Kordsa and Continental's New Technology "CoKoon"

Kordsa and Continental have combined their R&D capabilities to transform the tire industry through open innovation approaches, developing a new adhesive standard that can replace a century-old formula used in the sector for bonding textile reinforcement materials to rubber-based compounds. Kordsa and Continental shared details of their jointly developed new technology CoKoon and this innovation, which aims to become the new industry standard, at a launch meeting held on 17 April. This partnership delivers innovation in both product and business model. The new technology used in bonding textile reinforcement materials provides an alternative to resorcinol and formaldehyde—ingredients in the formula that has been the sector standard for nearly a century—without compromising tire safety and performance. Continental plans to implement first series production using this technology in 2019. Kordsa CEO Ali Çalışkan, expressing pride in being able to respond to market needs for economical, accessible and sustainable technology through their open innovation approach, stated: "As Kordsa, we have been working for 9 years to provide an environmentally friendly and sustainable alternative solution to the sector. Our R&D teams conducted 11,240 tests over 9 years to develop this technology and spent 15,800 working hours, working around the clock. We combined our strengths thanks to Continental's vision in the same direction. Our new CoKoon technology requires no additional production costs. It is possible to bond textile and rubber using existing equipment. We are enabling anyone who wants to join the licensing pool without any licensing fees from Continental to use CoKoon technology. Within just one month of introducing CoKoon technology to companies in the sector at the TireTech 2019 fair, 20 companies applied requesting samples to use it. We aim for this to become the new bonding standard in the sector. To support this, we are introducing innovation not only in the product but also in the business model. The royalty-free licensing model we established encourages everyone to easily access this technology and further develop it. In this way, we will advance our technology further, standardize it in our own sector, and expand its use in different sectors and different applications."