Sep 11 2006
Faster success through cooperation: With the Joint Innovation Lab (JIL) BASF is opening a research laboratory for organic electronics in Ludwigshafen on September 11. BASF will conduct research at the JIL with both industrial and academic partners into new materials in the field of organic electronics. The projects that will be initiated at BASF’s joint innovation Laboratory will help strengthen Germany’s position in the emerging market of organic electronics. The first congratulations came from German Federal Minister of Education and Research Dr. Annette Schavan: “With research activities in the field of organic electronics, the Joint Innovation Lab makes an important contribution to secure Germany’s future. We need ideas that take off“, she said.
Organic electronics is a key technology that offers access to the growth markets of the future. “By utilizing JIL, BASF is making organic electronics a key issue in its growth cluster energy management and nanotechnology,” explained Dr. Stefan Marcinowski, member of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF and Research Executive Director.
Research cooperation as a success factor
Materials and system know-how are closely interrelated in the field of organic electronics. Cooperation with a technology partner at the earliest possible development stage is therefore a major success factor. The new joint laboratory is positioned precisely at this interface: BASF provides its extensive expertise in materials research and the partners provide their specialist knowledge in the construction and manufacture of lighting systems. The goal is to develop materials and electronic components as quickly as possible to gain an edge in international competition. At its largest research site in Ludwigshafen, Germany, BASF spends more than €750 million on research and development each year. As a result, the company’s Research Verbund and superb infrastructure in Ludwigshafen provide the ideal conditions for successfully entering this new field of activity.
Up to 20 BASF experts and cooperation partners will work at the new laboratory. These capacities can also be extended further if required. Together with the BASF employees, the partners make up an interdisciplinary team of physicists, engineers, quantum chemists, synthesis chemists and other experts. The partners include industrial companies and researchers from prestigious universities and research institutes in Germany and abroad.
Organic light emitting diodes: Lighting technology of the future
At present the JIL researchers are concentrating on organic light emitting diodes (OLED) and organic photovoltaics. OLEDs are flat, thin light-emitting devices made from organic semiconductive materials. As lighting panels, they offer completely new options in lighting technology, such as windows as transparent light sources or credit card sized flashlights. The researchers have calculated that in their current form OLEDs are likely to consume less than half as much power as conventional fluorescent tubes. OLEDs also have a long lifetime.
In this area, BASF Future Business GmbH has launched the project “OLEDs for appliances in the lighting market” (OPAL) together with partners from industry such as OSRAM, Philips, Aixtron AG and Applied Materials. The goal of the project is to create the scientific and technological basis for initiating the production of OLED-based lighting in Germany.
Sponsorship as part of the OLED initiative of the German Ministry of Education and Research
The OPAL project is being sponsored as part of the OLED initiative of the German Ministry of Education and Research, in which the ministry and the participating companies are initially focusing on organic light emitting diodes and intend to invest a total of €600 million in research.
“I am convinced that the OLED initiative offers many opportunities for Germany as a business location and that the projects conducted in the Joint Innovation Lab will contribute in realizing these opportunities in the global market,” explained Marcinowski. “We therefore take great pleasure in inaugurating our new laboratory at the same time that the OLED initiative is being launched by Minister Schavan.”