Research & Development

WACKER’s research and development activities pursue three goals:

• We contribute to our customers’ market success by searching for solutions that meet their needs.
• We optimize our processes in order to be the technology leader and sustainably profitable.
• We concentrate on creating innovative products and applications for new markets and on serving future trends, such as energy storage, renewable energy generation, electromobility, modern construction, and biotechnology.

At 3.1 percent, the R&D rate – research and development spending as a percentage of Group sales – was on par with the prior year (2016: 3.2 percent).

We filed 88 patent applications in 2017 (2016: 96). Our portfolio contains about 3,800 active patents worldwide, as well as 1,700 patent applications currently pending. We license very little R&D know-how from third parties. When we collaborate with universities on research, the results are usually made available to us free of charge or by transfer of rights of use.

We invested, among other things, in the construction and automation of new pilot reactors, in which the production of successful product developments is scaled up from laboratory quantities to industrial volumes. For example, we doubled polymer-synthesis capacity to meet our research needs and, at WACKER POLYMERS in China, we expanded laboratory space. Funds were also invested in the automation of our pilot polymerization plants in the USA and upgrades to laboratory facilities both at sites in Germany and at our international subsidiaries.

Investments in R&D Facilities

¹ Excluding Siltronic AG

² Including Siltronic AG

The development of new products and production processes accounted for the majority of our R&D costs. WACKER scientists are currently working on some 260 projects. WACKER operates in highly promising fields, such as energy recovery and storage, electronics, automotive engineering, construction, food and biotechnology as well as products for household, medical, health-care and cosmetics applications.

Breakdown of R&D Expenditures in 2017

In 2013, we launched the New Solutions initiative, the goal of which is to rapidly develop technically and commercially superior solutions for new applications. Expertise from all over the company is consolidated groupwide and applied to projects as needed. In 2017, we started a new electromobility project under this initiative. Some of our research projects are subsidized by government grants.

Research and Development at Two Levels

WACKER conducts R&D at two levels: centrally at our Corporate Research & Development department and locally at our business divisions. Corporate R&D coordinates activities on a company-wide basis and involves other departments, such as Corporate Engineering (during process development). We also use a management process to keep our R&D projects transparent throughout the Group. We manage our product and process innovations groupwide in Project System Innovation (PSI), our project management system, where we systematically evaluate customer benefit, sales potential, profitability and technology position.

R&D Organization

Strategic Collaboration with Customers and Research Institutes

Our business divisions conduct application-driven R&D, focusing on new processes for producing polycrystalline silicon and on product and process innovations in biotechnology and in silicone and polymer chemistry. We collaborate with customers, scientific institutions and universities to achieve successful research results more quickly and efficiently. In 2017, WACKER worked together with more than 20 international research institutes from three continents on some 26 research projects. Our collaborative efforts cover topics that include electricity storage, process simulation and process development.

WACKER attaches considerable importance to fostering young scientific talent and maintaining close contacts with universities. In 2017, we sponsored some 140 degree theses and internships with students at over 50 universities worldwide. In 2006, Wacker Chemie AG joined with the Technical University of Munich (TUM) to establish the Institute of Silicon Chemistry, located on TUM’s Garching research campus near Munich, and has funded the institute since then.

Research Work at WACKER

As the hub of WACKER’s R&D activities, Corporate R&D has the task of researching scientific correlations to develop new products and processes efficiently. Another task is to tap and develop new business fields that complement the Group’s core competencies. Our scientists and engineers conduct basic research, develop new products and processes, and improve existing processes. The lab and technical staff at our R&D, applications-technology and production-support facilities work in our laboratories and in our production and pilot plants, and also support application trials at our customers’ sites. WACKER had 728 research and development staff in 2017 (2016: 695), accounting for 5.3 percent of the Group workforce (2016: 5.2 percent). Of these, 581 were employed in R&D in Germany and 147 abroad.

Alexander Wacker Innovation Award

The Alexander Wacker Innovation Award, a €10,000 prize bestowed annually since 2006, recognizes excellence in categories alternating between product innovation, process innovation and basic research. In 2017, Wacker Chemie AG recognized a team for their research into the behavior of silicones at high temperatures. Four specialists from the Group’s in-house research center, the “Consortium für elektrochemische Industrie,” developed high-temperature-resistant silicone fluids to create HELISOL^®: a product that enables efficiency levels in solar thermal power plants that are impossible to achieve with conventional heat-transfer media.

Selected Corporate R&D Research Topics

A major area of emphasis in basic research is the chemistry of low-valence silicon for medium-to-long-term use in industrial applications such as catalysis. In this area, we are working very closely with the Institute of Silicon Chemistry at the Technical University of Munich.

The goal of our research into lithium-ion batteries is to develop high-capacitance anode materials in order to significantly increase the capacity and energy density of lithium-ion cells. The test cells exhibit up to 30 percent higher capacity than graphite-based reference cells. We have initiated projects to prepare the market launch.

ESETEC^® 2.0 is a highly efficient microbial production system for antibody fragments. As part of our biotechnology research, we are developing a new generation of ESETEC^® strains that further enhance protein production, folding and release, making them more flexible and suitable for new biopharmaceuticals.

Selected Divisional Research Projects

One focus of research at WACKER SILICONES is on thermally conductive materials for optimum heat and weight management in batteries of electric vehicles. To increase electronic productivity even further, we are researching solvent-free, room-temperature-curing silicones for optical bonding, sealing and embedding of electronic components. Silicone films with increased dielectric conductivity are used in low-voltage dielectric power converters. We are working on silicone-adherent electrode materials to improve adhesion as well as surface properties.

In Consumer Care, we are developing hydrophilic silicone gels for rapid moisturization of the skin in cosmetic applications. We are working on novel antifoam-agent components that offer maximum effectiveness. The synthesis of silicone resins and silicone hybrid materials is the basis of our research into solvent-borne organic systems for coatings and construction applications.

WACKER POLYMERS focuses its research on functional polymer binders and system solutions for sectors such as construction. We are working on developing even more sustainable products that are free of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Renewable raw materials represent one focus. In the reporting period, we launched functionalized polymer dispersions, dispersible polymer powders and polymer resins for manufacturing enhanced dispersion paints, adhesives and cementitious building materials.

WACKER BIOSOLUTIONS’ research activities serve to strengthen its biotech expertise. We are developing production processes for high-quality bioactive substances and continuously improving our production systems for pharmaceutical proteins. We are developing new applications based on our cyclodextrin platform, both in the pharmaceutical and agrochemical fields and for industrial applications. At tradeshows and in other forums during the reporting period, we presented a 3D-printing process for customizable chewing-gum shapes.

Technological progress in the development of solar modules is proceeding by leaps and bounds across all stages of the supply chain. At the same time, cell efficiency is rising continually. The highest cell efficiencies can be achieved only with hyperpure polycrystalline silicon of the kind produced by WACKER POLYSILICON. Reference studies such as the International Technology Roadmap for Photovoltaics (ITRPV) show efficiencies of over 21 percent for monocrystalline solar cells produced with PERC technology (passivated emitter rear cell). High-efficiency monocrystalline cells, e. g. heterojunction or interdigitated back contact solar cells, achieve efficiencies of 22 – 24 percent. Efficiency is a measure of how much of the radiant energy absorbed by a solar cell is transformed into electricity.