of the scenes for Robert Altman’s postapocalyptic movie Quintet. Which curiously brings us full circle. Back to a world of ruin, desolation and desperation. The hopes and dreams of humanity crushed into a bleak, hopeless vision of the future. Given what became of most of the buildings, was that Expo 67’s true prediction of where we’re heading? Or will technology save the day?
natural
inspiration WORDS Rebecca Parsley PHOTOGRAPHY Lee Funnell
Nature always finds a way. After all, it’s had a long time to get things right. So it’s only logical that scientists are increasingly looking towards the natural world to inspire innovation.
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Could it be possible to create color without using traditional pigments? The brilliant colors of a butterfly’s wings could provide the answers. Their wings are coated with an ultrathin layer of molecules that form microscopic air spaces where fluorescent pigments absorb ultra-violet light and re-emit it as vivid patches of color. Imagine being able to selfassemble products with the last few layers playing with light to create color.
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Imagine being able to create a shape on the outside of a surface, so that it is self-cleaning with just water. That’s exactly what a leaf does. A product now exists which mimics the surface of a lotus leaf. When the paint on a building façade dries, the product mimics the bumps on a self-cleaning leaf and rainwater cleans the building.
Obtaining access to enough water, particularly drinking water, is going to be a major challenge in the future. The Namibian beetle is able to pull water out of fog. Developing this kind of separation technology is going to become increasingly important.
eft to its own devices, nature is perfect. For billions of years, has realized they need to look at how it operates, there’s permillions of species have found ways to adapt and solve mission to think that way. There is a certain amount of ‘greenthe challenges they encounter. At a time when more and washing’, but on the whole I’d say it’s a genuine sea-change.” more people are realizing we need to protect the Earth’s There’s clearly a need for the services offered by the Guild resources, surely nature is where we should turn for help? – and its sister organization, the not-for-profit Biomimicry Dayna Baumeister certainly thinks so. She set up the Institute. Baumeister is proud that they’ve never needed to Biomimicry Guild in Montana, in the US, around 12 years ago advertise, as word-of-mouth recommendation brings cliwith co-founder Janine Benyus. The organization now works ents to them. She finds they tend to come through three with companies and communities around the world. avenues, the first two being the most common: “We put biomimicry into global practices, helping innovators Ethos. Desire to work in a more sustainable manner and design sustainable products and processes that create condu- take environmental responsibility for designs cive conditions for all life,” she explains. “We ask: ‘How would Innovation. Need or desire for innovative solutions that nature solve this?’ and ‘How would nature not solve this?’ It’s often involve looking at nature for inspiration a case of looking at both sides of the coin – in every area of Reconnection. More spiritual motivation, often rising from human design, there are strategies or solutions used that are a deep affinity with nature and a desire to learn from it. most definitely not found in nature.” The premise of biomimicry is astonishingly simple. Life has But while the Guild believes biomimicry can offer answers – performed design experiments in Earth’s R&D laboratory for along with a healthy dose of sustainability – to just about any 3.8 billion years and has learned a thing or two in that time. So design challenge, Baumeister says it’s not always an easy option. what flourishes on the planet today are the best ideas – those “Life solves its design challenges on many different scales and that perform well while economizing on energy and materials. there’s a solution to just about any issue,” she points out. “But Biomimicry seeks sustainable solutions by emulating nature’s sometimes it’s a question of how far back into the problem time-tested patterns and strategies, such as a solar cell in- people want to go. Say you’re developing an ultrasonic jet and spired by a leaf. The goal is to create products, processes and it needs some kind of high pressure skin. There’s no reason policies – in short, new ways of living – that are adapted to our why the answer couldn’t be found through biomimicry, except lives and help us to change our unsustainable habits. that nature would design its ‘jet’ as one piece, rather than as “Whatever a company’s design challenge may be, the odds lots of panels riveted together, as most jets are. are high that one or more of the world’s 30 million creatures has It also wouldn’t design an engine which required such not only faced the same issue, but has also developed an effec- extreme temperatures and pressures. Are you going to go right tive way to solve it,” adds Baumeister. “We primarily look at the back to the start of your project and explore if you can change situation as biologists and examine what nature has done to the fundamental design, along with all the cost and time implicope with a particular issue, and then work on applying it to cations that brings? It’s not an easy decision.” human design.” However, with half of all native ecosystems in the US It’s an approach which is finding favor around the world. degraded to the point of endangerment (according to a survey The Biomimicry Guild works with such globally-renowned by the National Biological Service), the question of how we can names as Nike, Boeing and Shell. The reason, says Bau- continue to live on Earth without destroying it takes on more meister, is a genuine awareness that industry as a whole significance. “We’re offering industry the opportunity to work in needs to become more environmentally responsible. “There is a meaningful way,” concludes Baumeister. “We’ve developed a a much broader interest now than when we began,” she ob- set of life principles that can help with everything from designing serves. “The feeling we get is that, while people previously a city to manufacturing a particular product. Companies recogbelieved internally that there might be a better way to do nize they need to change their methods, and sooner rather than things – one that was better for our world – it wasn’t right to later for the sake of the planet. Biomimicry isn’t just a new way voice those thoughts out loud. Now that the corporate world of viewing and valuing nature – it’s a race to the rescue.”
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Scaling inside water pipes is caused by a build-up of various minerals. A sea shell is made in much the same way – it’s a build-up of calcium carbonate. But shells don’t continue to grow and accumulate minerals because they also produce a protein to stop this growth. A product now exists which mimics this stop protein in an environmentally-friendly way.
Whale fins have tubercles (wart-like projections) on them. These small bumps help to increase efficiency. We could increase efficiency of aircraft by up to 32 percent by mimicking these bumps on the edges of wings (saving on fossil fuel).
Tardigrades, also known as water bears, are micrscopic, water-dwelling creatures. If they dry out completely, they can stay alive for months and are also able to regenerate. Studies of tardigrades led to a solution to the problem of vaccines always having to be refrigerated. A way of drying out vaccines has been devised – they are encased in the same sort of sugar capsule as the tardigrade has within its cells – which means vaccines no longer need to be refrigerated.
companies in the personal care market to offer a certified organic rheology modifier, marketed under the brand name Naviance®. “It’s great that we’ve got this product certified as organic as it’s a really positive selling point,” says Tolchinsky. “Generally, when a consumer looks for a product and reads the label, they like to see there are natural – or naturally-derived – ingredients in it. It makes them feel more confident about it. “This holds true particularly in personal care,” she adds. “People like to mimic nature with what they use on their body – they don’t like to feel they are putting extra chemicals on or in it. There’s also much less risk of any skin sensitization when natural products are used.” With the market shifting more towards the natural marketplace, looking at starch as a base for further advances in personal care technology is a priority. There are plenty of opportunities, after all, everything
in nature has a starch of some kind in it. “We already use starches from corn, potato and tapioca as a matter of course in the industry,” continues Tolchinsky. “And within each of those specific starch families there’s a lot of variety, a lot of different branches, each with different properties and lending themselves to a range of uses. “We’ve really focused on starch as our polymer base, but there might be other ingredients we don’t yet have in our portfolio. That’s something we’ve still to discover. This isn’t a fly-by-night project. It’s something we’ve invested a lot of resources and time in. Starch is well-known in all industries – food, glue, paint. It’s a very plentiful resource, renewable, replantable and very sustainable. This means we can continue to invest in it, and find ways to move our technology forward – but with nature alongside.”
embracing mother nature Using nature to help deliver high quality products is already a way of life in some areas of our business. Maria Tolchinsky, Global Marketing Manager for Personal Care (part of our Surface Chemistry organization), says natural ingredients are increasingly popular with consumers – especially in skincare products. As such, it’s an area the company will continue to invest in. “We’ve done a great amount of work with natural polymers that are derived from corn or potato starch, for example,” she explains. “We’re developing rheology modifiers, starch products that might give a smoother, silkier feel to a product or thicken it and give it more body. These can be natural products derived straight from the starch, or in some cases, we’ll do some chemical modification to give the polymers specific properties.” Taking such a pro-active approach has led to AkzoNobel becoming one of the first
you digg it?
can WORDS Jim Wake
If you’ve never tweeted, don’t know your SmugMug from your Plaxo or think that Squidoo is some kind of exotic sushi dish, then you really need to get switched on to the future of communication.
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he right guy for the job? A Magazine called today to ask if I would do a story on social media. Couldn’t have asked a more confirmed skeptic. I’m the guy with the Facebook profile which says “I hate Facebook”. I only signed up for Facebook to see if I could track down my stepdaughter when she seemed to have vanished from the face of the Earth. Of course, when she agreed to let me be her friend, I found out she had about 500 other friends, was a fan of dozens of TV shows, movies and musicians I’d never heard of. The mind boggles Diving into this assignment, can’t help but to be awed, if not sold. The numbers are mind-boggling. Facebook claims to have 400 million active users worldwide, with penetration in North America at more than 20 percent (and nearly 50 million new users in the 12 months between August 2008 and 2009). In Europe, penetration is 10 percent – and elsewhere in the world, where, for the time being, the user base is smaller – the growth rates are astronomical. Twitter began as a social experiment in 2006 and only began operating in earnest in 2007. It now handles around 50 million posts per day. And then there’s LinkedIn, MySpace, YouTube – said to be the second biggest search engine in the world – Flickr, the list goes on and on. But if we are spending so much time on online social networks, how much is left for real life? Social media isn’t a fad Checked out a few powerful presentations. Marta Kagan’s What is Social Media? for example, which I found on SlideShare. Her argument is that social media is “democratizing communications” – giving individuals a voice that they wouldn’t otherwise have. I need to think on that. First, couldn’t anyone set up a website anyway? And second, isn’t the filter of an editor sometimes a good thing? In another presentation, she says that social media has overtaken porn as the number one activity on the web! So it appears that social media isn’t a fad, it represents a fundamental shift in the way we communicate. It makes me think of Gil Scott-Heron’s 40-year-old refrain: “The revolution will not be televised.” Possibly not, but will it be podcast? The walls come tumbling down There is, without a doubt, something dramatic happening. Think, for a moment, about the 2009 US election. It may not be fair to say that Obama owes his victory to social media (the guy did have a compelling message and a lot of charisma), but he also used social media in ways that had never been done before. To build name recognition, galvanize support among
young people and, especially, to raise money. Obama had 3.3 million friends on Facebook, while 500 Obama groups all across the US were an important asset for local organizing. Around 70,000 people raised approximately $30 million on personal fundraising pages. There’s also the example of how Twitter and YouTube were used to tell the truth about the political situation in Iran. Last year, when the Iranian government tried to close the country off from the outside world after the disputed elections, “tweeters” sent out two million tweets (Twitter messages) in the two weeks following the election, providing a glimpse of the unrest inside Iran which the government was powerless to control. And, when a young woman was killed by a bullet fired by a member of the Basij (militia) on the streets of Teheran, and the agonizing scene was captured on a cell phone video camera, the YouTube video was viewed by millions and replayed by the international media. The simple fact is that social media makes it more and more difficult to build walls to keep out the outside world. Just friends Amazing, how pervasive the buzz on social media actually is. Recently, the New York Times ran two articles on Facebook and one on Twitter. My New York Review of Books had a feature on Facebook a few months ago, and more recently included a long article on the future of publishing – e-books, self-publishing, publishing on demand, interactive, multi-media creations. And there was an excerpt from virtual reality guru Jaron Lanier’s book You Are Not a Gadget in the February issue of Harper’s. The guy who practically invented interactivity on the internet is now fairly skeptical. “I know quite a few people, most of them young adults, who are proud to say that they have accumulated thousands of friends on Facebook,” he writes. “Obviously, their statements can be true only if the idea of friendship is diminished.” I know what he means. I play in a band and – after putting it off for far too long – I set up a MySpace page. We’ve got all of about ten friends on our site (here’s a nice social media experiment, let’s see how many readers visit our site at www.myspace.com/ jimwakeandsleepwalker and sign up as friends!). There’s one character who somehow stumbled onto our site and invited me to be his friend. I accepted and discovered I was in the company of 122,904 others. Which does not necessarily translate into further name recognition, because I Googled him and only got 35 hits.
54 Images of Marta Kagan from her photostream at flickr.com/ photos/bonafidemarketinggenius/
Resisting seduction Signed up for Twitter and picked four political posts to follow – two left and two right. That yields 15 or 20 Twitter posts a day. I guess it depends on what else you’ve got to do whether you find that useful or distracting. I find it seductive, but if I’m going to get this article finished, I better not dive in too deeply. Word of mouth at lightning speed Tried to arrange an interview with Marta Kagan to give me some perspective, especially on the business side of social media, but we only managed to connect after I’d done a great deal of research (in the sense of an inordinate amount of time on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Posterous, SlideShare, as well as digging up opinions and stats on the tsunami that is the world of social media. We spoke for more than 30 minutes. I guess she makes a pretty compelling case for the power of what she – a self-described “social media maniac” – simply calls “social”. “The number one source of new business historically has been word-of-mouth, before mass media came along and changed the game because you could buy eyeballs, attention and an audience,” she says. “But that became fragmented, so less and less of that is possible. Bottom line is that word-of-mouth has been the number one thing always. So ‘social’ is just a technological platform that allows word-of-mouth to happen on a global scale at lightening speed.” She makes the point that the “millennials” – young people born from the 1980s onwards – have grown up with these new technologies – e-mail, internet, mobile phones and so on. And they are now the biggest slice of the market almost everywhere in the world. “Instead of me having a conversation with you about Product X, it happens 24-7 dynamically all the time – people are having those conversations in an archived format which is searchable and ‘referenceable’ – that can have a life of its own after the conversation has ended. So for business not to take advantage of that just seems crazy!” Hanging out in the playground Kagan is Managing Director for the US branch of a progressive marketing agency called Espresso, which specializes in the art of “brand infiltration” – the very essence of marketing with people and not at them. She says that the world has changed in a fundamental way and that old school marketing and advertising executives cling to their old models at their peril. “I think the bottom line is that it’s a philosophical
shift, so the first thing they have to do is to understand that marketing and advertising as we’ve known it for decades is going away – that you can’t market at people, that you have to market with them.” How do you know what to do in this new world? “I think the first thing you have to do is spend some time playing, hanging out in the playground, watching how the kids are playing and seeing what they’re doing. What are they talking about and what are they saying about you? A real world metaphor for this is that you don’t just walk into a cocktail party or networking event or any sort of social setting and say: ‘I’m here! Look at me!’ You’ve got to get the lay of the land and see what people are doing and how they are behaving.”
Who’s doing it right? Marta Kagan points to Pepsi as a good example. “What they are doing with their Refresh project (refresheverything.com) is basically taking a third of their marketing budget for the year and instead of pouring it into big expensive ads, they’ve poured that money into all the best of social marketing. Basically crowdsourcing – doing projects for the common good that they will fund. So you or I can go to their site and suggest a charitable effort in education or environment or healthcare, and on a monthly basis, they award a number of grants from around $5,000 up to $250,000. It’s acknowledging that ‘we’ are not smarter than ‘you’ or better than you – we just have the money. And you buy our products so maybe you would like to have a say in how we spend your money. Maybe you would rather spend that money to build a new school rather than have Britney Spears showing up in her skimpy outfit for 30 seconds during the Super Bowl.” It just is Kagan hammers on one point in particular – that the world has changed and there’s no going back. I still don’t quite understand why people need to report to the rest of the world, as they do on Facebook (OK, just their 600 or 800 best friends) that they are feeling up, down or sideways, bought a new pair of shoes, or suddenly had an epiphany. I worry that Twitter can trivialize communication, and that the art of true conversation and the value of true friendship are threatened by
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the online facsimiles. But I can’t deny that our ways of interacting with the world and each other will never be the same. As Kagan observes, reflecting on how the so-called millennials see the world: “They are not saying social is just a fad, it’s just how they operate. They TiVo out the commercials when they watch TV and half the time they don’t watch TV at all because they don’t have to. They can watch Hulu, they can get podcasts, they can watch
things on their smart phone. The people in control of marketing and advertising are still trying to catch up and adjust to what is obvious to everybody else – that it’s over. You can look at so many different industries that have been affected and have crumbled or are crumbling, from newspapers to music to television. I don’t even know why we’re talking about it – it’s just what’s happening. Embrace it, go with it, figure it out. Or plan your funeral.”
turning communication on its head
If you’re a company with global aspirations and a global presence, you really can’t afford to ignore what has become one of the most compelling trends in communication since the advent of e-mail. We’re talking, of course, about social media, something which AkzoNobel is embracing on a variety of fronts. “Social media has completely changed the way people behave online,” explains Tony Burns, AkzoNobel’s Manager of Digital Communications. “Business reputations are now being defined through these channels. The web is full of opinions, conversations and social interactions. So from a business point of view, communication has been completely turned on its head with the explosion in popularity of social media. Traditional top-down communication from companies is becoming a thing of the past as audiences demand two-way dialog with businesses. People are out there talking about AkzoNobel online, and to sit back and say nothing is a missed opportunity to reach out to our audience and talk to them about our products and solutions.” He says the main task is to raise awareness of AkzoNobel’s activities by effectively using the various opportunities presented by the world of social media. Then – perhaps easier said than done – the challenge is to create a buzz and involve people in a dialog. “Engaging people with interactive content is the key to building a community around our online presence – a community which shares stories, ideas and news that will eventually build a momentum
for the future and for living up to our brand promise: Tomorrow’s Answers Today.” To date, the company has focused mostly on “microblogging” applications such as Twitter (for external audiences) and Yammer (for AkzoNobel employees). But there is also an AkzoNobel group on Facebook (which has more than 1,000 members), as well as channels on LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr and Slideshare. “Our first phase is based around activity on social networks, publishing corporate news headlines and sharing them with our followers,” adds Burns. “But for the future, we want to go much further. This magazine is one example of what we have in mind – opening a two-way communication channel with our A Magazine audience, allowing them to browse, share and comment on the existing stories and even contribute with their own engaging ideas. If this succeeds, we are actually looking at the future A Magazine fan base.” AkzoNobel, he observes, can achieve various objectives with social media, depending on the target audience. For example, pushing out messages about corporate news and products to the business press is greatly facilitated by using social media channels, especially since it is possible to target different types of messages to different journalists. Internally, social media enhances the feeling of community among the 57,000 or so AkzoNobel employees. For customers, the function of social media is quite different. “We can use social media to communicate with our customers about our brands and our products, to talk about new product
developments and to offer support,” Burns continues. “So part of the challenge is to tailor what we say and use the right channels. But the most important thing we want to achieve in the short term is to build greater recognition of AkzoNobel as the company which stands behind many familiar brands.” He also stresses that social media advertising has a much lower priority. Simply building a presence on leading social media sites is far more important. “Research proves conclusively that consumers don’t trust adverts to anywhere near the extent they believe the opinions of their friends and other customers. So we would not, for example, want to advertise on our Facebook page. “In any case,” he continues “our objective is more about building recognition of the AkzoNobel brand and Tomorrow’s Answers Today. We want to engage people with interesting stories and open their eyes to new ideas, concepts and technology in much the manner that we try to do in A Magazine. So it is more about creating our own pages, channels and meeting places where our audiences can read articles, watch videos, see pictures and ultimately interact and converse about what AkzoNobel is doing and talking about.” Follow us on: akzonobel.com/twitter akzonobel.com/facebook akzonobel.com/youtube akzonobel.com/flickr akzonobel.com/linkedin
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fighting forsurvival WORDS Brian Guest
One of the most overlooked aspects of technology is its role in helping to tackle humanitarian crises. With poor health and nutrition continuing to pose a major global problem, organizations like the World Food Programme are battling hard to find ways to feed the starving millions.
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he Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that more than a billion people in the world go hungry every day, while more than 200 million children are severely malnourished. And that’s before taking into account the millions who are affected by devastating natural disasters such as the recent Haiti earthquake, which killed 250,000, left millions homeless and hungry and wreaked havoc with the country’s infrastructure. For Monica Marshall they are just some of the challenges she has to wrestle with every day. As Deputy Director, Private Partnerships at the World Food Programme (WFP), she is responsible for setting up business partnerships with the private sector as the organization seeks new avenues to carry out its mandate to feed the world’s hungry. Originally set up in 1963, the WFP is a UN agency charged with providing food assistance to combat the hunger which afflicts one in five people on Earth. Every year, it feeds more than 100 million people in more than 80 countries at a cost of between $4 and $6 billion, 100 percent of which is voluntarily funded. Yet despite its efforts, someone dies of starvation every six seconds somewhere in the world. During the bumper surplus years of the 1960s and 1970s, the WFP’s primary remit revolved around the logistical effort needed to efficiently move food from countries with a surplus to countries where there was scarcity. Now the organization’s strategy is on the provision of food and support tailored to the requirements of the target population.
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59 Previous spread: Emergency food distribution in Agok, Sudan, May 2008. Photo: UNMIS/ Tim McKulca. Left: In January 2010, a shattering earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale rocked Haiti. Hundreds of thousands died and countless others were left homeless and hungry. Estimates put the number of survivors requiring food assistance at two million. Distribution of vital supplies began immediately, with Port-au-Prince being one of the main centers for emergency aid. Photo: WFP/Alejandro Chicheri.
“We’ve adjusted our strategy from food aid to food assistance, She’s keen to emphasize the ongoing need to innovate with providing the right kind of intervention at the right time to the foods. The ideal scenario would be to use a staple food – right people,” she explains. “We’re in the process of building beans in the case of Haiti – as the basis for the food provia strategy based on the nutritional and taste profiles of the sion program. Unfortunately, she adds, the organization various target populations. But we can’t do this alone, which has often had to learn by doing and it’s only in emergencies is why we’re working with the private sector. We can tap into such as Haiti that the shortfall between need and provision and use their technology, expertise and products. We’ve really becomes apparent. So while the nutritional profile is made huge advances regarding the micronutrients that are crucial from the outset, the WFP has learned to quickly jugrequired, but we’re still some way from matching nutritional gle when needs must. “You can hand out biscuits, but the needs with the right product.” problem is that a six-month-old baby can’t eat a biscuit,” Close on 70 percent of the WFP’s work is responding to continues Marshall. “We find that mothers will chew a bisemergencies. Marshall says flexibility is crucial. The Haiti cuit up and then give it to the baby. You quickly learn to earthquake has been a good case in point. With damages adapt to local circumstances.” estimated to be in the region of $14 billion, the earthquake The WFP’s ability to respond quickly to emergencies is is being regarded as the most destructive disaster in mod- largely explained by the fact that they tend to occur in ern history. All the country’s infrastructure and centers of countries where there is a history of malnutrition. In Haiti, commerce, government and communications were flat- the organization has been in operation for more than 40 tened. What the WFP teams found was a scene of total years. In Asia, and in the countries of the Pacific basin, the devastation. After first distributing high energy biscuits to WFP was already on the ground when the tsunami struck. survivors, the next challenge was to get ready-to-eat meals “What’s crucial,” notes Marshall “is that people who are to the hungry. After the initial confusion following the quake, already vulnerable don’t regress further in terms of develofficials moved quickly to set up outside kitchens and start- opment. If you don’t use the window of opportunity that’s ed serving hot food tailored to the local population’s tastes available to get in the right nutrients to growing children it and preferences. can be disastrous. Not just in terms of stunted growth and “You can’t give people fortified rice if they are unable to cognitive development, but also economically. A country’s cook,” she says. “When an infrastructure has completely potential for economic growth can be measured by the collapsed we need to bring in ready-made meals. After a intellectual capacity of its population to contribute.” couple of days, we have to transition to more appropriate Besides the emergency support to provide relief to food. After all, the nutritional requirements of a pregnant people afflicted by natural or man-made disasters, the WFP woman and young children are different to adult males. also supports people in need through school meals proIn some situations – when food is available but people grams – aimed at getting children into school; maternal child have lost their livelihoods – we hand out cash so that they programs designed to reach vulnerable groups such as can buy the food they need to live.” babies, pregnant and breastfeeding women at community
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centers; and Food For Work, which promotes self-reliance through food-for-work projects where people are chronically hungry. “We only come in if we are invited by a government,” Marshall points out. “Our goal is to create sustainable programs that the host government can eventually take over. We try to cover all bases before preferably handing the program over to the authorities.” The WFP begins by targeting pregnant women and young children up to the age of five through maternal health centers, using food to attract them. They can then be taught hygiene, medical examination can be carried out and advice and practical support can be given on proper diet. For the age group five to 15, the WFP runs a huge program of school meals. Food, again, is used to attract children into school and as an incentive for the teachers to stay teaching. The longer girls, in particular, stay in school the longer they are able to make an economic contribution. When budgets permit, children are allowed to take food home, thus ensuring the family can eat. The Food For Work program targets people who have either lost their livelihood or need to learn a new skill to survive economically. The organization steps in when an emergency strikes such as the cyclone in Bangladesh, homes are destroyed, rice paddy fields swept away and people are no longer able to work or grow products to sell at local markets. “We use food to help them rebuild their homes, learn another skill or retrain, or, if the infrastructure has been badly damaged – as was the case in Sudan – we help them rebuild it from scratch,” says Marshall. “In Sudan we were then able to transport resources and provide employment to the local population.” With 10,000 people in the field and operations in 80 countries, the WFP has to spread its resources far and wide to remain lean and mean. Every extra penny it has goes towards
buying food. In an effort to extend its reach and provide a more effective service, the WFP started to work in partnership with the private sector around five years ago. Since then, it has entered into long-term partnerships with more than 20 companies and has pushed them to be as innovative as possible when it comes to delivering food products and expertise. “We’re very demanding,” Marshall admits. “People who are desperately poor need nutritionally good, but reasonably priced, products with a minimum of packaging.” In African countries such as Congo, micronutrient premixes are supplied to fortify local food. Products such as iodized salt or sachets with vitamins and minerals, including AkzoNobel’s Ferrazone® iron, are crucial because they can fulfill dietary needs cheaply and effectively. But it’s a two-way flow for the business partners: the private sector learns the workings of the local market and government, how best to approach populations and the importance of catering to local needs. Marshall adds that it takes a particular type of personality to cope with the strains that go with being an aid worker. The bitter and harrowing experience learned in places such as Iraq and Haiti – where aid workers have lost their lives – can’t fail but to leave an indelible mark on those who have often seen deaths not only among the local population, but also of friends and colleagues. “In Haiti, we had 225 staff on the ground. Most of them lost everything, including loved ones, but could still be counted on to contribute. It’s part and parcel of the job. When the Asian tsunami struck we were the first in. In Haiti, we had counselors and medical teams in place. When the UN building was hit in Iraq we also took casualties. So yes, it does change your outlook on life.” A mother of four, Marshall’s own story exemplifies the power of good nutrition. She and her husband adopted their youngest son in Guatemala. At the time, he was 11 months old, overweight and undernourished. Now aged five, he is very healthy thanks to a proper diet. Says Marshall: “I’m a personal believer in the power of nutrition and what the WFP can achieve with the right resources. The benefits we provide I see every day in my son. People take simple things such as good food and nutrition for granted. But it’s a fundamental right for everyone on the planet.” With the recent economic crisis, rising commodity prices and the growing effects of climate change, the challenges facing the WFP in eradicating the worst excesses of malnutrition and hunger look daunting. Even so, Marshall believes that the organization’s role as a provider and a catalyst for positive change will only grow. “We work with 3,000 NGOs to distribute food to sustain millions of people. But we need to move beyond that. We’ve become very adept at coordinating flows of resources and providing the resources that people really need on the ground. But there’s such a huge need in the world that we need all the help we can muster if we’re going to make a sustained impact on poverty and malnutrition.”
61 Left: Women carrying sacks on their heads following a World Food Programme rice distribution in the Cite Soleil slum of Port-au-Prince. Photo: WFP/Marcus Prior. Below: Hot meals served in schools are vital in Haiti, where families in deprived regions are still struggling to recover from the devastating hurricanes of 2008. Photo: WFP/Anne Poulsen.
combating iron deficiency Malnutrition caused by micronutrient deficiencies has long been a curse for the world’s poor. At AkzoNobel, we have a history of involvement in helping to combat such disorders. First it was iodized salt, now an iron compound we developed is winning widespread recognition as a potential agent of change for millions of people. Recent estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO) indicate that more than 1.2 billion people suffer from iron deficiency anemia – making it the most common and widespread nutritional disorder affecting the world’s population, primarily in developing countries, but also to some extent in the industrialized world. For years, health officials have worked ceaselessly to put together an effective package of measures to tackle the problem – including food fortification and iron supplementation. Traditionally, vitamins and minerals have been added to staple foods to combat deficiencies. Fortifying food with iron, however, has always been a headache as numerous fortification programs have not shown improvement in iron status, often due to bioavailability problems (how well the iron has been absorbed). We’ve developed a solution known as Ferrazone®. A food-grade ferric sodium EDTA which we started working on in 2000, it can be used as a nutritional ingredient to improve the iron status of anemic individuals. Ferrazone is absorbed well in the body, it doesn’t leave the unpleasant metallic aftertaste so often associated with traditional iron forms and – most importantly – it is demonstrated to be safe for human consumption. “Scientists were looking for more effective solutions to the problem of iron deficiency,” explains Dr. Carel Wreesmann, who has been working on the compound for our Chelates business for more than a decade. “But first of all, various regulatory hurdles had to be overcome. A key milestone was
achieved in 2004 when Ferrazone was granted GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) status by the US FDA (Food and Drug Administration). Many other countries then started to approve it, and in January 2010, EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) delivered its safety opinion on Ferrazone, which was highly positive. Formal regulatory approval will be issued within a few months.” Many countries have fortification programs for flour, generally using elemental iron powder. In 2004, AkzoNobel took part in a trial in schoolchildren in Kenya, which clearly demonstrated that elemental iron did not reduce iron deficiency in a diet typical for a developing country. In the same trial, Ferrazone reduced iron deficiency by 90 percent at the same fortification level. The results of this study were later published in 2007 in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet. Similar results from other studies led an expert panel on fortification to conclude in 2008 that only ferric sodium EDTA should be used as an iron source to fortify whole grain flour. And in April last year, the WHO endorsed the recommendations of the expert panel. This is leading to many countries reassessing their iron fortificant in light of the new WHO guidelines. Geoff Smith, who has led the Ferrazone development for AkzoNobel from the beginning, believes the potential for change is enormous: “This still widespread public health problem can be largely eradicated for less than 20 US cents per annum per person. In fact, no other options exist that will result in such a marked improvement in health levels in the developing world for so little money.” With a strong emphasis on food fortification with vitamins and minerals from the WHO – and prominent allies in the World Bank, UNICEF, the US CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and GAIN (Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition), supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,
as well as the support of major food and nutritional ingredients companies – we believe we can make a substantial contribution to improving the health of millions of people. Earlier this year, we joined forces with the World Food Programme (WFP) to announce a two-year project aimed at reducing iron deficiency in more than 100,000 people in the State of Madhya Pradesh, India. We will be supplying Ferrazone to fortify the atta wheat flour and maize flour that will be produced, as well as providing technical support. Commenting on the partnership, AkzoNobel’s Director of Sustainability, André Veneman, spoke about the company’s commitment to being part of the solution to the global problem of iron deficiency. “We have launched several similar initiatives around the world and are pleased to be working with the WFP, who will run the program, and have shown great dedication to the improvement of lives through better nutrition.” The two-year project in India is expected to lead to the scaling up of flour fortification at chakki mills in other states, while large roller mill flour fortification has already started in various parts of the country. “Major food fortification programs with ferric sodium EDTA are already underway in China, Vietnam and Pakistan,” continues Smith. “And the Kyrgyz Republic is just starting up fortification with this iron, based on the new WHO guidelines, in cooperation with UNICEF and the World Bank.” So why can’t measures be taken to eliminate all micronutrient malnutrition? “For inspiration, we look to the success story of iodized salt,” concludes Smith. “Ten years ago, it was virtually unavailable in Africa, India and China. Today, with AkzoNobel also contributing technical training, around 70 percent of all table salt sold – even in the most remote local markets – contains iodine. This can be an example for other minerals and vitamins, and Ferrazone can play a role.”
Supporting future generations Since early 1995, our Education Fund has been providing support and offering the chance of a better future to deprived children in developing countries around the world. Working with Plan International, the aim is to help young people fulfill their potential by improving the quality of their education. Money is raised through active fund-raising by AkzoNobel’s businesses and employee donations, with around 65 projects in 15 countries having been supported during the last 15 years – benefiting thousands of children aged three to 16 and their communities. The number of indirect beneficiaries is too high to count. As well as constructing entire schools, projects have also involved providing furniture, training teachers, improving facilities and promoting health and hygiene in countries such as Brazil, China, Vietnam, Bolivia, India, Indonesia, Ecuador and the Philippines. By ensuring that children have access to full pre-school and primary education – giving them a crucial advantage over those without – we are investing in individual talent and the development of economically and socially-empowered future generations.
We’re the largest global paints and coatings company and a major producer of specialty chemicals. We supply industries worldwide with quality ingredients for life’s essentials. We think about the future, but act in the present. We’re passionate about developing sustainable answers for our customers. Based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, we are a Fortune 500 company and are consistently ranked as one of the leaders on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. We have operations in more than 80 countries, and employ more than 50,000 people, who are committed to excellence and delivering Tomorrow’s Answers Today™. © 2010 Akzo Nobel N.V. All rights reserved. “Tomorrow’s Answers Today” is a trademark of Akzo Nobel N.V.
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THE AKZONOBEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 4 MAY 10
UK Pavilion, Shanghai Expo 2010, designed by Thomas Heatherwick; heatherwick.com
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THE AKZONOBEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 4