Group Management Report Products Safety and Health Environment Human Resources Social Commitment Consolidated Financial Statements 63
Innovation and Employees
Innovation
ALTANA’s products and services are geared to offering our
customers special solutions and giving them a competitive
edge. Our customers usually integrate us in their product
development process at an early stage. To be able to maintain
or consolidate our position as one of the leading specialty
chemicals companies, we have to steadily grow our competencies
and continuously expand our own product portfolio.
In the Group’s divisional research and development facilities,
our product portfolio is steadily developed further. In
addition to existing applications in current or new markets,
activities to develop new applications for these markets
are a focal point. To be able to tap into new fields of business,
we identify the needs of our customers and incorporate
them in the development of new solutions.
To interlink the Group’s diversified knowhow and com-
petencies across industries and technologies, selected
research and development projects are initiated and coordi-
nated centrally at the Group level. Via external networks
and close cooperation with universities and research institutes,
external impetus is absorbed and the possibility of using it
in the Group is examined. In the 2017 fiscal year, we intensi-
fied these activities. A special focus was on the action field
“digitization.” We launched our first projects in this area,
which invest in the digitization of processes along the en-
tire value chain, as well as automated application-technology
reviews that supplement and support research and devel-
Research and development expenses (in € million )
opment. In addition, we strengthened our company in a tar-
geted manner through new competencies in the fields of
software development and data analysis, both by hiring new
employees and with acquisitions.
In 2017, ALTANA pushed ahead its entry into new sales
markets by acquiring innovative technologies in the field
of printing as well as labels and packaging in order to gener-
ate growth potential and expand its product portfolio in
the future. ALTANA intends to develop these activities to mar-
ketability in the coming years.
Examples of undertakings that were pushed forward
centrally via ALTANA’s holding company in 2017 were projects
in the field of printed electronics and the strategic digi-
tal printing partnership with the Israeli Landa Corp. In closer
cooperation with the new central department Corporate
Venturing, technology and market potential will be examined
and entry into new attractive sales markets developed. In
the next few years, our divisions should benefit from this wide-
ranging development potential in different ways.
The basis of our innovative strength is a worldwide
research and development network encompassing 1,102 employees
at present. In the year under review, expenses for
research and development activities amounted to € 142.5 million
(previous year: € 129.3 million). The continued high
share of research and development expenses in sales of 6.3 %
(previous year: 6.2 %) is yet another expression of our inno-
vation focus.
2013 109.4
2014 113.9
2015 128.1
2016 129.3
2017 142.5