APC 2011 Annual Report Download - page 32

30 2011 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC
DESCRIPTION OFTHEGROUP, ANDITSSTRATEGY, MARKETS ANDBUSINESSES
1R&D STRATEGY
and price level. The available markets are vast with noteworthy
potential applications in sectors such as carpeting, car equipment
and electronics.
Production will begin shortly with the start of the Avantium pilot
plant. This equipment – with a 40 tonne annual capacity – was
opened in Decemberand fi nanced with money from a consortium
of investors, including EUR2.5million from Aster Capital, convinced
of the value of the Company‘s proposed advances in relation to
green plastics.
A deep commitment within the R&D
community
Schneider Electric plays an active role in the French and international
R&D community, notably in defi ning strategic R&D programmes
and in evaluating projects currently under way or submitted to
France’s business clusters, France’s national research agency
or European organisations such as FP7, ITEA (Information
Technology for European Advancement), KIC (Knowledge
Innovation Community), InnoEnergy and PPP E2B (Public-Private
Partnership on Energy-Effi cient Buildings). The two main business
clusters include Minalogic, specialised in microtechnologies,
nanotechnologies and embedded software and Tenerrdis, which
focuses on new energy technologies and renewable energies.
Schneider Electric is involved in the main skills network, the Organic
Electronic Association, and is a promoter of “green electronics” in
relation to its WG-Green working group. It heads up the “Intelligent
Product” unit for the Plastipolis business cluster, and participates
in discussions with the French scientifi c community in the context
of the Organic electronics research group. Large area electronics
also provide an opportunity for innovation for Group products:
this technology is likely to bring greater fl exibility in design, as well
as space gains and new functions on the surface of electronic
products: printed buttons, autonomous screens,etc.
Schneider Electric is also a member of the EMMI (European
Multifunctional Materials Institute) support group, whose main
objective is to serve as a common platform for its 15 academic
members in seven European countries to defi ne and execute
research or educational projects in the area of multifunctional
materials. EMMI enables different communities to share views about
functional ceramics and organic-inorganic hybrid materials, etc.
Environmental issues play a key role in much of the members’
resulting work: examples include projects to design new materials
or systems to reduce electrical consumption, projects to replace
toxic components and a project to develop hypersensitive gas
sensors. In this context, Schneider Electric is supporting a thesis
begun in 2009, and is backing two thesis subjects for 2011.