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Collaboration & Outreach
Technology collaboration and outreach are integral to our innovation strategy. Our team members actively engage with external institutions and organizations to bring innovative concepts to market more quickly.
We collaborate with colleges, universities, start-ups, customers, industry peers and government entities to foster a diverse ecosystem. By engaging with the greater scientific and commercial community, we not only accelerate innovation but also contribute to the broader advancement of science and technology. This approach enables us to explore new frontiers and create solutions that address real-world challenges.
Our strong culture of collaboration drives cross-functional teamwork, integrating expertise from marketing, sales, manufacturing, and research and development. By working together and leveraging our collective knowledge, we are able to expand our scientific scope and make meaningful contributions to address significant sustainability opportunities, further enhancing our leadership in performance materials.
Our teams are active participants in technical conferences and with trade groups and advocacy associations. This allows us to share our progress with the larger community and learn all we can about customer needs, new technologies and industry best practices. In addition to participating, we often serve in leadership roles at conferences and within industry trade groups related to our main products.
To name a few, examples of our industry association collaborations include:
- NIOSH: We actively collaborate with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH) Nanotechnology Research Center to evaluate the toxicology of carbon nanomaterials to inform best practices for safe handling.
- ASTM: We are extremely active at the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and help shape industry standards on carbon black properties, classification and analysis. We hold a leadership role at D24 Committee on Carbon Black and regularly lead Task Groups responsible for the development and improvement of individual test standards.
- ICBA: We play a key leadership role within the International Carbon Black Association (ICBA) to drive significant initiatives that ensure carbon black is manufactured and used safely and sustainably across our industry.
We collaborate with colleges and universities globally to advance our knowledge and capabilities. Some examples include:
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology: We are a long-standing sponsor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)’s Polymer Day. This event is hosted annually by MIT’s Program in Polymers and Soft Matter and brings together students and postdocs from universities around the Northeastern U.S. for networking opportunities.
- Donghua University: We collaborate with Donghua University in Shanghai on various product and application development projects as well as analytical characterization of materials. Furthermore, we participate in their off-campus student supervisor program.
- Münster Electrochemical Energy Technology: We collaborate with the Münster Electrochemical Energy Technology (MEET) Battery Research Center at the University of Münster to help advance battery research in Europe and across the globe.
Our teams across our network partner with government entities around the world to develop and advance the implementation of cutting-edge technologies. These collaborations pair Cabot’s expertise in carbon and fumed metal oxide technologies with downstream start-up and established corporations, national laboratories and universities. Our shared commitment to sustainability and decarbonization is at the heart of these collaborations.
For example, we were awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) a $5 million research grant to support the deployment of carbon catalyst supports for fuel cells to help advance the hydrogen economy.
We engage with suppliers, customers and other companies in the value chain to mutually advance our technologies. While most of these are confidential, they are a crucial element of our innovation strategy. One example of our efforts is we are collaborating with IFF Health and Biosciences to develop and commercialize renewable bio-based reinforcing additives to accelerate the advancement of innovative solutions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase the amount of sustainable content in rubber products.
