Exclusive: How Merck keeps its pipelines pumping

University collaboration is at the heart of Merck Chemicals’ strategy for keeping new ideas and products flowing through the pipeline.

In an exclusive interview with Science|Business, Thomas Geelhaar, Head of Chemicals R&D at Merck in Darmstadt, Germany, describes how the company scouts for technologies and interacts with universities.

Thomas Geelhaar, the head of chemicals R&D, has been with Merck Chemical’s R&D division since 1984. He has worked in polymer, liquid crystal and organic light-emitting diode research, and served as the head of business development for Chemicals.

Now, as the company’s Chief Technology Officer for Chemicals, Geelhaar is involved in all materials science research fields including organic electronics and solid-state lighting.

Merck Chemicals has long cooperated with universities. Please tell me about some of your more recent collaborative projects.

We have a pipeline of research that we are trying to bring to market, and we try to collaborate with universities during the R&D process, particularly in the early phases of research when ideas are emerging and being tested. We cooperate closely to get access to the newest research, such as work in printable electronics and photovoltaics.

We work in two ways. Either Merck takes a country-specific approach or we identify the research topic, and then we look for the right university partner. In 2000, we set decided to build a research centre in the science park attached to the University of Southampton, UK to focus on organic electronics. The UK is one of the major hotspots for organic electronics such as next-generation photovoltaics, organic thin film transistors or Radio frequency identification (RFID).

In another example, here in Darmstadt, we invested about €1 million to build the Merck TU Darmstadt Lab, to work with the university on inorganic, printed electronics. We were instrumental in bringing together several institutes at the university that had not cooperated before, such as the chemistry, material science, printing and electronics institutes. This enabled us to cover all the product development steps, from materials to the printing process, and onto to the device.

Our aim is to develop a prototype for inorganic, printable electronics. This is an innovative and open way to cooperate, and a good example of how to improve cooperation and find synergies among institutes that did not work together before.

I should note that this joint initiative was not only our idea, but was also inspired by the former president of the university.

How does the university benefit? Do you share licence agreements?

Both parties benefit but we don’t want to reveal details. Let’s just say there is a financial interest for both parties.  

Do universities ever come to you with research ideas?

Usually we define the general topic we are interested in, and then we start offering funding, which attracts the ideas. It is a give and take, and we always have to give some general guidance about our interests.

How do you announce your interests?

We have some early-phase scouting colleagues in business development who go out into the countries and visit conferences. Of course, we also have our organisation in Japan and the United States, and we visit leading institutes with our list of topics.

Alternatively we offer funding for a joint project, get proposals and then choose one. Sometimes we push the idea, and sometimes we listen for new ones.

It’s important to make sure that the R&D pipeline is filled at all stages – the emerging idea phase, the university cooperation phase and the customer-oriented applications. We need all three parts.

And this is a main part of your job?

Yes it is. I have to oversee the distribution of these stages.

Back to Southampton University. Why did you choose it as a research site?

We did not choose the UK because we had significant sales there. We chose it because it’s one of the most innovative places to conduct research. We have about 50 scientists and technicians at the rapid prototyping facility at the Chilworth site which we opened in 2001. The university spins-off startups, and the science park supports them. We have the opportunity both to work closely with the university and to share inspiration with other companies.

Do you have a lab-sharing arrangement with the university?

Since 2004, experienced young scientists from the university have been working at our facilities, and we have had access to some of their equipment and technology, as well as some unique research methods. We did not need to duplicate and establish these ourselves.

We also have the opportunity to work on joint projects with young researchers. The research is focused on organic electronics to be used in organic thin film transistors, organic photovoltaics and organic RFID.

You mentioned business scouts. Can you give me an example of your scouting activities?

We have about 10 scouts worldwide. We have identified Israel as a good place to perform research, not just the US and the UK. Israel has a much larger start-up and university scene than Germany. The total amount of money going into start-ups and venture capital in Israel is larger than in Germany. Our scout was a former professor in Israel. He helped us get Israeli-government funding for joint projects with Israeli startups and universities. We were quite proud of this since we were the only German company in the field of chemicals to get funding.

The award was given in November, and now we’re looking for research partners and themes. Of course, we are already involved in many German, European Union and MITI [Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Japan]-funded projects as well. But the episode shows that scouting shouldn’t only be done in the traditional locations.