Clemson -- Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN) announced today that it has given Clemson University's School of Textiles, Fiber and Polymer Science a unique fiber technology worth an estimated $38 million in intellectual property and patent rights.
Eastman's donation includes more than 100 U.S. and worldwide patents and intellectual properties related to capillary surface material (CSM) technology -- a major breakthrough in the physics of fluid transport. Eastman is also giving Clemson equipment to establish a small manufacturing lab to test and demonstrate products.
The innovative science behind the technology has the potential to make everything from oil-spill soakers to diapers more absorbent than anything currently on the market.
CSM fibers are unique because their surfaces are engineered to contain deep channels. By comparison, most other fibers -- both man-made and natural -- have essentially smooth surfaces. It's those deep channels that give the material its phenomenal absorbency.
Additional end products could include absorbent materials for use in blood-filtration systems needed in surgical operating rooms, surgical dressings, footwear and apparel, and personal health-care products. Clemson's Bhuvenesh Goswami, Alumni Distinguished Professor and internationally recognized textiles-and-fiber researcher, predicted the technology will revolutionize the use of textile materials in agricultural, home care, sports, military and other industrial uses.
"Eastman's extraordinary gift brings us one step closer to our goal of being recognized as one of the nation's top 20 public universities," said Clemson University President James F. Barker. "Clemson will benefit not only because of the revenue potential, but also because our faculty and students will have access to this technology for their own research. Ultimately, consumers will benefit as the technology moves from Eastman1s lab through our labs to the marketplace."
"Once we decided this technology was not strategic to our current long-term business plans, we wanted to make it available for further research and eventual commercialization," said Wiley Bourne, vice chairman and executive vice president of the international chemical company. "Clemson University has an outstanding track record of doing just that, providing value to society as well as financial value once technology is commercialized."
Donating technology that is not consistent with the company's strategy, but that can be further developed and successfully commercialized and marketed, creates value for the donor company1s bottom line, Bourne said. "It creates much more value for everyone to license or donate technology that we're not going to use, rather than allow it to sit on a shelf and gradually lose its value to newer technology
Clemson is a recognized leader in engineered-fiber research through its School of Textiles, Fiber and Polymer Science. The school is a participant in the Clemson-based Center for Advanced Engineering Fibers and Films, one of the nation's elite National Science Foundation Engineering Research Centers. Clemson is also a partner in the National Textile Center, a federally-funded, six-university consortium specializing in innovative fiber and textile research.
"The Eastman technology will play a significant role in solidifying our stature as one of the nation's top universities conducting research in high-tech fibers," said school director Richard V. Gregory. "Not only will our students have access to this research, but they'll have access to Eastman researchers who'll serve as adjunct faculty, giving them critical real-world and research experience."
The technology will become part of the curriculum at both undergraduate and graduate levels, ultimately becoming the foundation of post-graduate research for years to come.
Patricia Schempp, a 25-year-old Master's student from Buffalo, N.Y., said the new technology could significantly impact her current research area of filtration, which runs the gamut from water purifiers used on the home faucet to massive air filters needed in industrial processes.
No other graduate students in the country have access to this technology at this depth. This is an incredible opportunity, which can be found only here at Clemson, said Schempp.
Clemson professors Goswami and Michael Ellison will head research efforts, which could initially span textiles-polymer science, bioengineering, environmental engineering and civil engineering.
But students aren't the only ones to benefit.
"This fiber research will not only impact the education of future engineers and scientists, but could inaugurate a new chapter in the industrial growth of South Carolina," said Thomas M. Keinath, dean of the College of Engineering and Science. "Universities have always generated intellectual capital, but we now know they can also generate economic capital by attracting industries to the state."
Revenues generated from marketing this technology will also allow Clemson to significantly expand and strengthen its research and educational initiatives, according to university Chief Research Officer Y.T. Shah, bringing the university that much closer to achieving its goal of earning $100 million in research funding annually.
The technology will be marketed by the Clemson University Research Foundation. Clemson is nationally recognized for excelling in the commercialization of intellectual property, ranking in the nation1s top 25 universities.
Eastman manufactures and markets chemicals, fibers and plastics. Headquartered in Kingsport, Tenn., it has approximately 15,000 employees in 30 countries and had 1998 sales of $4.48 billion.
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