Israel Chemicals Ltd. (TASE: ICL) (ICL) has launched ICL Innovation Ltd., an Open Innovation program through which it will accelerate its development of sustainable new products and processes to drive its future growth. ICL will allocate several million dollars a year to fund the program.
ICL president and CEO Stefan Borgas said, “We are excited to launch a program that opens our company to the full range of knowledge, creativity and initiative available throughout the world - a path that will help us develop the innovative new products and processes needed to address global needs and to drive our future growth. This is an important component of our strategy to assure ICL’s standing as a leader who improves the world in which it operates, addressing the challenges created by expanding global populations and increasing environmental awareness. By embracing the Open Innovation approach, we will bring the best of the world’s innovation into the company, from wherever it originates.”
ICL Innovation will solicit a select number of product ideas and projects from a range of sources, including academic institutions, research institutes, technology cooperatives, incubators and venture capital funds. After evaluating the suitability of each project for the needs of the company, it will be analyzed from the standpoint of technology, business model and environmental responsibility. In addition, the project will be rated in terms of its contribution to world needs in the areas of water, fertilizers, food supply and/or special chemical applications. Each project selected will be “adopted” by an ICL segment, which will provide support and supervision to assure that the project remains practical and grounded. Upon successful commercialization, the segment will market the product and/or incorporate the process into its operations.
Eyal Ginzberg, president of ICL’s IMI (TAMI) Institute for R&D and newly-appointed chairman of ICL Innovation Ltd., said, "Many innovative and promising ideas are never commercialized for lack of funding, project management, pilot facilities and commercialization expertise. Since we are so well established in each of these areas, we are ideally positioned to partner with scientists and entrepreneurs with great ideas in all parts of the world. By providing the right support, we will help them reduce the time it would otherwise require to take their projects from concept to industrial implementation. The Accelerator will also provide our company with a new source of innovative products and processes to augment our considerable R&D capabilities around the globe."
ICL’s R&D organization has approximately 500 employees at IMI/TAMI (ICL’s central institute for R&D located in Haifa, Israel) and at its other R&D facilities located in Germany, Holland, the US, and elsewhere in Israel.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 3, 2012
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