More than just a turf producer, for peat's sake

Bord na Móna has reinvented itself as an innovation-driven entity, partly through collaboration with third-level institutions

STRONG BRAND awareness is something that most companies are keen to generate, but for some it can be a hindrance.

Bord na Móna is forever been associated with the homely pictures of peat turf. However, as it moves into other fields, it has been striving over the last number of years to shake off its traditional image.

Whatever the argument about the future structure and ownership of the semi-State body, today less than 50 per cent of its turnover derives from peat activities, a trend that is set to intensify as peat stocks gradually run out over the next few decades.

Central to this repositioning has been innovation.

In 2009, chief executive Gabriel D’Arcy signalled a €50 million investment in innovation over the following five years. In the last financial year, the company spent in excess of €5 million on RD, innovation and related business development activities.

Hugh Henry, who heads up the innovation team in Bord Na Móna, gives one the sense that he believes indigenous companies such as Bord na Móna have wrongly been sidelined when it comes to debate and discussion about innovation.

“There’s a lot of focus on the multinationals and technology companies operating here when it comes to innovation. Indigenous companies such as Bord na Móna are doing just as much in the field.”

While Bord na Móna employs about 40 people in innovation, its strategy is collaborative. The company works with universities, entrepreneurs, State agencies and other companies as part of what Henry describes as an “open innovation model”.

“It’s the philosophy that no company or organisation is an island. In the past, when companies innovated it was behind closed doors; we try as much as possible to have an open approach. While we begin from within our own organisation, you quickly find that you are limited to the scope and thinking of the company. Engaging with other bodies with similar requirements to us also opens up different routes to markets.”

One of the most successful commercial partnerships in recent years has been the Fire Magic brand, launched just over six months ago. Bord na Móna was approached by a start-up company, Inferneco, with an idea for a kerosene-free alternative to firelighters.

“An entrepreneur came to us with the idea. We already had the route to market, so it was an example of taking a good idea and making money out of it. It’s the first of its kind in the world and has been doing very well for us.”

Collaboration with universities is a larger plank of the company’s innovation strategy.

“We visited the main third-level institutions working in the kind of areas we’re focused on – clean technology, sustainable energy, clean air and water, scarce resources. We then identified suitable research partnerships.”

Bord na Móna works with eight universities and third-level institutions in Ireland, as well as the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Among the most active collaborations are Bord na Móna’s work with NUIG in waste-water engineering. A new waste-water treatment process, which offers a novel way of treating water from small communities, is coming on stream. The prototype has been proofed and licensed by the company, which will then pay royalties to the academics behind the project.

Prospective customers include individuals, developers and local authorities, while Bord na Móna sees international opportunities and is hoping to export the product to Britain, the rest of Europe and North America.

On the clean air side, UCLA is verifying a patented project that has been developed by Bord na Móna, which uses sea shells to take odorous sulphurous components out of the air. The sulphur reacts with the sea shell, which is made of calcium carbonate, to produce a benign byproduct. Tackling volatile organic compounds in factories may be one use for this technology.

While Bord Na Móna has a number of projects ongoing with academic institutions, Henry believes there are limitations to the model. “There does tend to be a time issue. A lot of the projects are run on a three-year PhD time frame, where we are usually looking at a shorter time period. Perhaps some sort of modularised PhD or more contracted research would be a possible solution.”

Nonetheless, contact with universities does also open up network possibilities, as well as access to high-level research.

Bord na Móna is currently working with a US-based company, which it met through NUIG, on an innovative water-saving device. Focusing on the commercial potential of water as a resource, the device stores and sanitises the water used in a hand basin and channels it through to the toilet cistern, to be recycled.

“The system could lead to a saving of up to 20 to 25 per cent of water usage in each house,” says Henry. Bord na Móna is looking at the possibility of licensing it for the European market.

Overall, Henry believes that commercialising inventiveness is the primary concern. “Unless an idea can be shown to make money, it will simply stay as a good idea for ever.”

He also distinguishes between research and innovation. “Research and development converts our money into knowledge; what innovation is about is converting that knowledge into money.”

Identifying when an idea is no longer worthwhile pursuing is one of the key skills of successfully commercialising research, he says: “Approximately 95 per cent of ideas are not successful; five per cent may be followed up, and about one will present a real breakthrough,” he says, though he stresses the company is constantly engaged in “lower level” innovative practices, such as chip and pin technology that allows the company’s waste management business to compete with others in the field.

Ultimately, however, it’s about managing innovation.

“We have an innovation management system in place – ISO 9000 – that allows us to take stock at certain points. This stage gate approach enables it to identify and filter out the ideas with commercial potential. Innovation just doesn’t happen. Ideas need to be identified, evaluated and then progressed. The mantra really is, if you are to fail, it’s better to fail quickly and cheaply.”