In February Polycare participated as an exhibitor at the conference “Innovation for International Organisations” in Geneva. The contacts to UN organizations established there led to further presentations of the MAS technology at the UNOPS in Copenhagen, WFP in Rome and UNHCR in London. For the first time ever, the production of a huge art object enabled the manufacture of very large coated panels.
However, in the year the company was mainly focused on the delivery of Polycare’s first full production factory in Libya. However, fate intervened. During technical consultations and site and material analysis in Libya two Polycare engineers only just escaped from an attempted kidnapping. Shortly afterwards the security situation worsened and the project stopped. The full factory equipment still remains in Tripoli, unused!
The development of “pushpike”, a segmental pressure pile, together with a Dutch team was technically and economically very promising. However, internal patent disputes between the Dutch partners subsequently prevented a market launch.
In May, Polycare participated as a member of a delegation in the German government initiative “Civil Safety Engineering & Disaster Control” during consultations with the Chinese government and private companies in Shenzhen and Beijing. At the future conference “Life 3.0” at Frankfurt Airport in the same month, Polycare attracted particular attention as an exhibitor. In the application for the Innovation Award of the German Economy (the world’s first innovation award), which is connected with this event, PolyCare was finally able to prevail as a finalist against more than 200 other applicants in December.
The 3rd quarter was characterized by intensive further development in mould making, the conclusion of a new research agreement with the Technical University of Ilmenau and the start of the construction of a two-storey show house in Gehlberg. Administratively the reviews of the first research subsidies from funds of the European Community and investment allowances could be concluded. The production line in Gehlberg was rebuilt to enable a faster production of the MAS element (Polyblocks). With new vibrating tables and a changed rhythm the production of an element in 30-second intervals is now possible. At the same time the sales department worked on projects in India, Kazakhstan, Ivory Coast, Namibia and Iraq.
Towards the end of the year there was an unexpected disappointment because a project with a German-Swiss group of companies in West Africa finally failed due to financing issues after many months of planning. On the positive side, however, after long preparation and many technical tests in cooperation with the Bauhaus University of Weimar, the application procedure for the general building approval of the MAS system at the German Institute for Building Technology in Berlin could begin in December.
