For developers and suppliers of bio-based
chemicals, one of the main obstacles standing
between success and failure is finding the right
co-development partners. Helping that process,
the omnipresence of technology connects
people across the globe and makes that connection easier in one
sense, due to the fact there is an active audience. But it also
throws up a big challenge: with a seemingly infinite number of
possibilities, where does one start?
Addressing this very issue, SpecialChem founder and CEO, Christophe
Cabarry, spoke to Bio-Based World News about the
company’s modus operandi, the impact of digitalization on
the bioeconomy.
To start with, Christophe first explained what frustrates a marketer
in the chemical industry. Cabarry says:
Why it’s frustrating being a marketer in the chemical industry?
That source of frustration relates to joining the dots between
the huge numbers of applications and bio-based products that
are available in the bioeconomy today. It’s no mean feat to
protect and maintain margins that exist in very long value chains
with so many decision makers, and it makes marketing difficult
and very complex.
That was the reason for starting SpecialChem; we wanted to
harness the digital tech that was emerging at that time to make
marketing and innovation in the chemicals and materials industry
not only easier but faster, more effective, less expensive and
measurable. At the forefront of these marketing and innovation
needs, you will find bio-based products. These are still the
dynamics of our company today.
That move was taken by Cabarry back in 2000,
“when no one was
really anticipating digitalization of their company’s marketing
or sales or even their innovation”
has recently accelerated with
a digitalization wave hitting all sectors of the economy, the
industrial sector at large and now bio-based chemicals.
Customers themselves are now digital
The most transformational aspect is that customers themselves
are digital. All the engineers, formulators, material engineers spend
a lot of time online to look for the solutions they need. During the
exploration phase of their projects, they will select 3 to 4 suppliers,
for example using specialized platforms like SpecialChem, and then
initiate the contact. They are taking control.
Five or ten years ago, chemical companies were traditionally
initiating the first contact with the potential customers but
now that’s really been flipped on its head and that first contact
is initiated by the engineers. And it is a digital contact, not a
personal one. Because of that change, companies need to adapt.
It goes much deeper than just buying CRM software and having
a nice website.
It has to be more transformational in terms of
redefining their market interaction processes.
Key Challenges with Bio-based Products Leading to Innovation
Usurping
fossil-based
products remains the original challenge for
bio-based
products but it’s that very challenge that also potentially offers
the key. “It is making their life more difficult, but also forces
them to be more innovative in bringing the right products to
market. The number one source of innovation is hunger. The
bar for them is higher.
The acceleration of digitalization can offer big benefits to those
companies in the bioeconomy, especially regarding innovation.
One of the keys for the success of bio-based
technologies is to rapidly find the right co-development partners,
i.e. the ones ready to pay a premium versus traditional alternatives
or to co-invest in the development of their application.
It’s great for innovators because implementing digital methodologies like crowdsourcing or open innovation on the relevant online
communities can help them find the right partners more rapidly
and more systematically. It can also work for large companies
releasing new products because it breaks down the barriers of
time and distance even for them.
No one invents Alone!
The days of lonely inventors creating something in a lab with no
contact with potential customers until the product is fully ready
are over. Today it’s about collaboration between the supplier of the
material holding the tech, and the industrialists who will be able to
use it and jointly develop the applications of it.
The strong community aspect that the SpecialChem founder
speaks of isn’t just good for business,
it also mirrors the way that
people work in the bioeconomy today.
But how does one choose the right organization to partner
with?
Well, that still remains an area that has been constant
over the last 18 years, and not everyone gets
it right.
Typically you have a start-up with a new biopolymer,
for example, and they know they can’t develop it alone – so to
develop the application and the tech they tend to rush and want
to form partnerships with large companies.
Clearly, those big companies represent a big potential market for them. But those same companies aren’t agile or fast. They’re
definitely not going to push to develop the innovation as fast and
furious as a start-up company would.
Look towards the Smaller to Medium-sized
firms (Hungry Seconds)
You’ll have a
better interaction in the market with 'hungry seconds' as they often need
your innovation and they’re ready to invest resources quickly.
They will also share their knowledge more readily than the big
companies, which are often that way because the big companies
want to own the innovation for them. And again, the use
of
digital and agile methodologies can help companies to find
those “hungry seconds” faster, and in the end, even accelerate the
whole product development process itself.
Future of Bioeconomy
The production costs will be driven down as bio-based products are more
widely adopted, a change that is in the hands of the big suppliers. What could change the game is if retailers or big brands decide
to change the game themselves. They could, for example, foster the
adoption of bio-based products, create labels or certifications to force
an entire industry to make a move. I think that big companies will
increasingly use this argument to gain market share.