Best Business Innovation Category

Best Business Innovation category

CATEGORY WINNER

Remko Goudappel and Inge Massen

Moving down the value chain with claryl - the picture glass

Having invented a one-step optical anti-reflective coating for float glass, DSM decided that instead of marketing the coating, it would enter the market itself with a branded mid-priced picture-framing glass to capture more of the value from the innovation. Extensive market research indicated a gap in the market and the launch has been so successful DSM has had to install further capacity. The claryl picture-framing glass is now sold through 1,500 framing shops in 15 EU countries and a bid to enter the US market is underway. The original innovation came from DSM’s incubator unit.

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Runner up in this category

PTT Polymer Marketing

Narongchai Pisutpunya

Export document system solution (Export Easy)

Thailand-based PTT Polymer Marketing has established a Centre of Excellence for Export and developed a fully electronic system to handle letters of credit and associated export papers and documentation. The Export Easy system enables exporters to convert letter of credit information from banks into full electronic format, using XML, that can then be linked with purchase order data, etc, and sent directly to shipping lines. It is claimed to make document preparation five times faster and to reduce human errors by 80%. Its use will save the petrochemical marketing arm of state-owned PTT around 25m baht a year ($735,000/year).