The most remarkable suffering seemed to materialize not from pre-disposed or endemic conditions, but instead, those generated by mankind. Of course, most of these phenomena were preceded by undesirable conditions as well. However, I did not envisage the most concentrated suffering in areas suffering from natural shortages. Instead, this occurred more often in areas devastated by unequal divides and the powers that induced these inequalities. This was a curious observation, because most of us reared in the West hold on so tightly and depend so greatly on our aspects of materialism and technology that we cannot perceive a world without them. Clearly, however, these comforts would be worthless to us if we were never exposed to them to begin with…

Prior to arriving in the Middle East, I had circumnavigated all corners of the globe. I had witnessed an uncountable amount of suffering – and it subsequently altered my comfortable Western perspective. Upon exposure, I began to travel a different route and all aspects of familiarity, social parameters, and ideological priorities kept mutating. I saw famines and infectious diseases operating on monumental levels…

Yet none of this suffering struck me as hard as the child in South Africa dying from a viral grim reaper that never gave her the opportunity to cognitively love – mostly because the government at the time refused to cover the cost of an HIV/AIDS preventative medication that was placed out of the reach of the population by the pharmaceutical industry. None touched me so much as the 12 year-old Port-Au-Prince slum-thriving AIDS-plagued Haitian boy created by the hands of the infamous sex tour route for wealthy Americans. None deprived me of so much sleep as the 14 year-old Bombay beauty sold into sex slavery to fund the cost of her 3 older sisters’ dowries.

Why was this exactly? Why were these circumstances so much more unbearable than the ones causing edema-induced potbellies amongst wide-eyed children saturating the screens of our beloved Christian charity infomercials? Once I began to analyze these forms of human tragedy – I started noticing an irreducible trend. All of these people, these breathing, smiling, aching, once innocent, heart-warming children were suffering at the hands of other humans. It wasn’t the conditions that emanated from natural states or even absolute poverty that caused them to inordinately suffer. It was the circumstances generated by the atrocious human traits profusely recorded in most theological narratives.

Anyone who grasps the ability to listen or read in today’s world is all too familiar with the problem benignly dubbed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This conundrum dominates our dinner tables and break rooms. At the same time, however, so many of us fail to fully understand the intricacies of this energy-consuming nightmare. I was one…

Therefore, upon arriving, I quickly began absorbing everything around me. My alacrity to learn the history, perspectives and sociopolitical conditions was matched by the massive wealth of information available. Yet my baseline ignorance was soon supplanted by the unknowns and curiosities that emerge due to erudite knowledge. I decided I needed more. I needed to reify these abstract statistics and historical narratives with irreplaceable reality. I would soon enter that “bomb-ridden, terrorist-proliferating” forbidden land that us Westerners only read about in our suspense novels or Hollywood blockbuster films. I was on my way to the occupied Palestinian Territories…

Prior to arrival, based upon the disproportionate amount of attention focusing on this geographical area smaller than Los Angeles county, I expected to encounter sheer unequivocal hell. I anticipated the antithesis of pure joy and wellbeing. However, how could conditions deteriorate that much further beyond those I had encountered in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America or South Asia? I naturally assumed they could, as media coverage is theoretically proportional with such tragedy and suffering. Oddly enough, this socially constructed fear and anxiety was soon met by stunning geographical landscaping, lush vegetation, reasonable infrastructures, a paucity of superficial infections and diseases, and well-fed stomachs. How could this possibly be?

Upon my repeated excursions into the West Bank, I began noticing something entirely divergent from my experiences in other developing nations. I started to acknowledge populations seemingly void of emotion. This was new to me. One of the heartwarming aspects of working in least developed countries was the prevalence of warmth, gratitude and appreciation targeted towards the outsider. Indeed, despite the disproportional poverty, famine, presence of triadic pandemics, desperate acts of violence, and sociopolitical volatility existent in myriad developing parts of the world, many of these people are so enthralled by witnessing the “white man spectacle”…

Vernacular couldn’t even begin to elucidate this seemingly antithetical reality. There is so much vibrancy to be found in these areas of civilized infancy, uncensored by the metaphorical barriers that our obedient society so faithfully lives under. Their culture – deep, enriching and entrancing – is personified in all of their actions. And the experience of witnessing this manifestation, this ongoing celebration of life, is nothing less than spectacular…

However, Palestine did not resemble any other area that I had traveled to before. Was it possible that these people were inherently cold and apathetic? After traveling to and subsequently researching several other parts of the Arabic world – it became inordinately clear that this was a cultural impossibility. Nevertheless, my observations were persistent and accurate – they were suffering from a pain undetectable by the prototypical differential diagnosis. The Palestinians did not seem to reproduce the knee-jerk laughter, amazement and playful mocking of our awkward Western ways. After marinating on the etiology of their discernable malaise, my conjecture invariably landed on one specific source of pain – systematic oppression…

Subsequently, I argue that the Palestinian suffering is not rooted in the traditional forms of poverty and disease. Instead, it is the direct result of the daily oppression enforced upon them by their Israeli occupation in conjunction with the indirect result of two other factors. The proliferation of unplanned checkpoints, the repeated taunting by their Jewish settler neighbors, their inability to lead reliable and fulfilling existences all converge upon a suffering that is not experienced in most other parts of the globe…

Of course, the world is overrun by brutal sociopolitical and structural violence, but I argue that three significant components cause a divergence in outcomes. First, the majority of other forms of government or insurgency-led oppression are facilitated by members of the same or similar national, ethnic, religious or racial group. I argue that the more features that differentiate between two groups – the oppressors and their subjugated prey – the more their shared ideologies will rupture, the more resistant the marginalized group shall be, the more detrimental too shall be their consequences…

Second, most other domination manifests either in subtle, undetectable and persistent forms (i.e. structural violence) or random and transient varieties. Therefore, the seemingly infinite formalized and structured oppression of the Palestinian is internalized differently – as a barrier to hope, dreams and a realistic future. A university education cannot be properly sought after, a family cannot be appropriately planned for, a life cannot be organized if hope is an abstract concept.

If these restrictions on natural liberties do not seem to fade with time; if the strong Arabic pride is denigrated by children watching their mothers bear children or sisters die of acute trauma at military checkpoints; if no matter how much resistance and infighting persists nothing positive ever seems to materialize – these people are gradually drained of the life that causes the human condition to subsist.

These two factors mentioned thus far resonate well with the conditions observed under the Apartheid regime in South Africa. But why? Why attempt to whip the non-conformist into absolute docility? I argue that the inclination to create such human dynamics emanates from a general culture of fear that we all live in. Aung San Suu Kyi stated that “It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.” Curiously enough, prolific infectious disease and relative poverty still abound in South Africa, yet the element of human suffering has inarguably declined since 1994 and the dissolution of the oppressive Apartheid state…

Third, I argue that although debate is a general catalyst to maintaining dialogue, sharpening ideas and attaining mutually agreeable solutions – the Israel-Palestine debate has actually had the reverse effect. The flurry of conflicting ideas and hostile animosities has effectively blocked the respiratory passage of the Israel-Palestine peace process. The more global media attention is narrowed in on an unnecessarily complex dispute, the more obfuscation is created, the less pragmatic ideas are able to fluently float through this passage. Moreover, people entrenched in this quelling of ideas seem to adore blaming such an impasse on “history” without setting their sights on present and future resolutions…

What benefit could this possibly produce for either side? The U.S.-Israeli lobby appears to employ such suffocating tactics in order to obscure a very simple strategy of Palestinian oppression and violation of human rights. Whether or not this quells further violence and terrorist acts from emerging in either the occupied Palestinian territories or Israel proper goes beyond the scope of this treatise, as I am solely analyzing the root of Palestinian suffering. This way, Israel is able to evade the actual issues involved and retain much of their post-1967 borders (minus Sinai). On the other hand, the Arab camp applies this smokescreen in order to reap international sympathy to further validate their quest to resist Western domination…

The end result of this overshadowing is an exorbitant amount of confused international observers hopelessly siding with their respective philosophical basecamps – with complete disregard for the actual record involved. This seems like an ideal arrangement for all involved parties, save one – the Palestinian. The more they scream, the more the Israeli chalks them up to be savage barbarians…the more the Arab sketches them as innocent suffering children deprived of their homeland…the louder they scream…the more hopeless and apathetic they inevitably become….

Human systematic oppression is a denial of physical freedom. From empirical research, the obstruction of this basic entitlement seems to be the most potent catalyst to achieve human suffering. This epitomizes anthropogenic destruction and is frequently conjoined with two other indirect factors creating quintessential suffering – extreme poverty and relative misery…

Absolute poverty is the number of people living below a certain income threshold or the number of households unable to afford certain basic goods and services. Extreme poverty is clearly the most severe state, where people cannot meet the basic needs for survival (i.e. food, potable water, shelter, education, etc.). The World Bank has set the criterion for such to be those living on less than $1/day. Approximately 1.2 billion live under such atrocious conditions – 2.8 billion have a daily income of less than $2.

Extreme poverty is not due to a lack of natural resources available, but instead is the acute result of human greed and oppression conjoined by foreign encroachment and exploitation. A country with homogenous poverty is tragic – but morally digestible. What is downright morally repugnant, however, is when a relative amount of wealth exists, but is hoarded by a select few. Let us than say that an association exists between greed and moral degradation. Indeed, Gandhi purported that “…the world has enough for man’s need…but not enough for man’s greed.”

An additional variant of poverty exists which has a significantly wider array of social ramifications – relative poverty. It may be defined by reference to the living standards of the majority in any given society. More specifically, it describes a person as poor – in direct comparison to other members of their society. Therefore, if the vast majority of these people have access to particular resources; the minority who are excluded from these goods and services on financial grounds may be said to be living in relative poverty…

Therefore, the real underlying drive that induces suffering is not absolute poverty – but economic inequality. It is not the fact that one is lacking, but the acknowledgement that another is thriving at the expense of their less fortunate counterpart. Therefore, it seems relative poverty is most significant when considering the motives for violence, and crime in general. Terrorism is an extension of crime on a nationalist scale. It is grounded in hopelessness and frustration as well as a lack of access to fundamental resources and fed with a modicum of religious fervor…

The social etiology of violence may be more appropriately attributed to what Link and Phelan refer to as the “fundamental causes” model. This theory stipulates that people will be “at (greater) risk of risks” if they are living in more unequal societies and located at the bottom of these respective social gradients…

These “fundamental causes” are class, race, religion, gender, and sexual orientation. Examples may include knowledge (i.e. education), finances (i.e. income), power, prestige, and social connections (i.e. capital) that determine the extent to which people are able to avoid risks for relative poverty, crime and terrorism…

Therefore, we may speculate that a higher income inequality translates into a greater incidence of relative poverty. This relative poverty than bleeds into lower social prosperity, which leads to higher rates of crime and terrorism. Case in point, economic prosperity almost invariably enhances the incidence of crime in the form of more goods and services to steal from and internalize resentment over.

Therefore, this suspected “good” merely contributes to the presence of chaos. In fact, crime is least likely to be a serious dilemma in a society that is economically challenged and subject to restrictive behavioral restraints. Cuba is a perfect example with a relatively non-existent crime rate.

On the other hand, in modern urbanized societies (e.g. Israel), in which economic growth and individual success are imperative values, there is little reason to assume that crime and terrorism will not continue to elevate on the other side of the income divide (e.g. Palestine). When you juxtapose an infant mortality rate of 24.45 deaths/1,000 live births (Palestine) and 6.89 deaths/1,000 live births (Israel) in conjunction with a GDP per capita of $24,600 (Israel) and $1,100 (Palestine), it becomes clear that the average Palestinian wonders why their lighter-skinned Ashkenazi neighbor is 25 times richer than they…

Psychosocial environmental factors affect perceptions of place in the social hierarchy. If I am on the same aircraft with a man who is stretching out his feet while being served champagne and filet mignon; while I am cramped in between two obese people with screaming children buzzing around me, while consuming something that vaguely resembles fried chicken – the question may arise: why is he better than me? Adam Smith offered us a similar analogy centuries ago, where the lack of a linen shirt and leather shoes in Victorian England translated into relative deprivation of being fully integrated into society – i.e. social exclusion…

This relative deprivation may lead to frustration, social conflict, diluted social capital and cohesion, and finally – perceived and absolute discrimination. Paradoxically, many social changes that are perceived as progress may, in essence, achieve counterproductive ends – thus instigating a higher incidence of crime and terrorism.

In conclusion, massive and incessant human suffering need not exist amidst the relative abundance of resources and technological proficiency that we possess in today’s world. Yet it does. Jeffrey Sachs points out that the world’s 200 richest people more than doubled their net worth between 1994 and 1998 – to more than $1 trillion. The assets of the top three billionaires are more than the combined GNP of all 43 least developed countries and their 600 million people. Furthermore, the distance between the richest and poorest countries was 3:1 in 1820, 35:1 in 1950 and 72:1 in 1992…

The fact that nine out of ten scientists and engineers who have ever worked on this planet are alive today further demonstrates that the fabric of human society has and continues to fail. Encapsulating these figures, approximately 20% of the world’s population possesses 80% of the world’s wealth, so while some people enjoy a high standard of living – many others live in abject poverty and manifest misery unable to satisfy even the most basic needs…

Human anguish is tragic at every level. From my observations, however, human suffering is most acute when materializing from three man-made conditions: systematic oppression by a group significantly different than the majority, relative poverty and its most profound extension – extreme poverty. All three seem to coexist within the same algorithm that perpetuates the desirable conditions and wealth of the status quo. This is at the direct expense of others. And this theoretical concept is personified by the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Authority.

While it is understandable that the Israeli government take several precautions to ensure the safety of their citizens, it is my strong belief that they not assume that the present Israel-Palestine dynamics can subsist much longer. This fault lay not solely on their shoulders – but also rests upon the combined weight of the current key players of the Arabic world as well as the Palestinian administration. The Palestinian will continue to ail and subsequently harm others most extraordinarily until an alternative arrangement is implemented…

If the Israeli, Arab and Palestinian governments care anything for ameliorating flagrant human pain – it behooves them to address these three underlying fundamental causes. It is essential for the international community to place insurmountable pressure on achieving this resolution of peaceful coexistence as they did in South Africa without the obfuscation of the clear and concise record of events…

Most parties involved have suffered similar torment in the past. George K. Anderson accurately coined this peculiar and illogical condition by stating “What man has done to man is the saddest chapter in the history of the world. The story of the peoples of the earth is in large measure the tale of how the world whipped the nonconformist with its displeasure and visited upon him dishonor and ignominy, torture and death.” It is high time we wipe the tears of anthropogenic human suffering by drawing from lessons in the past and applying them to solutions in the future…

Tyler B.Evans, MPH earned his Bachelor of Science
degree in Gerontology from the University of Southern California; and Master of Public Health degree in SocioMedical Sciences/History & Ethics from Columbia University Mailman School of Public
Health. He is currently a medical student at Tel Aviv University/Sackler Faculty of Medicine. He has extensive experience in the field of HIV/AIDS, human rights advocacy, and medical humanitarianism in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, the Middle east and Asia—working with Doctors without Borders, Physicians for Human Rights, UNICEF, as well as various non-governmental organizations. He currently resides in Tel Aviv, Israel and can be contacted at te2105@columbia.edu.

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Corruption and Malpractices

The corruption and malpractices are the means of getting the right or wrong things done out of the ordinary way by using unethical practices. Human beings have a unique sense of survival and a drive to outsmart the fellow beings. Outsmarting the fellow being is an inherent human quality related to human survival and esteem. The human energy discharged for outsmarting another cannot be contained. It is a continual discharge and a society must be geared to absorb these energies through properly wired absorption circuits. If not regulated it can short circuit creating social chaos. A classroom of a school can be taken as a typical example. The children are in a constant competition and some are even backed by their parents. Some study hard, some try to use the powers of parents while another excels in sports. A school has multiple activities that a student can excel and outsmart the peers. Every one wants one thing in common in this particular aspect of life. It is to be prominent which is helpful for survival and to boost up the self esteem which ultimately contributes to the sense of security.  The complexity of the efforts taken inside a classroom is very less and straightforward, yet it represents the struggle with in a society. A classroom is comparatively in control since it is still a sub culture that has justice, law and order to a greater extent. It has very little room for politics. Only some parents try to influence the teachers by giving generous gifts. But our teachers must be praised for the protection of moral values, maintaining the discipline, law and order to a greater extent with in our classrooms which has given us much stability as a nation.

The world of the adults is different. The methods used to outsmart the fellow beings are totally depending on the values of the society one lives. The common characteristics of a third world society like ours are confusion, lawlessness, cheating, very high percentage of poor people, widely spread corruption, extremely limited opportunities etc. Taking advantage of the prevailing situation, many resort to Corruption and Malpractices to outsmart the fellow being or the society. It is a very bad short circuit. Winning a business contract, admittance of a child to a popular school, get away from a traffic offence on the road, obtaining a false certificate by offering money, gifts or bribes are all parts of corruption and malpractices of modern day. In Sri Lanka, this dangerous vice that came to existence more rampantly in early eighties has now outgrown attacking every barrier that stood on its way. Virtually most of the government officials who hold authority expect some kind of gift to discharge the duties that they are being paid for, from the common tax payer’s money. This practice has taken an ugly form since late. Today, the mighty political figures to municipality garbage cleaner expect some favour to do their job. In worst cases, people use power, authority and money to get away from criminal offences. If the trend continues unabated, there will be a time that poor and innocent will be implicated in crimes for the rich and powerful to getaway. The judiciary itself is under tremendous pressure in trying to maintain the justice under the rapidly deteriorating social conditions. In each occasion a rule is bent for some body’s favour, he is outsmarting or cheating his fellow beings and the society at large. The out comes are the social injustice, moral imbalance, insecurity and frustration in general. When a one person cheats, invariably another is victimised as a result. When a leader cheats, the whole society is victimised. It is not necessary to emphasise the level of cheating, corruption and malpractices that are taking place at very lower levels. It is almost every where in varying degrees and we all go through them. A great nation with noble ethics and traditions just try to forget all of it and expect money even to let a person to visit his sick brother in the hospital if he is without a visiting pass. While all types of corruption and malpractices despite their magnitude are contributing for a gradual and steady de generation of moral values, it is more interesting to analyse the destruction done at national levels by the political and government officials which affects the entire nation with a greater impact but not so obvious to the general public. The common people of the country have no understanding of the dynamics that are associated with high level procurements and how negatively they affect the nation. The dynamics of high level corruption has come a long way that it has been evolved into the level of a highly resistant virus. Those who are involved in the process continually invent methods to outsmart the rules and regulations that are in place to control wrong doings. As a result, a great majority of political leaders and government officials are not interested in solving grass root level problems that most of the time does not require major investments. Instead they look for options, that awarding of a high value contract which promises to resolve the problem. A business community is out there to sell ready made and high tech solutions with attractive commission packages for those who are in authority. Since the moment somebody comes to a position of power that can take decisions, most of them do fall prey to the solution sellers  ultimately  wasting national wealth for no useful purpose.

This illegal money making process does two major damages to the society at large. One is the complete discouragement of finding any practical local solution for the problem which is the most cost effective and efficient. Having gone through this process for a very long time, our bureaucracies are in a mind set that solutions can be found for our problems only by purchasing machinery, equipment and systems from other countries incurring colossal expenses. Making foreign purchases and receiving commissions has become order of the day. If an odd character in the system tries to find a solution or voice his opinion in favour of a local cost effective solution, he will be tactically side lined and silenced by the system itself. This is the exact reason why ‘Research and Development’ inventing new technologies never take off the ground despite the availability of world class engineers and scientists in our land. In the year 2002, I was the appointed head of an engineering team to design and develop an ultra light aircraft. The project was entirely indigenous. I was amazed by the professionalism of our pilots, aero technicians, welders, machinists and surface finishing technicians. It was the best project that I ever handled in my entire carrier. The professionalism, enthusiasm and the inspiration of those who involved, created an ultra light aircraft which was flown in public on 17 Dec 2003 as the final item of the air show held to commemorate the centenary celebrations of Aviation technology. This aircraft is on display even today at the museum. While the success of the project was a reason for joy, the sheer lukewarm attitude of the personnel in authority at the time about the capabilities of our own people and the possibility of developing our own aviation technology was a shocking disappointment. Instead of developing our own technology, our leaders go shopping for seemingly good products paying the wealth of the country for the purposes of earning handsome commissions. Most of our educated scientists contribute to ‘Research and Development’ programs in other countries in utmost disgust for not providing opportunities in their own motherland.

The second is the purchase of machinery, equipment and systems paying enormous money which in turn does not fully cater the requirement. There are two distinct reasons for this misery. First is the creation of a requirement that is not in existence merely for the purchase of a product which offers generous commissions to personnel in authority. Politicians and bureaucrats pay billions and purchase such systems which have no real application which ultimately die a natural death. These leaders waste people’s money merely for the commissions they get. The bulk of the money goes out of the country owing to this selfish psyche. Another reason is that any technology developed in another country is generally developed to operate with in the unique climatic, economical, social, and geographical environment of the particular country. Also the general educational and skill level of the population that is going to operate the system as workers also matter in the sustainability of technical applications. The people in authority do not consider any of above important factors when determine the products they buy. But justify their actions on paper and get all required approvals for the favoured suppliers and products who comply to their ulterior motives. Installation of factories that cannot find raw materials to function them to the full capacities, purchase of over sophisticated equipment that our operators find it difficult to operate  which makes them out of service soon, termination of after sales service soon after the purchase etc are a few examples. These are not imaginations, but first hand experiences of being a helpless member of such technical evaluation committees in the past.

This political and bureaucratic value system also rejects the intelligent, honest and innovative leaders creating many unpleasant barriers for their progress with in the organisations they serve. When the intellect, common sense, wisdom and consciousness are repeatedly challenged, many capable people who can contribute to the betterment of the country leave the organisations they serve in half way of their carriers in bitterness. This process has been taking place for a considerable time, now almost all the government institutions suffer from the shortage of required leadership. This situation and mind set is the most destructive thing that is happening at present with blessings of certain other countries who want to keep us pined down for different reasons.

The human history full of social injustices, wars and many forms of destructions prove that corruption and malpractices are an integral part of the human race since the times immoral. Moral and immoral values are two sides of the same coin. Religions as old as the human race play a major role in balancing moral and immoral behaviour of people in any society. Every religion very precisely defines the moral and immoral values and also preaches the out come of both. Therefore any society with a reasonable level of education is conscious about the right and wrong.  Yet people discharge a proportionate combination of moral and immoral behaviour depending on the environment they live. It is a result of the remarkable ability of humans in adjusting according to the environmental demands. Though it takes a considerable time for people to adjust, the adjustments can be made assimilating into completely new social orders. The people who do unethical things consciously, for mere survival in Sri Lanka live as perfectly law abiding citizens when they move to a different country which has a higher degree of respect for law and order. If they do not do it, their survival is at stake. In Sri Lanka a road traffic offender may get over the offence by giving a bribe to the authority. But if the same person tries to do it in Singapore, the person will end up in jail. Even though it is difficult to adjust at the beginning, the Sri Lankan immigrants perfectly adjust to respect the law after living in an orderly country for couple of years. After some time, they uphold the system and always appreciate it after gaining the understanding that the respect for law and order is the most efficient protective mechanism for everybody’s survival. This same issue has another very important dimension. As an example, in Sri Lanka, roads are not standardised, no proper road signs; cows  cross the roads , pot holes on the middle, no proper parking areas, too many vehicles squeeze in narrow roads, pedestrians have no road discipline, drivers are not properly trained, bus drivers compete with each other with no regard for others using the road etc. On such a road, even the most decent driver may commit an offence due to its confusion. If data is collected to compare the number of traffic offences committed per kilometre in Sri Lanka   with a country with proper roads, the value will contain a wide gap. Even the most decent Sri Lankan driver can be easily caught for traffic offences often owing to the prevailing circumstances on the roads. His efforts in trying to get over it by using unethical practice, though not justifiable, entail his right to survive. If he commits the same offence on an orderly road in an orderly country, it is an offence that can jeopardise the lives of others and disturb the equilibrium of a stabilised road network. In such a system, an offender is more deserve to be punished for not adhering to traffic laws of the road which is not due to confusion of the system but due to his personal negligence. If the offender tries to get over the offence by bribery, it threatens to endanger an orderly system that already functions justly. Therefore in such systems, strong mechanisms are in place to ensure that bribery and corruption does not take place which can ultimately destroy an entire way of life of a society. Like wise when people are placed in a social system that has reasonable methods to earn, own a house, obtain a job, educate the children, obtain health services, has security etc creates less offenders. A habitual offender in such a society will soon be identified as a destructive social element and automatically become a social outcast by the society itself. The breeding rate of social outcasts in developed societies is comparatively at a very slow rate due to this phenomenon.

The feudal society that existed in post colonial Sri Lanka was just and comparatively much cleaner in terms of vices. The less complexity of the economy, less social glamour, strong social values and limited needs were the controlling mechanisms of the time. In Sri Lanka, the bribery, corruption and malpractices was not an issue until the early eighties in the past. It was a well identified vice and those who got involved even in a very minor level were penalised by the law. The famous sinhala movie ‘Sagarayak Meda’ directed by great cinema star late Mr Gamini Fonseka depicts a story of a doctor who was jailed for getting implicated in taking a minor bribe. The film casts the agony of the family and it goes on to portray the strong social value that prevailed in the society at the time. That society was peaceful and comparatively more just. People respected the law of the land and there were no means available for any body to get away from wrong doing by using bribery, corruption or any other unethical means. The invasion of the market economy after 1977 as a result of globalization was a major turning point in the history of Sri Lanka that infused a different set of values into the social order of the island. It was the second major social transformation of the country after the independence that needed strict level of control and management in every sphere in order to minimise the down grading of social values. But quite unfortunately the regime of Mr JR Jayawardena blindly copied the ‘Singapore’ economic model and only concentrated on the money making process. The adjustment of the social value system amidst the newly introduced market economy was not controlled. The provision of lands, infrastructure, housing, sewerage and waste management, environmental issues, power, market regulation etc for newly established export industries were not properly planned. As it was not planned every issue was a problem. The foreign investors who are veterans in handling third world bureaucracies enticed our bureaucrats to endorse their requirements at a very high social cost. The government officials and politicians who handled the regulatory issues related to the market economy were the pioneers who committed the first sins of corruption and malpractices of modern generation. The market economy created an environment that anything can be assigned a monetary value and money can buy anything that anybody wants. Money became the most sought after ingredient. The method of earning does not matter much in the process. Many in the middle of pushing industrial transactions through negotiating with the government, sub contracting and service provisioning make big money while making no real contribution to the economic growth. Money brings power, security, fame and all the luxuries of life. It can take people to highest echelons of society in a short period. It is one of the dangerous yet a typical characteristic of any market economy. Those who run ahead in the race of money making are in a struggle to achieve the ‘American dream’ which is a global phenomenon. The ‘American dream’ is a term coined to denote the dream of many people who immigrated to America. Owning a luxury house, a motor vehicle and a lucrative job that can sustain the life style is included to this.

Running after the ‘American Dream’ at any cost has become the goal of many people. Even today, with the current productivity levels, the ‘American Dream’ is a reality only for a small minority. Entire economic activities of the country are focused on the process of building luxury houses mainly in Colombo, buying limousines, patronising expensive clubs, womanizing, overseas travelling and social life for a very small minority that are lucky enough to run ahead in the race. The expectation of achieving the ‘American Dream’ has created an environment of fierce competition. People who are involved in the process hardly hesitate to do whatever it takes to achieve the ‘American Dream’ while a greater majority live in sub standard housing struggling to make the ends meet with meagre incomes.

The government servants or the people employed by the government exceed 1.2 million in Sri Lanka. This number is an extraordinarily higher percentage of the total population when compared with any other country. This segment of the country’s worker population is mainly involved in the administration, regulation and service sector. They are entitled for a reasonable monthly income, leave, low interest loans, working hours and retirement benefits. This population segment consume most of the country’s income while make no direct contribution to the production except very few. The farmers, factory workers, workers in Middle East including housemaids, masons, welders, carpenters, plumbers, mechanics, small scale industrialists, fishermen etc have to produce enough to sustain the 1.2 million government employees with their perks. When the governments get inadequate income to pay the salaries, it obtains loans and print money driving the inflation up. Most of the government officials get caught in the process of achieving the ‘American Dream’ in their own ways. Often it becomes difficult to achieve the over ambitious goals and half way, they shamelessly sell the authority at their disposal in exchange of money. Now it has come to the extremely dangerous levels. It happens at the top most cabinet tender board to municipal garbage collector. While multi billion contracts are awarded for proportionately large commissions, another can burn down an entire court complex to destroy the proceedings of a murder case by the power of money and authority. Corruption and malpractices take place in the local police station, municipality, school, hospital, local government, grama sevaka, prison and in all other places that authority is vested. Today, virtually getting anything done is possible through illegal means despite the magnitude of the illegality of operation. All it matters is how much one can afford. While thousands die in the battle field another tries to buy inferior military equipment to get commissions. Junior military officer provides information to kill his superior in exchange of money. In present context, the rules and regulations have become a tool for illegal money making by those who hold authority. The rules and regulations are quoted to bargain the price it takes to get around it. The large numbers of government servants who are vested with authority are responsible for this misuse, abuse and manipulation of authority for their short term personal benefits. Many high ranking government officials own luxury housing, vehicles and educate their children in expensive overseas schools which they cannot afford if they have righteously earned. It goes down the line and even the lowest ranks in the government live beyond their means.

The people who have limited incomes and have no affiliations to the government pay dearly in this environment. Sometimes it is impossible for a poor person to obtain social justice as the rich always buy the decisions in his favour. No one has any idea about our heading for long term disaster. In our unconscious drive towards the disaster, we have already passed many milestones. Those who hold authority and sell it for money do a long term irreversible damage. They justify what they do slowly changing the social value system. Now it has passed the point that giving something to get things done has become an accepted social value instead it being a wrong doing. The rules, regulations or the law has no meaning in most cases. The decent and innocent population who believe that justice exists often get frustrated and give in to the ‘Chicago’ culture.

The prevalence of corruption, bribery and malpractices in a society is indicative of its lawlessness, injustice and the fierce competition of many people for the available limited resources. A society cannot be corrupt and moral at the same time. If a society’s immoral values heavier than the moral values, corruption and malpractices thrive in such an environment. One is a catalyst for the other. Alcoholism and womanizing are two of the strongest means of exerting unauthorised influence on those who hold authority which creates many other social problems. The decadence of such a society is very gradual and steady. Corruption and malpractices are falling into one of the most socially destructive immorality that can destroy even a great nation in a short period of time. It is a steady and definite killer like a cancer.

The deliverance of the nation from this greatest evil will be one of the first priorities despite its complexity. But it cannot be done in isolation without finding solutions for other social problems due to the simple reason that it is only a link of a one vicious cycle. If this widespread evil can be uprooted by having rules regulations, authorities, commissions and by the award of severe punishments for those who get implicated, bribery and corruption cannot exist in this land for the simple reason that we have all of them. It has proven that all the practising religions also have failed in controlling this vice in Sri Lanka. The total number of politicians and officials who make illegal money is a very large number, that external controlling mechanisms cannot control its collective energy. Any government trying to destroy this evil force by mere investigations and punishments will soon find itself out of power by the enormous collective energy of those who make illegal money itself.

Since all most every infrastructural facility that support life styles are in confusion, the people tend to do more offences and are in a fierce battle to grab the limited opportunities. This battle ground of life is the main life line of the corruption and malpractices. As discussed earlier, the natural drive for outsmarting the fellow being has been focused towards the daily survival. Reducing the social tensions by the provision of reasonable facilities for every citizen in a given community is the most practical first step that has to be taken towards the controlling of bribery and corruption. The provision of basic facilities alone will not contain the lust for money. Once certain degree of social equilibrium is achieved through the organised infrastructure, people will still continue to concentrate on money to access the power. The access to power brings security and esteem with it. In present Sri Lankan context, the only ways a person can feel secure is either being a member of the government bureaucracy, politician or being very rich so that they can spend enough to access the power circles in the government. Therefore, the sense of security is a key element that a government has to provide people equally without favouritism or cost. If the complete security for each law abiding individual can be provided with reasonable basic needs, that society will be comfortably stabilise without anxieties. The psyche of making money at any cost will loose its energy to a greater extent. The basic needs and security are two key elements in the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The government can assist the people to achieve these two through proper management of resources. Once the basic needs and security are achieved, according to Maslow , the human nature is to turn towards the social and esteem needs. Provision of many alternative avenues to achieve the social and esteem needs and alignment of these efforts in a way that they contribute to the overall socioeconomic development is a possibility through careful planning.

In present society many important factors are not under any form of control. Those who run in the race of making money at any cost achieving basic needs and security in their own ways, resort to various things to achieve the next step, esteem needs. Building flashy houses, buying sports cars, getting into politics etc some of the things done by those run ahead. None of these are bad. But the ultimate expression one tries to impress on the others is the image of being rich and powerful. Therefore earning money is the only way towards the achieving of ultimate esteem needs in the present society. Even the medical doctors who are engaged in a noble profession are caught in the storm. The persons excel in sports, music, drama or theatre ultimately ends up in making money from their talents. This is one of the worst ‘values’ that our societies absorbed from the popular American culture. The societies that value money above everything else easily propagate bribery and corruption. The intended infrastructural organization has to be planned in such a way that can impose certain controls to regulate this money oriented esteem drive towards peaceful and productive goals. The area of esteem needs is full of human energy. In certain individuals it has no boundaries. Once a whole society has its basic and security needs fulfilled, it will have a massive quantum of human energy discharging to achieve the esteem needs. Therefore as a society, the absorption mechanisms should be very well geared and organised to absorb the discharging energies to the betterment of the society itself. In present Sri Lankan society we do not feel pressure of human energy discharged in search of esteem needs as many people are in a struggle to achieve the basic requirements. Therefore much have to be planned and done in parallel with the economic development of the nation in order to absorb the discharging human energy in search of esteem needs.

In many hierarchical organizations in the government, business and services keep their employee’s energies focused in achieving carrier advancement through performance which dissipate much of their energies discharged in trying to satisfy the esteem needs tied up with their professions. As they achieve each level in their carriers, keep them satisfied for a short period and often repeats the cycle until retirement. But more than 75% of the population in any country consist of workers. Some countries keep the worker population occupied from morning to evening without letting them enjoy free time to think about esteem needs while certain other countries have different systems that let them also enjoy the esteem needs. The Sri Lankan culture does not support workaholism or communism as we enjoy the freedom and democracy. Therefore we have to search a democratic model in the free world that can work in our cultural setting. The ‘Canadian Model’ has systems that let the worker community enjoy the basic, security and esteem needs at the same time without making them white collars.  In Canada, the population segments that make most of the money belong to the specialised worker community. Masons, plumbers, welders, carpenters, sheet metal workers, electricians, technicians etc are included to this community. They have a licensing and grading system. Their grading and licence denotes the skill level, reliability, speed and overall professionalism on the job. They take tremendous pride in their level in the vocational hierarchy of their own making. The licence categories and grading provides a stable price tag if his/her services are required. High quality of work is available for higher price. The society accepts them just as a doctor, lawyer or an airline pilot. The worker community enjoy the esteem needs with in their own professions to a greater extent. They earn and enjoy normal lives like the elite in communities while providing their services for the continuous development of the society. In such societies, money alone does not secure any body without credibility and credentials in some vocation.  When the culture values the quality of work, reliability, knowledge and speed, the worker community which is the majority in any country, keep themselves absorbed in their selected vocations rather than looking for opportunities to make easy and big money which is only a myth. That society will have less social tensions created from the money oriented esteem needs.

The promotion of sports among the population is another very effective absorption circuit. The provision of sports facilities adjoining the housing complexes can absorb a considerable quantum of human energy providing the esteem needs. Health, team spirit, patience, tolerance, fighting spirit etc are some of the positive characteristics that can be inculcated through sports. People can get themselves divided into groups in whatever combinations they prefer and fight through sports which are a very effective human energy absorption mechanism which can deliver many positive results in the long run.

The social stability achieved by lucrative jobs that requires sharp skills and knowledge, decent housing, social security, discharging channels for human energy searching for esteem needs and family solidarity can be taken take as a very strong tool to control the vice of bribery and corruption. Therefore the establishment of  infrastructure that support the family lives as outlined in relevant chapters is a prerequisite prior to the embarking on the battle against bribery and corruption. If a family can afford a decent house, education for the children, health care, recreation, freedom for religious worship and freedom of expression without resorting to unethical practices, the father or mother of the family will think many times before committing any offence that will jeopardise the peace and joy of family life. Indoctrination of a nation that committing of illegal acts can disturb their family peace and dignity is possible only if the population enjoy the family living with necessities. Once the harmonious family living is consolidated, the same can be held in ransom to slowly eradicate the destructive vices. Wives, mothers and daughters will be the target population for the most effective indoctrination. Since women have a very respectful and influential position in Sri Lankan families, they will be indoctrinated on their responsibilities in preventing their husbands, sons or fathers making illegal money which expose them to the risk of temporal separation through jail terms, family shame and economic losses in future. In strong families, women have a good control over the rest of the family members. This characteristic has to be utilized in its full potential to eradicate the social vices including the ‘bribery and corruption’. Also women have the most accurate sensing of any bad things that their husbands or children are up to. They can find the cheating faster than any external agency. Once women are indoctrinated that hard work is the only way to keep their families happy but not the money made through illegal means of corruption, they will defiantly oppose any such moves by their loved ones. Once this buzz in generated with in the home itself, it will have a massive impact as one of the effective control measures.

If above proposed controls are to be effective at lower and middle levels, one very important requirement has to be fulfilled with no compromise. That is the complete integrity and transparency at very top. The president of the state and his cabinet of ministers have to be people of complete honesty and integrity. Any action required to be taken to ensure that highest level of honesty, integrity and transparency are maintained in all demeanours of the top is a necessity in order place the control mechanisms in place. A single compromise is adequate to energise a domino effect of fall back of the entire effort of reform. This noble mission is therefore a task rests on the shoulders of head of state. He or she has to be a character of complete honesty and integrity with unblemished and proven track record in order to infuse the required energies into the system to start the process. Leaders of the neighbouring India are classic examples that can be quoted to explain the practicality of this theory. While the leaders of many developing countries get themselves implicated in various scandals have not been able to redeem their countries from poverty. But India having the world’s second largest population and being a third world country, is rapidly gaining territory in the context of development. The honesty of the top political leadership filters down a strong message of cohesion and patriotism. Once the confidence of the nation is rallied around its leadership, people do not hesitate even to make sacrifices if at all required.

In the present context of Sri Lanka, people do not need to make any sacrifices to come up in life. The available resources in this country are more than adequate to make this Island a true paradise on earth that other countries will envy. It requires the reforms based on a doctrine acceptable to the people and executed by a team of leaders of integrity, honesty, discipline and character. The doctrinal guidance is a necessity in this effort in order to keep the development on a steady course without deviations and changes from leader to leader. Once the leaders have to follow a well defined doctrine, they cannot justify their whims and fantasies that often pave the ways for illegal money making. Also the doctrinal guidance helps the people to gauge the performance, efficiency and integrity of the executing authorities elected by the people.

The settlement of people with basic necessities in life, security, provision of alternative means to fulfil the esteem needs, making changes to the money oriented social value system, reduction of fears and anxieties through economic stability, achievements through meritocracy will only create an environment that can have positive resistance to the bribery and corruption. The conducive environment has to be created first before formulating the legal frame work to tackle the issue.

Modern societies that are built and administered under constitutions and statutory bodies have complex laws enforced to control the corruption and malpractices. The functioning of a modern society requires precise regulation of activities that are taking place. The society has to uphold, obey and respect its rules, regulations and statutes that govern it.

Related posts:

1. Civil Society and Corruption in East Africa
2. TAMING CORRUPTION IN THE ENERGY SECTOR
3. What Is The New World Order?

If it happens to be that you are interested about where to buy inexpensive solar panels, then by all means, take a few moments to look over the following – it will give you a new slant on the possibilities of harnessing the sun’s power. What if you were to learn that the technology now exists which gives you a simple and effective way to use the sun’s power to create electricity at a budget you can easily afford – wouldn’t you be eager to learn more? Keep reading the following article.

Not long ago, equipping your house with a stand-alone solar energy power generator was often thought of as a noble gesture but was just too pricey for most, yet for many it remained something to aspire to. where to buy inexpensive solar panels are now popular keywords for web searches, which makes it obvious that interest in solar is on the rise, and there are many who want to educate themselves on this electrifying new area.

The newest development in this arena is that the time to easily ’solarize’ your home is here and now and is no longer expensive. now anyone can get up and running with a lifetime supply of no-cost clean energy. Harnessing the sun’s energy for personal use is a longstanding alternative, but for most of us, the cost kept us from getting on board; so we continued to have our home electricity supplied by the local power company, wasting hard-earned money on a basic need.

As you proceed to researching on where to buy inexpensive solar panels, It’s important to learn about a recent advancement in this area: a leading specialist in renewable energy wants to spread the word about a way for you to make a solar energy system of your own, quickly and easily, without the need for any expensive or hard to find materials. It turns out that there are many thousands of enthusiastic users of solar technology who are now enjoying the ability to create abundant solar power for their personal use, and are able to increase their income by selling extra electricity to the power company – now that’s a switch! Since it’s so easy to set up and put to use, homemade energy production is going to create a much-needed revolution in the entire energy industry.

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Related posts:

1. Make Solar Electricity Today – An Unbelievable Secret !
2. Facts On Solar Energy – An Unbelievable Secret !
3. Inexpensive Solar Panels and How to Lower Energy Bills

As one of the most remarkable years in modern economic history comes to an end, what will the next twelve months bring? We asked Shared Services & Outsourcing Network members to give their crystal balls a polish and take a look at the major events, trends, movers and shakers that they believe will make headlines and impact upon practices in 2009. Of course, predicting the future is never easy at the best of times – let alone at a time of such global economic uncertainty. Nevertheless, SSON’s finest have seized their opportunity with aplomb, giving some fascinating insights into how they believe the year ahead will unfold.

Here we present two dozen of the best forecasts from right across the space. How accurate are they? Only time will tell: we’ll take a look in December 2009!

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Peter Allen

MD and Partner, TPI

I expect to see a negative impact on pure labor-arbitrage contracting in 2009, and a slowdown in the establishment of new offshore service relationships. Existing captive offshore operations may be divested as part of broader industry consolidation to create large service bureau capabilities. Conversely, I expect the initiatives of the incoming U.S. presidential administration, coupled with the possible emergence of tax-favorable policies to encourage neutralization of the wage imbalance for certain functions, to fuel increased use of domestic outsourcing. The same sort of market-stimulus actions may be seen in other countries, notably China and Brazil. These market changes will fuel tri-lateral consolidation among India-based service providers, US-based infrastructure providers, and the divested operations of cornerstone client corporations.

Coming out of the recessionary markets in late 2009, we will find a strong global outsourcing industry with four to six large, dominant providers that will provide resiliency to the eco-system that services the needs of major corporations.  Ultimately, that eco-system will service the needs of middle-market buyers as well.

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Fang Lee Cooke

Professor of HRM and Chinese Studies, Manchester Business School

Outsourcing activities will continue to increase in China, particularly in IT and HR outsourcing. IT outsourcing is fueled by the government’s strategic move to enhance its IT outsourcing capacity at gloabl level. By contrast, growth in HR outsourcing is in part due to the sharp increase in the number of labour disputes as a result of the enactment of the controversal Labour Contract Law on 1st January 2008. More and more firms will be relying on external experts to handle their labour disputes and employee benefits and to design their staffing policy to bypass the constraints of labour laws.

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John Gregory

SSC Director, Kellogg’s

Undoubtedly in my mind the main topic for conversation next year will remain the global financial crisis. I expect this to get worse before it gets better. This will drive those companies, previously reluctant to outsource and offshore, to revisit their strategies. I also expect SSOs to be called upon to play a greater role in managing cash and operational risk; we have a key part to play as an early warning system to highlight suppliers and customers struggling to survive in this harsh climate.

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Tim James

Founding Director, sustainableIT

2009 sees the world focus its attention to Copenhagen in December where the world’s nations will thrash out a new deal to combat climate change. This will include aggressive emissions reductions on both developed and developing nations to level off emissions by 2050. 2009 will see the emergence of outsourcing agreements that have an energy or emissions component built into the agreement. This will entail energy or emissions targets which are measured and managed through SLA’s.  The challenge for outsourcers will be to provide the metrics and reporting capabilities to maintain competitive advantage in this new emerging low carbon economy.

Beyond 2009 will see  a new wave of outsourcing as the emergence of carbon taxation will encourage the process of outsourcing with lower carbon taxes being associated with services procured from a third party, known as scope 3 emissions under the greenhouse gas protocols.

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Tom Tunstall

Advisory Liaison, ACS

The worldwide recession will continue well into 2009. Look for government programs to ramp up in a slowing economy as the public sector attempts to fill in the private sector void, which will present an opportunity for outsourcing suppliers serving the federal market. Outsourcing opportunities in healthcare, customer care and transportation will also increase as pressure intensives not only to better manage costs, but to fundamentally restructure. For all types of organizations, developing countries will be good markets for future growth as an alternative to a comparatively moribund US economy.

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Ravichandran Venkataraman

General Manager – Fulfilment & Bangalore Operations, ANZ

The larger or macro trends:

Captives Cash-Out: some captives shared service companies will be sold out to raise cash for the mother ship. While this will be the objective, how many will actually happen will depend on availability of funding/liquidity in the system and expectation of pricing. Buyers will wait and watch to see if lower prices can get got.

BPO service providers funding customers: companies will look at outsourcing work to BPO service providers who can provide them up front cash of future benefits and also fund their costs of outsourcing such as Redundancy Payments, Training, Documentation and Transitions that hit their quarterly results – this, they would like to get billed over the next 3 years – meaning that their costs will be spread over three or more years – so, companies can outsource without their quarterly results being impacted significantly by these increased costs.

Consolidation: there will be consolidation in the industry with larger players trying to buy out existing smaller players with good revenue streams. This will provide for growth.

The smaller or micro trends:

Productivity but no investment in technology: companies will look towards 20% to 25% productivity increases but with absolutely no investment in technology. This will be through headcount savings and workspace rationalization. Eg. some companies have started 45 hour work week against 40 hours earlier…this is a 12.5% increase in productivity;

Risk Management: increasing risks of bankruptcies will push BPO Companies to diversify their portfolio. Eg. one company in India has been hit by a large exposure to the travel industry and BFSI segment. They are now looking at other industry verticals to reduce impact on revenues.

VCs (Venture Capital Funds) and Private Equity Funds will force additional outsourcing: VCs/PEs with substantial holdings in companies will force companies where they have stakes to reduce costs through outsourcing.

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Gilda Odera

Managing Director, Skyweb Technologies Ltd

The year 2009 is starting off with great uncertainty for many companies in US and Europe.

As the economies in these regions slump even worse, more pressure will mount to cut down operational costs, in order for most companies to remain afloat.

The insecurities created by the unfortunate terrorist attacks in India will force several companies to look for alternative destinations, as backups for their operations.

For a long time, Africa has not been seen to offer this alternative but for some interesting reasons, the year 2009 is opening up for some African countries, specifically South Africa and Kenya.

Several visits will be made by American companies to Kenya to do their due diligence and by Q4 2009, a number of American companies will set up alternative sourcing operations in Kenya. This will send a positive message out for many more who will then realise that, indeed, there are some opportunities to tap into in Africa.

India will of course continue offering high-end services though will be hard hit on volume of work while China will be very hard hit due to the reduced amount of production for their exports to the developed countries. China will intensify their market creation in Africa as a result. Many Indian companies will also diversify and spread their risk by opening up operations in Kenya.

With the global recession, the world will become even flatter in 2009 as more people leave their homes to explore new opportunities in the untapped world out in Africa, especially in Kenya and South Africa, the promising countries in Africa. Many will realise that the news they have been watching or reading in the press about these countries has not accurately presented the great opportunities on the ground and they will all come running to invest in these countries. I see many joint ventures taking place too.

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Riette le Roux

Manager: Relationship Optimisation, PeopleServe (HR Shared Service Centre), Standard Bank

Economists famously tongue-in-the-cheek predict that interest rates will rise and interest rates will fall in 2009.  They just can’t say which one will happen when and by how much.

I think SSCs will be the jewel in the crown of delivering ROI in the tough economic situation that is being experienced world-wide.  I think this will increase the discomfort in models where there are components of service lines translatable into a SSC environment, still within business.  This can potentially strain partner relationships exponentially and even lead to the eventual adaptation of delivery models to rather favour the SSC model.

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Mark Ross

Director, LawScribe

The ongoing financial crises affecting the US and UK will have a devastating impact on major law firms’ revenues in 2009, as their corporate clients look to slash legal department spending. More firms will follow former AmLaw 200 Heller Ehrman and Thelen Reid into dissolution. In order to survive, managing partners will be increasingly forced to critically examine their firms’ archaic and hierarchical, pyramid based, operating structures, and to scrutinize the methodology in which both legal and back office support tasks are resourced, and the specific locations where these tasks are performed. 2009 will witness a major surge in both the centralization of back office support functions within firms’ shared services centers, and the uptake of third party offshore legal outsourcing for an increasing array of routine legal tasks.

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Kit Burden

Head of Technology Sourcing and Commercial Group, DLA Piper

Far from being a “downer” for outsourcing, the economic crisis in 2009 will be a watershed for it, as the paramount requirement to cut costs will remove any vestiges of lingering reluctance of many companies to outsource aspects of their operations, including in particular in relation to various BPO functions such as F&A and HR. At the same time, we’ll continue to see a rise in the use of multi sourcing, whereby services previously assigned to a single supplier will instead be shared about between two, three or more of them, with the customer looking to both maintain a continuous degree of competitive pressure between them, whilst at the same time pressing them to accept new and more extensive governance processes (including service level and credit regimes where all of the service providers share “collective” risk, rather than service levels based solely on their own performance).

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Richard Sarkissian

Principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP

In 2009, the world of shared services will split into two camps: those who take shared services to the next level, and those who maintain the status quo, shrink it, or sell it. While many companies recognize shared services’ potential to be a business asset, just as many don’t. Companies that think of their Shared Services Centers (SSCs) simply as an expense item will attempt to cut costs, reduce investments, and even terminate leadership if they believe the heavy lifting is over and that they don’t need expensive talent to run a back-office function. In contrast, companies that view SSCs as a potential business asset will turn their SSC diamond in the rough into a corporate jewel through actions such as expanding its advisory role and using it to drive enterprise cost reduction, improve customer service, and enhance customer retention.

So in 2009, companies with SSCs will show their hand or fold. Indecision will no longer be an option in the face of current economic pressures.

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Peter Moller

Principal, Deloitte MCS Ltd

2009 is likely to be the year of the SSC captive spin-off. A number of companies that have built in-house SSCs will sell them to BPO providers as part of multi-year outsourcing contracts. Several of these deals have already happened, and we expect this trend to accelerate in 2009 for a number of reasons:

BPO providers are becoming increasingly capable as well as typically more productive and cost-effective than captive SSCs.

BPO providers that still lack global delivery capabilities and/or blue-chip credentials will be receptive to buying near- or off-shore captive centers.

Selling a captive SSO can be a way for a company to realize cash in the current credit-restricted environment.

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Richard Klingshirn

Executive Managing Director, ACS Learning Services

Despite the current challenges in the economy and the short- and long-term implications, companies will still be addressing many business demands such as globalization, M&A, divestitures, etc. In addition, companies in the financial services and other industries will be facing new realities brought on by increased regulation and oversight. As companies plan for 2009, how can they best maximize key investments in learning and human capital while reducing cost of human capital management operations? Outsourcing learning services enables retention of a competitive workforce at lower cost of operation – which may be the difference between success and failure. Critical to this model is selecting an outsourcing partner that understands your industry, and how to centralize, reorganize and rationalize training initiatives and infrastructure. As a result, organizations can reach further, make more effective acquisitions, remain compliant, and ensure that all employees understand and practice core company values.

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Hans Jansen

Vice President, Multinational Sales, ADP

Getting ready for the next phase: generally, this [challenging economic] phase is expected to last 12 to 18 months. After that we hope to see a new phase of growth and investments. During the upcoming period, organizations need to survive and to prepare and streamline themselves so that they are ready for growth and investment decisions once the market is bullish again.

Flexible benefits: As one can expect that gross salaries will only slightly increase, if not decrease, the need increases to provide tax-friendly compensation or benefits that cost less for the employer but mean more to the employee. Providing such benefits is a major opportunity to present yourself as an employer of choice, while saving money or without increasing costs.

Fixed costs become variable: It is generally expected that there will be more fluctuations in the workforce related to winning, losing or shrinking business; major lay-offs, growth in low-cost areas, and decreases in high-cost countries. Thus, the support organization should be flexible and costs should be variable…the organization should not be stuck with high fixed costs. The cost factor is, and will continue to be, a major driver for outsourcing deals.

Engineering costs: The need for projects to reduce costs is high. However, there is no budget for a typical “first the costs, than the benefits” project. BPO vendors will be expected to engineer implementation fees to balance them with projected savings.

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Fran Morton

HR Transformation and Learning Outsourcing Consultant

I believe there are some really exciting times on the way in 2009:

technology advances and SaaS will make a true best-of-breed outsourcing strategy feasible

learning outsourcing (true LBPO) will be on the upswing. Reluctant industries, especially financial services, are finally getting it that there are excellent full-service learning providers out there.

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Luc Bossaert

Executive Vice President, HR Business Consulting, NorthgateArinso

Comprehensive view of the workforce: in a time of downsizing, it’s not just about reducing headcount. Today more than ever, companies must balance headcount reduction with a strategy for nurturing talent and retaining high-quality, skilled staff who’ll be critical when recovery starts again.  HR should assist, more than ever, in providing analytics and workforce data to support the business in making the right decisions around talent.

The HR service delivery puzzle: economic conditions encourage the search for new, flexible HR service delivery models. We expect companies to be increasingly looking at piecemeal outsourcing. Rather than selecting a single service delivery model across all HR processes, companies will be combining different delivery options. For example, a company might combine comprehensive outsourcing (BPO) for HR administration, managed service for payroll, OnDemand delivery for talent management, and bespoke RPO assignments to deal with sudden local hiring needs. We expect the rise of OnDemand models in 2009, as they will bridge the gap between BPO and on-premise (in-house) software solutions, balancing control over process with cost control (Opex instead of Capex).

Getting the basics right before moving into talent management: Companies are increasingly investing in stand-alone talent management systems, without getting the basics of HR data right. Rather than striving for islands of talent management functionality in a sea of disconnected, incorrect and dated data, companies should instead invest in getting their act together on HR data, in order to be able to drive higher ROI when they invest in talent management. Good HR data will leverage the investment in any of the talent management processes.

The importance of the user interface for driving adoption of e-HR: e-HR/ESS/MSS is a great way to drive down cost in HR service delivery, and employees are increasingly ready to perform a maximum of transactions via the web. Great adoption, however, requires a great user interface and minimal hurdles/clicks to do a transaction. Getting a spotless user interface into place is a key requirement, especially with users who are getting used to RIA (rich internet applications), Google-simplicity, and iPhone-like interfaces.

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Ray Matteson

Director of Learning Operations, Raytheon Professional Services

The impact of the global economic situations in all markets has caused a consolidation within numerous industries, forcing some out of the market altogether. Those that remain will look for ways to reduce all costs, including training. They will look at vendors who not only offer training at a reduced cost from what they can do internally, but also have a proven solution that align learning with their goals and will positively impact their bottom line.

Providers need to work on building their global footprint to support companies in outsourcing arrangements, especially in emerging or opportunity markets such as South America, Eastern Europe, Russia, China, South Africa, and the Middle East.

2009 could hold several different scenarios based on an organization’s situation:

Companies shedding more costs (opportunities for more deals from current clients)

Bigger deals (as companies look to hand everything over)

Re-negotiations to drive costs out of current contracts

Non-traditional training methods (e.g. new technologies, innovation, etc.) will continue to drive costs out of outsourcing agreements

*

Richard Wierszycki

Finance BPO Lead, Akzo Nobel

Until the full impact of the current economic uncertainty is fully understood, most businesses will adopt more cautious, pragmatic strategies in 2009. There is likely to be continued pressure on margins across all areas of the business. Despite some easing of input prices, for many businesses this will inevitably keep pressure on, among other things, labor costs. Shared services will continue to offer opportunities in this area, but also in consolidation and longer-term transformation benefits, especially if linked to ERP initiatives. This strategic rationale should not be changed by the current economic conditions, although some companies will inevitably look to delay capital expenditure and non-customer facing projects. Overall, the trading outlook for 2009 looks challenging, but the best companies will continue to make the right strategic decisions with a view to the medium- to long-term.

*

Emer O’Kelly

Director, Triagen Ltd (formerly European Finance Director, Avid Technology Europe Ltd)

I have to hope that in 2009, the short-termism will eventually reduce and at least the braver companies will take the opportunity to strengthen their position in one of several ways, including: 1) restructure or transform against the backdrop of either having to or facing less opposition than before; and 2) upgrade the managers/staff they have as more good candidates become available though no fault of their own. For example, a partner at a well-known audit firm tells me they expect to recruit top-of-the-class graduates who might normally have bypassed the professional firms and have gone straight for investment banking positions (for example), which will simply not be there in 2009.

Once the market appears to have bottomed out, there should be a wave of activity as investors try to grab the best bargains. There is currently some work going on by investors evaluating targets they might acquire, but they won’t commit to invest until the market does bottom out.

In all of this, there is potentially great benefit to be had from using truly value-adding professionals, be they interim or consulting, as businesses kick-start back into action.

*

Craig Ackerman

Vice President, HMSHost

Employing technology to further streamline processes and improve controls. Our plans: implement OCR capture to automate line item coding and invoice entry in accounts payable; implement p-card statement workflow and approval process; and implement an exception-based process for sales audit and reconciliation.

Profitably growing the role of shared services within the organization. Our plans: insource additional business functions, and apply a structured approach for process improvement and streamlining.

Preparing associates for planned job reductions. Our plans: tailor an associate development program to job finding, interview preparation, resume writing and enhancing technical skills.

*

George Penton

ERP Solution Management for Shared Services, SAP America

In 2009, managing the financial supply chain will continue to be more difficult and there is inevitably much greater risk associated with the evaluation and disbursement of credit, longer collection cycles and disbursement of cash as customers and vendors struggle through this economy. Shared services centers must react accordingly. Now more than ever, SSCs will need to further improve the quality of business processes while decreasing the cost of delivery. Financial shared services centers are receiving more attention than ever before, and this economic downtown is a huge opportunity to make the SSC even more valuable. Because of this, shared services leadership must fully examine how they can continue to streamline the order-to-cash and procure-to-pay processes, work to introduce new technologies and further automate their shared services centers’ financial processes to save money, make processes transparent and simplify standardization through the automation of business processes.

*

Michael Hyltoft

Director of Shared Services, Speedy Hire

If I look at Speedy Hire and some of the other new SSCs I know are being established (all +100 FTEs), my view is that 2009 is going to be about three key things: cost, cost and cost. We can put in all the nice words about better customer service, increased control and value-add, but for the majority of 2009, for start-ups it will be a cost cutting game. Can you deliver a SSC with minimal cost/optimal benefits having little or no P&L impact in Year 1 and positive in Year 2?

*

Brian D. Smith

Partner and Managing Director, Financial Services, TPI

In 2009, companies will look to achieve a nimble service delivery structure that can deliver short-term savings to the buy-side without totally disrupting sell-side economics. Others will look to go beyond labor arbitrage savings by moving offshore services to outcome-based pricing. In addition, the changing risk profile of many offshore destinations may present business continuity challenges. This will offer the opportunity to leverage a country’s local resources instead of extensive travel, which will ultimately reduce costs and mitigate travel risk. Finally, as domestic costs may fall due to the current economic climate in the United States, opportunities or incentives may emerge to leverage low-cost domestic locations.

*

James Creelman

Author of Next Generation HR Shared Services: how to take customer service, efficiency and savings to a new level (Business Intelligence 2008)

Organizations looking to launch, or expand, shared services in 2009 face an interesting conflict that will be a challenge to resolve. We know that shared services, especially when offshored, present compelling financial cost saving opportunities, and this will sit well with under-pressure C-suite executives. However, as the recession bites and unemployment grows, there will be increasing hostility to offshoring as it takes away precious jobs. C-suite executives will not like the negative publicity that might come with their moving work overseas, and will need to develop strategies to overcome this.

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Jamie Liddell has worked in journalism since he was a 17-year-old cub reporter for The Tico Times, Costa Rica’s highly regarded English-language weekly newspaper. Holding an MA in English from Clare College, Cambridge University, Jamie came to SSON from the world of overseas property publishing where he worked on the industry’s best-selling publications for the UK and Ireland, and gave seminars at consumer and b2b exhibitions and conferences internationally.

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Earth 4 Energy allows homeowners to take the first step in breaking free of dependence on overpriced natural gas and electricity. The eBook comes in a step-by-step, easy to read guide so that even the most novice homeowners will have no trouble in their energy generation efforts. We all should be using the earth as our energy source because it is one of the best ways to save on energy. Unfortunately, most of us are unaware of the potential that our earth holds. This is sad because it is now easy to take advantage of the earth for its power.

Earth 4 Energy not only shows you how to harness the power of solar energy, it also instructs homeowners on how to harness other renewable energies. One important fact to note is that Earth 4 Energy is only available online through a pdf format; you cannot go to your local brick and mortar bookstore to purchase this guide.

Within a few hours, any home in the world can begin to run on free solar power. The guide shows through simple English (no technical jargon) and descriptive diagrams on how to harness the power of the sun using materials from your local hardware store. The creator of the guide has created countless solar panels for under $200 a piece. Using the power he has saved on his home’s electricity and heating bills, the panels have already paid for themselves within a few short months of use.

Depending on how ambitious of an energy saver you are, it is possible to have virtually all your home’s power generated from just the solar panels you learned about in Earth 4 Energy. You can also take these portable panels with you on camping trips so that you and your family can enjoy the basic amenities made available by electricity. In case of an emergency, the electricity provided by the panels can be used to power cell phones and radios.

Not only does Swerd, the creator of Earth 4 Energy, show how you can benefit from the power of the sun, he also allows energy connoisseurs to exploit wind power. Much like that of the solar panels, homemade windmills can be made from basic hardware store products. However, unlike solar panels, these windmills can be created for less than a measly $100 using Swerd’s construction methods. With your home running on both solar and wind power, your energy independence and monetary savings will being to skyrocket. You will no longer go to sleep worrying how expensive the price of natural gas or electricity will be in just a few short months.

This do it yourself green energy guide shows every step of the process of making renewable power sources and it puts it into one booklet. You can be sure that the process of using the earth for power will be both quick and easy. In not more than two days time you can be saving money from creating your own source of wind or solar power. The possibilities are limitless when it comes to our earth as a energy source.

Claim your energy independence and refuse to consume overpriced gas and electricity from today’s conglomerates. Allow Earth 4 Energy to assist you in breaking away from the stranglehold that the world’s governments and economies have put on the price of this modern necessity.

Find the best information on green energy. Rick Williamson researches key information at Microniches.org

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Many of us look forward to the day when the “utility” company is a wind-powered farm somewhere on a sunny hilltop, rather than a few smoke spewing coal plants in the middle of America. While that day is actually getting closer and closer, the need for a new workforce is also becoming imperative.

The jobs of the future, particularly where renewable energy is concerned, will be as diverse as the careers available today. There is going to be a large number of well-trained engineers required, there will also be the need for everyone from clerks and managers to field workers who will understand exactly how all of the new technologies will operate.

Renewable resources include sun, water, wind and even Biofuels and this translates to an incredibly diverse range of educational backgrounds and disciplines. While many of the traditional technologies, such as home wiring, will not be radically different. The approach to ensuring that each home’s solar, wind or thermal configuration will be incredibly different from today’s electricians and HVAC careers.

Of course the home application of the renewable energies is not the only area where new careers and jobs will occur. Consider that there will be all kinds of line workers and those who must serve in the same capacity as today’s utility workers. This will also have to become a group with some engineering and background knowledge in the systems they are supporting.

This also means that such areas as wastewater management and even trash collecting will change as well. Clearly tomorrow’s workforce is in for many educational challenges, especially as the transition from many of the current systems is going to occur within the next few decades.

Clearly, every segment of industry is going to see some widespread change as well. Imagine the impact on the farming and agricultural communities, manufacturing sectors and even the health industry when alternative energy begins to be used widely. Many modern materials will become outdated and many forms of equipment will have to accommodate new forms of energy or operational techniques. Solar powered computers, tractors, solar fountains and machinery will radically alter the face of business and commerce.

All of this translates into millions of new opportunities for those interested in the technologies and possibilities of alternative energies. Today is the time and place to begin learning about them, and parents and teachers should be making huge efforts to introduce students to their future world as this will help us all get there faster.

Jonathan Gal is a solar lighting expert and owner of YCA Solar Lights, an organization dedicated to promoting clean, energy efficient solar lighting technology. To find out more about how solar technology is changing the way we live, especially with respect to lighting, you are invited to visit Jonathan’s outdoor solar lights site.

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For entrepreneurs, you get to a point where you will finally decide on what business to run in line with the green standards and requirements the world is carefully setting out today. But before a green business can fully operate and run smoothly, the source of energy may be something that they may want to consider.

Green energy sources are the topping of the entire green business once it commences. Running a green business from start to finish is something that will surely be a fitting stance with regards to going green all the way.

Anyone wants to start his own business. But today, the best way to go about it is to adhere towards the set green standards of most people are being advised of today.

Map out a business plan and you will see a lot of suggestions, alternative strategies and a whole lot of financial reports before an executive can fully analyze and understand a business and its whole business concept. But one thing that businesses have added to the whole business mix is that of the social responsibility of going green today.

Carbon footprints will always leave their marks in any business setting. This particularly holds true when it comes towards actual logistics and business administration. Ties with suppliers and studying their green awareness in the potential business partnership is something key before ties can be secured. Being aware of the green initiatives is simply something businesses are expected to consider today.

The daily dose of people with clouded minds would usually point towards looking for a lot of ideas aimed at new business ideas. It is these ideas that take the fine line of developing new business clichés that would lead to extended business lines such as new forms of entrepreneurship and franchising opportunities in the long run. Ideas are only the tip of the iceberg. The whole research and development process is another thing to which business minded people will get new forms of business undertakings as they wish.

There are various areas for consideration in the business aspect. These include that of food, service, consultancy and trade. Depending on the lineage a person would be interested in, a lot can be seem from current and potential entrepreneurial conceptualization, a large part of which is in actual practice today. Whichever business line they would think of, profitability for investment in such would depend on how they are well-versed and willing to push such a practice to its maximum level of promise.

While most companies may have started doing this as early as October, the first month of the last quarter of the year, it is not an easy process as forecasting and trend setting are among the key indicators of properly evaluating the year ahead. The current economical situation, political updates and consumer demands will also play an important role in the business plan to be set out for the coming year. This practice is only natural for most companies if they are to continue to exist and answer the challenges of potential markets which seem to have new players rising regularly.

As it is, the key towards improving and sustaining continued business success lies in the goals and vision of a company. Continued search for improvements to current standards of operation must be maintained if any organization is to survive the current business and strategy management directives of most companies in the competitive world of organizational development and consumer satisfaction.

Jon Caldwell is a businessman and executive. Most of his works can be found at http://www.bizgreen.net/bizgreencat/bizgreenset.php

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Magniwork Generator is complimentary power logic with the aim of uses magnets to generate electricity. By lone using magnetic force and rebuff other energy input, such the same as irrigate, cook, sunlight, coal and wind, this generator can induce perpetual suggestion and harvest completely complimentary electricity. At this point are lone a hardly any of the remuneration of Magniwork magnetic generator:

It can help you save 30%-50% on your power proposition or else even completely eliminate it. It’s very eco-friendly and doesn’t pollute the natural world or else depletion valuable property. The logic is unquestionably safe, the same as it isn’t flammable or else flammable. It doesn’t wear dazed in excess of occasion like other alternative energy systems (like solar cells). This income it has tremendously low maintenance overheads. The size of your farmhouse doesn’t carry some weight. It can be present installed anywhere, for the reason that it doesn’t take a allotment of hole. It doesn’t carry some weight if it’s cold or else intense. This device can bring about in the sphere of all weather conditions.

It’s obvious with the aim of this logic is far above to no matter which to boot. Take solar panels, in favor of instance. In the sphere of order to function they rely on sunlight, so they could not bring about in gray days. On the awkward, Magni bring about can harvest power non-stop 24 hours a daylight hours, for the reason that magnetic energy is at all times to be had.

Building your own device is easier than you could think, but you need to carefully study the diplomacy and get the gist the commands to the note. The resources you are vacant to need are very discounted and can be present found by the side of your resident hardware put in storage. You won’t need every special tools, recently standard household tools, like a screwdriver. Normally the device would cost more or less $10.000, but if you build it by hand you strength of character lone give around $100. Of curriculum, in the sphere of legal action you poverty to generate 100% of your electricity you could need to build an other section and the cost strength of character gradient up to $200.

The “Magniwork Magnetic Plans” has sold 5,000 copies in could 2009 and has been named the “Best promotion conservational Product” in favor of with the aim of month, by the conservational Living memory.

Read a full insiders review here Magniwork review

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I Love to write articles about How to Build free energy generator Over 10 Years, Free Energy Generator

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If you’re ’suffering’ from high monthly household payments and you search the web for information about electricity from renewable energy sources then you must read the following – i am sure you will be amazed. Let’s start with the fact that you can create an unlimited amount of power supply for your home’s entire needs, with very little investment, and with no help – is that possible? Take a look at the following paragraphs and get the full story.

The average person buys all of their energy from the electric company; they are then burdened by bills and say good-bye to the hard-earned money they spend on something so fundamental. Alternatively, some former customers of the electric company went a different route since they were fed up with expensive and unnecessary power bills – what they wanted is absolutely free and unlimited power supply for the rest of their lives.

So while investigating more about electricity from renewable energy sources you have to realize that you too can take advantage of this money-saving system; actually you can enjoy this $0 cost power supply in just few days from now – don’t you want to join the free energy club? Perhaps this has intrigued you and now you want some facts on how it can be done; well all this can be achieved by transforming the energy that is found all around is into free and usable electricity. Can you believe that it’s both possible and easy for people to build a solar and wind energy generating system of their own in just few days in their own backyard?

Even if you are only interested about electricity from renewable energy sources understand that it is both easy and inexpensive to create an efficient energy generating system which will allow you to stop wasting your money on high power bills. You might be saying to yourself that this is too big an undertaking; just recently the whole thing has gotten much more accessible – on our side we have a leading professional in the area of solar and wind technology who has found a way for the average person to get in on it.

Enjoy FREE and UNLIMITED electricity…forever!



Watch this SHOCKING Video!



Visit: EasyFreeEnergy.com

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Worldwide nanotechnology thin film lithium-ion batteries are poised to achieve significant growth as units become more able to achieve deliver of power to electric vehicles efficiently. Less expensive lithium-ion batteries allow leveraging economies of scale and proliferation of devices into a wide range of applications. According to Susan Eustis, lead author of the study, “Economies of scale leverage the lithium-ion battery nanotechnology advances needed to make lithium-ion batteries competitive. Nanotechnology provided by lithium-ion research solves the issues poised by the need to store renewable energy. Lithium-ion batteries switch price reductions are poised to drive market adoption by making units affordable.”

Nanotechnology results obtained in the laboratory are being translated into commercial products. The processes of translating the nanotechnology science into thin film lithium ion batteries are anticipated to be ongoing. The breakthroughs of science in the laboratory have only begun to be translated into life outside the lab, with a long way to go in improving the functioning of the lithium-ion batteries. Unlike any other battery technology, thin film solid-state batteries show very high cycle life. Using very thin cathodes (0.05µm) batteries have been cycled in excess of 45,000 cycles with very limited loss in capacity. After 45,000 cycles, 95% of the original capacity remained.

Then there is the problem of translating the evolving technology into manufacturing process. What this means is that the market will be very dynamic, with the market leaders continuously being challenged by innovators, large and small that develop more cost efficient units. Systems integration and manufacturing capabilities have developed a broad family of high-power lithium-ion batteries and battery systems. A family of battery products, combined with strategic partner relationships in the transportation, electric grid services and portable power markets, position vendors to address these markets for lithium-ion batteries.

Electric Vehicles depend on design, development, manufacture, and support of advanced, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. Batteries provide a combination of power, safety and life. Next-generation energy storage solutions are evolving as commercially available batteries. Lithium-ion batteries will play an increasingly important role in facilitating a shift toward cleaner forms of energy.

Innovative approaches to materials science and battery engineering are available from a large number of very significant companies — GE, Panasonic Sanyo / Matsushita Industrial Co., Ltd., NEC, Saft, Toshiba, BYD / Berkshire Hathaway, LG Chem, Altair Nanotechnologies, Samsung, Sony, A123 Systems with MIT technology, and Altair Nanotechnologies.

Markets for lithium-ion batteries at $911 million in 2008 are anticipated to reach $9.1 billion by 2015, growing in response to decreases in unit costs and increases. Lithiumion batteries used in cell phones and PCs, and in cordless power tools are proving the technology. Units are shipped into military markets and are used in satellites, proving the feasibility of systems. Small, lithium-ion prismatic batteries prove the feasibility of this technology. The large emerging markets are for hybrid and electric vehicles powered by renewable energy systems.

Report Methodology

This is the 399th report in a series of market research reports that provide forecasts in communications, telecommunications, the internet, computer, software, and telephone equipment. The project leaders take direct responsibility for writing and preparing each report. They have significant experience preparing industry studies. Forecasts are based on primary research and proprietary data bases. Forecasts reflect analysis of the market trends in the segment and related segments. Unit and dollar shipments are analyzed through consideration of dollar volume of each market participation in the segment. Market share analysis includes conversations with key customers of products, industry segment leaders, marketing directors, distributors, leading market participants, and companies seeking to develop measurable market share. Over 200 in-depth interviews are conducted for each report with a broad range of key participants and opinion leaders in the market segment.

  Table of Contents : 

Thin Film Lithium Ion Battery Executive Summary   ES-1

Worldwide Nanotechnology Thin Film Lithium-Ion

Battery Market Driving Forces  ES-1

Market Driving Forces  ES-2

Nanotechnology Forms the Base for Lithium-Ion Batteries  ES-7

Competitors  ES-7

Lithium-Ion Battery Market Shares  ES-7

Lithium-Ion Battery Market Forecasts  ES-9

1. Thin Film Lithium Ion Battery

Market Description and Market Dynamics   1-1

1.1   Lithium-Ion Battery Target Markets  1-1

1.1.1    Project Better Place and the Renault-Nissan Alliance  1-2

1.1.2    Largest Target Market, The Transportation Industry  1-3

1.1.3    Electric Grid Services Market 1-4

1.1.4    Portable Power Market, Power Tools  1-5

1.2   Lithium-Ion Battery Technologies Transportation

Industry Target Market 1-7

1.3   Energy Storage For Grid Stabilization  1-11

1.3.1    Local Energy Storage Benefit For Utilities  1-12

1.4   Applications Require On-Printed Circuit

Board Battery Power  1-13

1.4.1    Thin-film vs. Printed Batteries  1-13

1.5   Smart Buildings  1-14

1.5.1    Permanent Power for Wireless Sensors  1-16

1.6   Battery Safety / Potential Hazards  1-17

1.7   Thin Film Solid-State Battery Construction  1-18

1.8   Battery Is Electrochemical Device  1-20

1.9   Battery Depends On Chemical Energy  1-21

1.9.1    Characteristics Of Battery Cells  1-21

1.9.2    Batteries Are Designed Differently For Various Applications  1-23

2. Thin Film Lithium Ion Battery Market

Shares and Market Forecasts   2-1

2.1   Worldwide Nanotechnology Thin Film Lithium-Ion

Battery Market Driving Forces  2-1

2.1.1    Market Driving Forces  2-2

2.1.2    Nanotechnology Forms the Base for Lithium-Ion Batteries  2-7

2.1.3    Competitors  2-7

2.2   Lithium-Ion Battery Market Shares  2-7

2.2.1    ExxonMobil Affiliate in Japan / Tonen Chemical 2-10

2.3   Lithium-Ion Battery Market Forecasts  2-11

2.4   Electric Vehicle and Hybrid Vehicle Lithium-Ion

Battery Market Shares  2-14

2.4.1    BYD   2-16

2.4.2    Johnson Controls-Saft 2-16

2.4.3    Saft Battery Technologies  2-17

2.4.4    A123Systems 32 Series Automotive Class

Lithium Ion™ Cells: 2-17

2.4.5    NEC and Nissen  2-19

2.4.6    LG Chem   2-20

2.4.7    EnerDel 2-20

2.4.8    Competition  2-20

2.5   Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Lithium-Ion

Battery Market Forecasts  2-21

2.5.1    Largest Target Market, The Transportation Industry  2-25

Thin Film Advanced Lithium-Ion Battery EV Market 2-27

Thin Film Lithium-Ion And Lithium Polymer Automotive Batteries  2-27

2.6   Thin-Film and Printed Batteries: On-Board

Solutions for Low-Power Electronics  2-29

2.6.1    Solicore Tiny Flat Battery  2-31

2.6.2    Thin-Film, Organic, and Printed Batteries:

On-Board Solutions for Low-Power Electronics  2-32

2.7   Cell Phone, Communications, And PC Lithium-Ion

Battery Technology Markets Discussion  2-33

2.7.1    Samsung SDI  2-33

2.7.2    BYD   2-33

2.7.3    Saft 2-33

2.7.4    Portable Power Competition  2-34

2.8   Lithium-Ion Battery Technology Portable Power

Market, Power Tools Market Shares  2-34

2.8.1    A123 Systems  2-36

2.9   Lithium-Ion Battery Technology Portable Power,

Power Tools Market Forecasts  2-37

2.10     Lithium-Ion Battery Technology Electric

Grid Services Markets  2-40

2.10.1  Electric Grid Services  2-42

2.11     Thin Film Lithium-Ion Battery Market Positioning  2-43

2.11.1  US And Its Allies Are Changing The Military Landscape  2-48

2.12     Digital Device Battery Forecasts  2-51

3. Thin Film Lithium-Ion Battery Product Description   3-1

3.1   A123 Systems  3-1

3.1.1    A123 Systems Lithium Ion Cell Construction

Based On A Dual Plate Tubular Design  3-4

3.1.2    A123Systems 32 Series Automotive Class

Lithium Ion™ Cells: 3-5

3.1.3    GM and A123Systems Co-Develop

Lithium-Ion Battery Cell for Chevrolet Volt 3-11

3.1.4    A123Systems / GE Production Contract for

Norewegian Think Electric Vehicles  3-12

3.1.5    A123Systems Patent for Nanophosphate™

Lithium Ion Battery Technology  3-14

3.2   LG Chem   3-15

3.2.1    LG Lithium-Ion Cylindrical Battery  3-15

3.2.2    LG Lithium-ion Polymer Battery  3-15

3.2.3    LG Lithium-ion Battery Prismatic Type  3-17

3.2.4    LG Chem   3-17

3.3   SAFT   3-18

3.3.1    Saft Lithium-ion (Li-ion) Batteries  3-18

3.3.2    Saft is Li-ion Batteries For Commercial

GEO Satellites to JSC ISS of Russia  3-19

3.3.3    Saft Contract To Power Hybrid Electric Mobile

Utility Systems From Titan Energy Development 3-21

3.3.4    Saft and ABB Develop New High Voltage Li-ion

Battery System   3-22

3.3.5    Saft Hybrid Battery Technology for Wisconsin Clean Energy  3-24

3.3.6    Saft High-Energy Lithium-Ion (Li-ion) Batteries For Raytheon  3-25

3.3.7    Saft Lithium-Ion (Li-ion) Battery Backup Systems  3-25

3.3.8    Saft Energy Storage As A Key

Renewable Energy Enabling Technology  3-26

3.3.9    Saft / Solion Large Li-ion batteries  3-27

3.3.10  Saft Lithium-Sulfur Dioxide (Li-So2) Batteries  3-31

3.3.11  Saft Lithium Technologies  3-32

3.3.12  Saft Lithium-thionyl chloride (Li-SOCl2) 3-32

3.3.13  Lithium-thionyl chloride (Li-SOCl2) – LS/LST/LSG cell ranges  3-35

3.3.14  Saft Small LS/LST bobbin cells  3-36

3.3.15  Saft Large LS/T bobbin cells  3-38

3.3.16  Saft Lithium-Manganese Dioxide (Li-MnO2) 3-43

3.3.17  Saft Lithium-ion (Li-ion) 3-43

3.4   BYD   3-50

3.4.1    Warren Buffett Buys 10 Percent Stake In BYD

Chinese Battery Manufacturer 3-50

3.4.2    BYD Battery Expertise  3-52

3.5   Panasonic / Sanyo  3-53

3.6   Samsung  3-54

3.7   Ener1  / EnerDel 3-55

3.7.1    EnerDel Lithium-Ion Prismatic Design  3-56

3.7.2    EnerDel Addressing Market Demand for

Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) 3-56

3.7.3    EnerDel 5Amp Battery Pack  3-60

3.8   Imara  3-60

3.9   ExxonMobil Affiliate in Japan / Tonen Chemical 3-62

3.9.1    Tonen Chemical Leading Supplier Of Separators

For Lithium Ion Batteries  3-63

3.10     NEC   3-63

3.10.1  Nissan and NEC Group  3-64

3.10.2  Nissan And NEC Joint Venture  3-65

3.10.3  NEC High-Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries

Employ A Compact Laminated Configuration  3-66

3.10.4  NEC / Nissan Low-Cost Lithium-Manganese Batteries  3-67

3.10.5  NEC Lamilion Energy  3-68

3.10.6  NEC Subaru  3-68

3.10.7  NEC Thin Film Battery Has Sixteen Modules

Consisting Of Twelve Cells, Serially Connected  3-69

3.10.8  NEC / Subaru Thin Film Battery Flat Shape  3-69

3.11     Sony  3-71

3.12     Matshushita Industrial Co., Ltd.  (Panasonic) 3-73

3.12.1  Panasonic Lithium Batteries  3-74

3.12.2  Panasonic Lithium-Ion Rechargeable Batteries  3-75

3.13     E-One Moli Energy  3-79

3.13.1  Product Data Sheets  3-81

3.14     QuantumSphere  3-82

3.15     Solicore Ultra Thin-Film Battery  3-84

3.15.1  Solicore’s Flexion Lithium Polymer Batteries  3-86

3.15.2  Solicore Flexion Lithium Powered Cards  3-87

3.15.3  Solicore RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) Devices  3-89

3.15.4  Solicore’s Flexion® Batteries Bluechip Million Unit Purchase  3-90

3.15.5  Solicore Supports Smart Cards  3-91

3.16     Cymbet EnerChip™ Solid-State, Rechargeable

Thin-Film Batteries  3-92

3.16.1  Cymbet Enerchip™ Sensors Support 3-94

3.17     Front Edge Technology  3-95

3.18     Excellatron Thin-Film Micro-Batteries  3-95

3.18.1  Contrast To Conventional Lithium Cells  3-95

3.18.2  Excellatron Market Advantage  3-97

3.18.3  Excellatron Battery Current State of the Art 3-99

3.18.4  Excellatron Battery Intrinsically Safe  3-101

3.18.5  High Temperature Performance of

Excellatron Thin Film Batteries  3-101

3.18.6  Excellatron Long Cycle Life  3-109

3.18.7  Excellatron Polymer Film Substrate for Thin Flexible Profile  3-111

3.18.8  Excellatron Unique Proprietary Passivation

Barrier and Packaging Solution  3-113

3.19     Front Edge 50,000 Prototypes Of Nanoenergy Batteries  3-117

3.19.1  Front Edge Technology (FET) 3-117

3.20     Infinite Power Solutions (IPS) Flexible Thin-Film Batteries  3-127

3.20.1  Infinite Power Solutions  3-129

3.21     Oak Ridge Micro-Energy  3-130

3.21.1  Oak Ridge Micro-Energy Thin Film Batteries  3-132

3.22     Energizer  3-132

3.22.1  Energizer Holdings  3-133

3.23     Valence  3-134

3.23.1  PVI for Valence’s U-Charge(R) XP Energy Storage Systems  3-134

3.23.2  Valence Lithium Phosphate  3-135

3.23.3  Valence Lithium Phosphate Stability and Dependability  3-137

3.23.4  Valence Safety Focus  3-137

3.23.5  Valence Lithium Phosphate Alternative to Lead-Acid  3-138

3.23.6  Valence Lithium Phosphate Storage and Run-Time  3-138

3.23.7  Valence Lithium Phosphate Safety and Maintenance Free  3-138

3.24     ITN Energy Systems  3-139

3.24.1  ITN Intelligent Processing, Sensors, & Controls: 3-142

3.24.2  ITN Control: 3-144

3.24.3  ITN Sensors  3-147

3.24.4  ITN Unique Sensors: X-Ray Fluorescence And

Parallel Detection Spectroscopic Ellipsometer 3-148

3.25     ULVAC   3-159

3.26     Intersil 3-159

4. Thin Film Lithium Ion Battery Technology   4-1

4.1   Vendor Lithium-ion Battery Strategy  4-1

4.1.1    Rechargeable Lithium Batteries Characteristics  4-2

4.2   Challenges in Battery Design  4-3

4.2.1    Advanced Lithium-ion Batteries Requirements  4-7

4.3   Vendor Lithium-Ion Battery Positioning  4-8

4.3.1    High-Quality, Volume Manufacturing Facilities  4-10

4.4   Applications Of Lithium-Ion Batteries  4-11

4.5   Mobile Phone Industry  4-12

4.5.1    Nanowires  4-13

4.5.2    Thin Film Battery Enabling Chemistries  4-13

4.5.3    The Cathodes  4-14

4.5.4    Solid State Devices Provide More Energy Density  4-14

4.6   Advantages of Lithium-Ion Batteries  4-15

4.6.1    Lithium-Ion Battery Shortcomings  4-18

4.6.2    Charging  4-19

4.6.3    Applications  4-19

4.6.4    Costs  4-20

4.7   Lithium Cell Chemistry Variants  4-20

4.7.1    Lithium-ion  4-21

4.7.2    Lithium-ion Polymer 4-22

4.7.3    Other Lithium Cathode Chemistry Variants  4-23

4.7.4    Lithium Cobalt LiCoO2  4-23

4.7.5    Lithium Manganese LiMn2O4  4-23

4.7.6    Lithium Nickel LiNiO2  4-24

4.7.7    Lithium (NCM) Nickel Cobal Manganese – Li(NiCoMn)O2  4-24

4.7.8    Lithium Iron Phosphate LiFePO4  4-24

4.8   Operating Performance Of The Cell Can Be Tuned  4-25

4.9   Lithium Metal Polymer  4-26

4.9.1    Lithium Sulphur Li2S8  4-26

4.9.2    Alternative Anode Chemistry  4-26

4.10     ExxonMobil affiliate, Tonen Chemical

Polyethylene-Based, Porous Film   4-27

4.11     Cymbet Alternate Manufacturing  4-27

4.12     Thin-Film Batteries Packaging  4-27

4.13     ITN Energy Systems Fibrous Substrates, PowerFiber  4-28

4.13.1  ITN Sensors  4-31

4.14     Cell Construction  4-32

4.15     Impact Of Nanotechnology  4-33

4.16     Thin Film Batteries  4-34

4.16.1  Thin Film Battery Timescales and Costs  4-37

4.16.2  High Power And Energy Density  4-37

4.16.3  High Rate Capability  4-38

4.17     Comparison Of Rechargeable Battery Performance  4-39

4.18     Polymer Film Substrate  4-45

4.19     Micro Battery Solid Electrolyte  4-46

5.1  Nanotechnology Thin Film Battery Lithium-Ion Company Profiles   5-1

5.1   Nanotechnology Thin Film Battery Lithium-Ion  5-1

5.2   A123 Systems  5-1

5.2.1    A123 Systems Revenue  5-1

5.2.2    A123Systems Registration Statement for Initial Public Offering  5-2

5.2.3    A123 Systems Batteries Benefits  5-2

5.2.4    A123 Systems Competitive Advantage  5-4

5.2.5    A123 Systems Strategy  5-7

5.2.6    A123Systems and GE   5-8

5.2.7    A123 Acquisition of Hymotion  5-9

5.2.8    Procter & Gamble Duracell and A123 Systems Collaborate  5-10

5.2.9    Cobasys and A123 Systems  5-10

5.3   Advanced Cerametrics  5-11

5.4   Altair Nanotechnologies  5-12

5.4.1    Altair Nanotechnologies Power and Energy Group  5-12

5.4.2    Altair Nanotechnologies Performance Materials Division  5-12

5.4.3    Altair Nanotechnologies Life Sciences Division  5-14

5.4.4    Altair Nanotechnologies One-Megawatt Battery

System Available for Commercial Operation by AES

Energy Storage, LLC   5-14

5.4.5    Altair Nanotechnologies Revenues  5-15

5.5   Applied Data  5-16

5.6   Bekaert 5-16

5.7   Robert Bosch GmbH   5-17

5.8   Boston Power / Sonata  5-17

5.9   BYD   5-21

5.9.1    Warren Buffett Buys 10 Percent Stake In BYD

Chinese Battery Manufacturer 5-21

5.10     Cymbet 5-23

5.10.1  Cymbet Thin-Film, Solid-State Battery Technology  5-23

5.10.2  Cymbet and ANT Wireless Sensor Network  5-23

5.10.3  Garmin International ANT™ Wireless Network  5-25

5.11     Dow   5-25

5.12     E-One Moli Energy Group  5-26

5.13     Ener1  5-27

5.13.1  Ener1 Third Quarter 2008 Revenue  5-27

5.13.2  Ener1 Positioning Technology Originally

Pioneered By Argonne National Lab  5-30

5.13.3  Ener1 Acquires Enertech Leading Korean

Lithium-ion Battery Cell Producer 5-31

5.13.4  Ener1 / Enertech Specializes In Producing

Large Format Flat (“Prismatic”) Cells  5-32

5.13.5  EnerDel Operations  5-34

5.14     Energizer  5-39

5.15     Excellatron  5-44

5.16     Exon  5-45

5.16.1  ExxonMobil Chemical / Tonen Chemical Corporation  5-46

5.17     Front Edge Technology (FET) 5-47

5.18     GE   5-47

5.18.1  GE Global Research  5-48

5.18.2  GE Energy Financial Services  5-48

5.19     GM    5-48

5.19.1  General Motors Faces Bankruptcy  5-50

5.20     Ignite  5-51

5.21     IPS  5-51

5.22     Johnson Controls-Saft 5-52

5.23     KSW Microtec  5-52

5.24     LG Petrochemical 5-53

5.24.1  LG Chem   5-54

5.25     MMT Funds  5-54

5.26     NEC   5-54

5.26.1  Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., NEC, And Subsidiary

NEC TOKIN Joint-Venture Company – Automotive

Energy Supply Corporation (AESC) – 5-55

5.26.2  First Commercial Application For AESC’s Li-Ion Batteries  5-57

5.26.3  NEC TOKIN Lithium-Manganese Electrodes by 2009  5-59

5.26.4  Nissan Partnership With NEC   5-59

5.26.5  NEC Lamilion Energy  5-60

5.27     Oak Ridge Micro-Energy  5-60

5.28     Panasonic / Sanyo  5-61

5.29     QuantumSphere  5-63

5.30     Saft 5-64

5.30.1  Saft Battery Technologies  5-66

5.30.2  Saft Industrial Battery Group (IBG) 5-68

5.30.3  Saft Specialty Battery Group (SBG) 5-69

5.30.4  Saft Rechargeable Battery Systems (RBS) 5-71

5.30.5  Saft Research and Development 5-71

5.30.6  Johnson Controls-Saft United States Advanced

Battery Consortium (USABC) 5-72

5.31     Samsung  5-73

5.32     Solicore  5-73

5.32.1  Solicore’s Flexion® Batteries Bluechip Million Unit Purchase  5-74

5.32.2  Solicore Embedded Power Solutions  5-75

5.33     Think  5-75

5.34     Valence  5-76

5.34.1  Valence Strategy  5-77

5.34.2  Phases Of Valence Business Strategy  5-78

5.35     Ulvac  5-80

Tables and Figures

Table ES-1  ES-4

Lithium-Ion Battery Market Driving Forces 

Table ES-2  ES-6

Energy Advantages Of Thin-Film Batteries 

Figure ES-3  ES-8

Worldwide Lithium-Ion Thin Film Advanced Battery

Shipments, Market Shares, Dollars, 2008 

Figure ES-4  ES-10

Worldwide Lithium-Ion Thin Film Advanced Battery 

Shipments, Market Shares, Dollars, 2009-2015 

Table 1-1  1-3

Principal Features Used To Compare Rechargeable Batteries 

Figure 1-2  1-8

BMW’s Mini E Electric Car Powered By A Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery 

Table 1-3  1-9

Examples of Hybrid Electric Vehicles 

Figure 1-4  1-19

Typical Structure Of A Thin Film Solid State Battery 

Table 1-5  1-22

Characteristics Of Battery Cells 

Table 2-1  2-4

Lithium-Ion Battery Market Driving Forces 

Table 2-2  2-6

Energy Advantages Of Thin-Film Batteries 

Figure 2-3  2-8

Worldwide Lithium-Ion Thin Film Advanced Battery 

Shipments, Market Shares, Dollars, 2008 

Table 2-4  2-9

Worldwide Lithium-Ion Thin Film Advanced Battery 

Shipments, Market Shares, Dollars, 2008 

Figure 2-5  2-12

Worldwide Lithium-Ion Thin Film Advanced Battery 

Shipments, Market Shares, Dollars, 2009-2015 

Figure 2-6  2-13

Worldwide Lithium-Ion and Advanced Lithium-ion

Battery Market Forecasts,  Automotive, Power Tools,

Electric Grid, and PC Card,  Dollars, 2009-2015 

Figure 2-7  2-14

Worldwide Lithium-Ion Thin Film Automotive Advanced Battery 

Shipments, Market Shares, Dollars, 2008 

Figure 2-8  2-15

Worldwide Lithium-Ion Thin Film Automotive Advanced Battery 

Shipments, Market Shares, Dollars, 2008 

Figure 2-9  2-21

Worldwide Lithium-Ion Thin Film Advanced Battery 

Shipments, Market Shares, Dollars, 2009-2015 

Figure 2-10  2-22

Worldwide Lithium-Ion Thin Film Advanced Battery 

Shipments, Market Shares, Units, 2009-2015 

Figure 2-11  2-23

Worldwide Lithium-Ion Thin Film Advanced Battery 

Shipments, Market Shares, Units and Dollars, 2009-2015 

Figure 2-12  2-30

Worldwide PC Card On Board Lithium-Ion Batteries 

Market Forecasts, Dollars, 2009-2015 

Figure 2-13  2-35

Worldwide Lithium-Ion Thin Film Cordless Tool Advanced Battery Shipments, Market Shares, Dollars, 2008 

Table 2-14  2-36

Worldwide Lithium-Ion Thin Film Cordless Tool Advanced Battery Shipments, Market Shares, Dollars, 2008 

Figure 2-15  2-38

Worldwide Lithium-Ion Battery Portable Power

Tool and Advanced Portable Battery Shipments,

Market Forecasts, Dollars, 2009-2015 

Figure 2-16  2-41

Worldwide Electric Grid Lithium-Ion Battery

Storage Market Forecasts, Dollars, 2009-2015 

Table 2-17  2-45

Commercialization Challenges Of The Automotive,

Truck, and Bus Thin Film Battery Industry 

Table 2-18  2-47

Integrated Thin Film Battery Personal Transport

Power Systems 

Table 2-19  2-49

Requirements For Advanced Power Sources In A

Variety Of Military Applications 

Table 2-20  2-50

Large-Format Lithium-Ion Battery Key Advantages 

Table 2-20 (Continued) 2-51

Large-Format Lithium-Ion Battery Key Advantages 

Figure 3-1  3-2

A123 Systems Lithium Ion Battery 

Table 3-2  3-3

A123 Systems APR18650M1 Features 

Figure 3-3  3-4

A123 Systems lithium ion battery Cells: 26650 

Figure 3-4  3-5

A123 Cells: 32 Series 

Figure 3-5  3-7

A123 Systems Hybrid Characteristics 

Figure 3-6  3-8

A123 Systems Hybrid Discharge Characteristics 

Table 3-7  3-9

A123 Systems Benefits…

Table 3-8  3-10

A123 Systems Heavy Duty Custom and Standard Solutions 

Figure 3-9  3-16

LG Chem Lithium-Ion Batteries 

Table 3-10  3-32

Saft Lithium Technologies 

Table 3-11  3-33

Saft Lithium-Ion Battery Main applications 

Table 3-11  (Continued) 3-34

Saft Lithium-Ion Battery Main applications 

Figure 3-12  3-35

Saft Non Rechargeable Battery 

Table 3-13  3-39

Saft Lithium-Ion Construction Features 

Table 3-14  3-40

Saft Lithium-Ion Battery Benefits 

Figure 3-15  3-42

Saft Lithium-Sulfur Dioxide (Li-SO2) Batteries 

Table 3-16  3-44

Saft Lithium-Ion Battery Variations 

Table 3-16  (Continued) 3-45

Saft Lithium-Ion Battery Variations 

Table 3-16  (Continued) 3-46

Saft Lithium-Ion Battery Variations 

Table 3-16  (Continued) 3-47

Saft Lithium-Ion Battery Variations 

Table 3-16  (Continued) 3-48

Saft Lithium-Ion Battery Variations 

Table 3-16  (Continued) 3-49

Saft Lithium-Ion Battery Variations 

Figure 3-17  3-57

EnerDel Automotive Battery 

Table 3-18  3-58

EnerDel Lithium Ion Battery System for HEVs 

Table 3-19  3-59

EnerDel Automotive Battery Features 

Table 3-20  3-60

Imara Thin Film Battery Cells 

Figure 3-21  3-65

NEC Fuel Cells and Catalysts 

Table 3-22  3-72

Key Features of Sony NP-FP71 Hybrid Lithium Ion

Rechargeable Battery 

Table 3-22  (Continued) 3-73

Key Features of Sony NP-FP71 Hybrid Lithium Ion

Rechargeable Battery 

Figure 3-23  3-74

Panasonic Lithium Batteries 

Figure 3-24  3-75

Panasonic Lithium-Ion Rechargable Batteries 

Table 3-25  3-76

Panasonic Rechargeable Lithium ion Batteries Features:

Table 3-26  3-76

Panasonic Rechargeable Lithium ion Batteries 

Table 3-27  3-77

Panasonic Rechargeable Lithium ion Batteries 

Table 3-28  3-85

Solicore Flexion Battery Product Features:

Table 3-29  3-86

Solicore’s Flexion Lithium Polymer Battery Applications 

Table 3-30  3-87

Solicore’s Flexion Lithium Polymer Battery Uses 

Figure 3-31  3-88

Solicore Flexion High Temperature Batteries Survive Lamination 

Table 3-31A   3-89

Solicore RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) Applications 

Table 3-32  3-96

Excellatron Nanotechnology Thin Film Battery Features 

Table 3-33  3-97

Excellatron Battery Advantages 

Table 3-34  3-99

Excellatron Battery Thin Film Solid State Battery Components 

Figure 3-35  3-102

Excellatron Thin Film Battery Charge/Discharge Profile at 25ºC.

Figure 3-36  3-103

Excellatron Thin Film Battery Charge/Discharge

Profile At 150ºC.

Figure 3-37  3-104

Excellatron High Temperature (150ºC) Charge And

Discharge Capacity 

Figure 3-38  3-106

Excellatron Capacity And Resistance Of Thin Film Battery

As A Function Of Temperature 

Figure 3-39  3-106

Excellatron’s Battery (0.1 mAh) Discharged By A 100 mA

Pulse at 80ºC.

Figure 3-40  3-108

Excellatron High Rate Pulse Discharge 

Figure 3-41  3-109

Long Term Cyclability Of A Thin Film Solid State Battery 

Figure 3-42: 3-110

Excellatron Thin Film Battery Long Term Cyclability 

Figure 3-43  3-111

Discharge Capacity Of Several Typical Cathode Materials 

Figure 3-44: 3-112

Excellatron Thin film batteries deposited on a thin polymer substrate.

Figure 3-45  3-114

Excellatron Proprietary Passivation Barrier and Packaging 

Table 3-46  3-115

Comparison Of Battery Performances 

Figure 3-47  3-131

Oak Ridge Construction of a Thin Film Battery 

Table 3-48  3-136

Key Features of Valence Lithium Phosphate Technology 

Table 3-49  3-139

ITN Commercial Markets:

Figure 3-50  3-140

ITN Thin Film Battery:

Table 3-51  3-141

ITN Thin Film Battery Design Features/Advantages 

Table 3-52  3-142

ITN Thin Film Battery Economical production 

Table 3-53  3-143

ITN Thin Film Battery Strengths 

Figure 3-54  3-145

ITN Intelligent Process Control

Figure 3-55  3-146

Framework of Intelligent Processing of Materials 

Figure 3-56  3-149

XRF Instrument Developed by ITN Used on a System  

Figure 3-57  3-150

Thin Film Deposition 

Figure 3- 58  3-150

ITP Thin-film Process 

Table 3-59  3-151

Thin-film Process Capabilities 

Table 3-60  3-152

ITNThin-film Material Processing Experience Metals 

Table 4-1  4-4

Challenges in Lithium-ion Battery Design 

Table 4-2  4-35

Thin Film Battery Unique Properties 

Table 4-3  4-38

Comparison of battery performances 

Table 4-4  4-40

Comparison of battery performances 

Table 4-5  4-42

Thin Films For Advanced Batteries 

Table 4-6  4-43

Thin Film Batteries Technology 

Table 4-7  4-44

Thin Film Battery / Lithium Air Batteries Applications 

Figure 4-8  4-45

Polymer Film Substrate Thin Flexible battery Profiles 

Figure 4-9  4-46

Design Alternatives of Thin Film Rechargable Batteries 

Table 5-1  5-3

A123 Systems Batteries Benefits 

Table 5-2  5-5

A123 Systems Competitive Positioning 

Table 5-2  (Continued) 5-6

A123 Systems Competitive Positioning 

Table 5-2  (Continued) 5-7

A123 Systems Competitive Positioning 

Figure 5-3  5-19

Boston-Power Charge Curve 

Figure 5-4  5-20

Boston-Power Discharge Curve 

Figure 5-5  5-35

EnerDel Operations 

Figure 5-6  5-36

EnerDel Lithium Power Systems 

Figure 5-7  5-37

EnerDel Lithium Power USABC Contracts 

Figure 5-8  5-38

EnerDel Lithium Power Think Projct

Figure 5-9  5-63

Sanyo Battery Targets 2020 

Figure 5-10  5-65

Saft Sales Segments Half 1, 2008 

Figure 5-11  5-67

Saft Revenue H1 2008 

Figure 5-12  5-81

Ulvac Vacuum Pumps, Gauges, and Valves

Worldwide nanotechnology thin film lithium-ion batteries are poised to achieve significant growth as units become more able to achieve deliver of power to electric vehicles efficiently. Less expensive lithium-ion batteries allow leveraging economies of scale and proliferation of devices into a wide range of applications. According to Susan Eustis, lead author of the study, “Economies of scale leverage the lithium-ion battery nanotechnology advances needed to make lithium-ion batteries competitive. Nanotechnology provided by lithium-ion research solves the issues poised by the need to store renewable energy. Lithium-ion batteries switch price reductions are poised to drive market adoption by making units affordable.”

Nanotechnology results obtained in the laboratory are being translated into commercial products. The processes of translating the nanotechnology science into thin film lithium ion batteries are anticipated to be ongoing. The breakthroughs of science in the laboratory have only begun to be translated into life outside the lab, with a long way to go in improving the functioning of the lithium-ion batteries. Unlike any other battery technology, thin film solid-state batteries show very high cycle life. Using very thin cathodes (0.05µm) batteries have been cycled in excess of 45,000 cycles with very limited loss in capacity. After 45,000 cycles, 95% of the original capacity remained.

Then there is the problem of translating the evolving technology into manufacturing process. What this means is that the market will be very dynamic, with the market leaders continuously being challenged by innovators, large and small that develop more cost efficient units. Systems integration and manufacturing capabilities have developed a broad family of high-power lithium-ion batteries and battery systems. A family of battery products, combined with strategic partner relationships in the transportation, electric grid services and portable power markets, position vendors to address these markets for lithium-ion batteries.

Electric Vehicles depend on design, development, manufacture, and support of advanced, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. Batteries provide a combination of power, safety and life. Next-generation energy storage solutions are evolving as commercially available batteries. Lithium-ion batteries will play an increasingly important role in facilitating a shift toward cleaner forms of energy.

Innovative approaches to materials science and battery engineering are available from a large number of very significant companies — GE, Panasonic Sanyo / Matsushita Industrial Co., Ltd., NEC, Saft, Toshiba, BYD / Berkshire Hathaway, LG Chem, Altair Nanotechnologies, Samsung, Sony, A123 Systems with MIT technology, and Altair Nanotechnologies.

Markets for lithium-ion batteries at $911 million in 2008 are anticipated to reach $9.1 billion by 2015, growing in response to decreases in unit costs and increases. Lithiumion batteries used in cell phones and PCs, and in cordless power tools are proving the technology. Units are shipped into military markets and are used in satellites, proving the feasibility of systems. Small, lithium-ion prismatic batteries prove the feasibility of this technology. The large emerging markets are for hybrid and electric vehicles powered by renewable energy systems.

Report Methodology

This is the 399th report in a series of market research reports that provide forecasts in communications, telecommunications, the internet, computer, software, and telephone equipment. The project leaders take direct responsibility for writing and preparing each report. They have significant experience preparing industry studies. Forecasts are based on primary research and proprietary data bases. Forecasts reflect analysis of the market trends in the segment and related segments. Unit and dollar shipments are analyzed through consideration of dollar volume of each market participation in the segment. Market share analysis includes conversations with key customers of products, industry segment leaders, marketing directors, distributors, leading market participants, and companies seeking to develop measurable market share. Over 200 in-depth interviews are conducted for each report with a broad range of key participants and opinion leaders in the market segment.

  Table of Contents : 

Thin Film Lithium Ion Battery Executive Summary   ES-1

Worldwide Nanotechnology Thin Film Lithium-Ion

Battery Market Driving Forces  ES-1

Market Driving Forces  ES-2

Nanotechnology Forms the Base for Lithium-Ion Batteries  ES-7

Competitors  ES-7

Lithium-Ion Battery Market Shares  ES-7

Lithium-Ion Battery Market Forecasts  ES-9

1. Thin Film Lithium Ion Battery

Market Description and Market Dynamics   1-1

1.1   Lithium-Ion Battery Target Markets  1-1

1.1.1    Project Better Place and the Renault-Nissan Alliance  1-2

1.1.2    Largest Target Market, The Transportation Industry  1-3

1.1.3    Electric Grid Services Market 1-4

1.1.4    Portable Power Market, Power Tools  1-5

1.2   Lithium-Ion Battery Technologies Transportation

Industry Target Market 1-7

1.3   Energy Storage For Grid Stabilization  1-11

1.3.1    Local Energy Storage Benefit For Utilities  1-12

1.4   Applications Require On-Printed Circuit

Board Battery Power  1-13

1.4.1    Thin-film vs. Printed Batteries  1-13

1.5   Smart Buildings  1-14

1.5.1    Permanent Power for Wireless Sensors  1-16

1.6   Battery Safety / Potential Hazards  1-17

1.7   Thin Film Solid-State Battery Construction  1-18

1.8   Battery Is Electrochemical Device  1-20

1.9   Battery Depends On Chemical Energy  1-21

1.9.1    Characteristics Of Battery Cells  1-21

1.9.2    Batteries Are Designed Differently For Various Applications  1-23

2. Thin Film Lithium Ion Battery Market

Shares and Market Forecasts   2-1

2.1   Worldwide Nanotechnology Thin Film Lithium-Ion

Battery Market Driving Forces  2-1

2.1.1    Market Driving Forces  2-2

2.1.2    Nanotechnology Forms the Base for Lithium-Ion Batteries  2-7

2.1.3    Competitors  2-7

2.2   Lithium-Ion Battery Market Shares  2-7

2.2.1    ExxonMobil Affiliate in Japan / Tonen Chemical 2-10

2.3   Lithium-Ion Battery Market Forecasts  2-11

2.4   Electric Vehicle and Hybrid Vehicle Lithium-Ion

Battery Market Shares  2-14

2.4.1    BYD   2-16

2.4.2    Johnson Controls-Saft 2-16

2.4.3    Saft Battery Technologies  2-17

2.4.4    A123Systems 32 Series Automotive Class

Lithium Ion™ Cells: 2-17

2.4.5    NEC and Nissen  2-19

2.4.6    LG Chem   2-20

2.4.7    EnerDel 2-20

2.4.8    Competition  2-20

2.5   Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Lithium-Ion

Battery Market Forecasts  2-21

2.5.1    Largest Target Market, The Transportation Industry  2-25

Thin Film Advanced Lithium-Ion Battery EV Market 2-27

Thin Film Lithium-Ion And Lithium Polymer Automotive Batteries  2-27

2.6   Thin-Film and Printed Batteries: On-Board

Solutions for Low-Power Electronics  2-29

2.6.1    Solicore Tiny Flat Battery  2-31

2.6.2    Thin-Film, Organic, and Printed Batteries:

On-Board Solutions for Low-Power Electronics  2-32

2.7   Cell Phone, Communications, And PC Lithium-Ion

Battery Technology Markets Discussion  2-33

2.7.1    Samsung SDI  2-33

2.7.2    BYD   2-33

2.7.3    Saft 2-33

2.7.4    Portable Power Competition  2-34

2.8   Lithium-Ion Battery Technology Portable Power

Market, Power Tools Market Shares  2-34

2.8.1    A123 Systems  2-36

2.9   Lithium-Ion Battery Technology Portable Power,

Power Tools Market Forecasts  2-37

2.10     Lithium-Ion Battery Technology Electric

Grid Services Markets  2-40

2.10.1  Electric Grid Services  2-42

2.11     Thin Film Lithium-Ion Battery Market Positioning  2-43

2.11.1  US And Its Allies Are Changing The Military Landscape  2-48

2.12     Digital Device Battery Forecasts  2-51

3. Thin Film Lithium-Ion Battery Product Description   3-1

3.1   A123 Systems  3-1

3.1.1    A123 Systems Lithium Ion Cell Construction

Based On A Dual Plate Tubular Design  3-4

3.1.2    A123Systems 32 Series Automotive Class

Lithium Ion™ Cells: 3-5

3.1.3    GM and A123Systems Co-Develop

Lithium-Ion Battery Cell for Chevrolet Volt 3-11

3.1.4    A123Systems / GE Production Contract for

Norewegian Think Electric Vehicles  3-12

3.1.5    A123Systems Patent for Nanophosphate™

Lithium Ion Battery Technology  3-14

3.2   LG Chem   3-15

3.2.1    LG Lithium-Ion Cylindrical Battery  3-15

3.2.2    LG Lithium-ion Polymer Battery  3-15

3.2.3    LG Lithium-ion Battery Prismatic Type  3-17

3.2.4    LG Chem   3-17

3.3   SAFT   3-18

3.3.1    Saft Lithium-ion (Li-ion) Batteries  3-18

3.3.2    Saft is Li-ion Batteries For Commercial

GEO Satellites to JSC ISS of Russia  3-19

3.3.3    Saft Contract To Power Hybrid Electric Mobile

Utility Systems From Titan Energy Development 3-21

3.3.4    Saft and ABB Develop New High Voltage Li-ion

Battery System   3-22

3.3.5    Saft Hybrid Battery Technology for Wisconsin Clean Energy  3-24

3.3.6    Saft High-Energy Lithium-Ion (Li-ion) Batteries For Raytheon  3-25

3.3.7    Saft Lithium-Ion (Li-ion) Battery Backup Systems  3-25

3.3.8    Saft Energy Storage As A Key

Renewable Energy Enabling Technology  3-26

3.3.9    Saft / Solion Large Li-ion batteries  3-27

3.3.10  Saft Lithium-Sulfur Dioxide (Li-So2) Batteries  3-31

3.3.11  Saft Lithium Technologies  3-32

3.3.12  Saft Lithium-thionyl chloride (Li-SOCl2) 3-32

3.3.13  Lithium-thionyl chloride (Li-SOCl2) – LS/LST/LSG cell ranges  3-35

3.3.14  Saft Small LS/LST bobbin cells  3-36

3.3.15  Saft Large LS/T bobbin cells  3-38

3.3.16  Saft Lithium-Manganese Dioxide (Li-MnO2) 3-43

3.3.17  Saft Lithium-ion (Li-ion) 3-43

3.4   BYD   3-50

3.4.1    Warren Buffett Buys 10 Percent Stake In BYD

Chinese Battery Manufacturer 3-50

3.4.2    BYD Battery Expertise  3-52

3.5   Panasonic / Sanyo  3-53

3.6   Samsung  3-54

3.7   Ener1  / EnerDel 3-55

3.7.1    EnerDel Lithium-Ion Prismatic Design  3-56

3.7.2    EnerDel Addressing Market Demand for

Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) 3-56

3.7.3    EnerDel 5Amp Battery Pack  3-60

3.8   Imara  3-60

3.9   ExxonMobil Affiliate in Japan / Tonen Chemical 3-62

3.9.1    Tonen Chemical Leading Supplier Of Separators

For Lithium Ion Batteries  3-63

3.10     NEC   3-63

3.10.1  Nissan and NEC Group  3-64

3.10.2  Nissan And NEC Joint Venture  3-65

3.10.3  NEC High-Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries

Employ A Compact Laminated Configuration  3-66

3.10.4  NEC / Nissan Low-Cost Lithium-Manganese Batteries  3-67

3.10.5  NEC Lamilion Energy  3-68

3.10.6  NEC Subaru  3-68

3.10.7  NEC Thin Film Battery Has Sixteen Modules

Consisting Of Twelve Cells, Serially Connected  3-69

3.10.8  NEC / Subaru Thin Film Battery Flat Shape  3-69

3.11     Sony  3-71

3.12     Matshushita Industrial Co., Ltd.  (Panasonic) 3-73

3.12.1  Panasonic Lithium Batteries  3-74

3.12.2  Panasonic Lithium-Ion Rechargeable Batteries  3-75

3.13     E-One Moli Energy  3-79

3.13.1  Product Data Sheets  3-81

3.14     QuantumSphere  3-82

3.15     Solicore Ultra Thin-Film Battery  3-84

3.15.1  Solicore’s Flexion Lithium Polymer Batteries  3-86

3.15.2  Solicore Flexion Lithium Powered Cards  3-87

3.15.3  Solicore RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) Devices  3-89

3.15.4  Solicore’s Flexion® Batteries Bluechip Million Unit Purchase  3-90

3.15.5  Solicore Supports Smart Cards  3-91

3.16     Cymbet EnerChip™ Solid-State, Rechargeable

Thin-Film Batteries  3-92

3.16.1  Cymbet Enerchip™ Sensors Support 3-94

3.17     Front Edge Technology  3-95

3.18     Excellatron Thin-Film Micro-Batteries  3-95

3.18.1  Contrast To Conventional Lithium Cells  3-95

3.18.2  Excellatron Market Advantage  3-97

3.18.3  Excellatron Battery Current State of the Art 3-99

3.18.4  Excellatron Battery Intrinsically Safe  3-101

3.18.5  High Temperature Performance of

Excellatron Thin Film Batteries  3-101

3.18.6  Excellatron Long Cycle Life  3-109

3.18.7  Excellatron Polymer Film Substrate for Thin Flexible Profile  3-111

3.18.8  Excellatron Unique Proprietary Passivation

Barrier and Packaging Solution  3-113

3.19     Front Edge 50,000 Prototypes Of Nanoenergy Batteries  3-117

3.19.1  Front Edge Technology (FET) 3-117

3.20     Infinite Power Solutions (IPS) Flexible Thin-Film Batteries  3-127

3.20.1  Infinite Power Solutions  3-129

3.21     Oak Ridge Micro-Energy  3-130

3.21.1  Oak Ridge Micro-Energy Thin Film Batteries  3-132

3.22     Energizer  3-132

3.22.1  Energizer Holdings  3-133

3.23     Valence  3-134

3.23.1  PVI for Valence’s U-Charge(R) XP Energy Storage Systems  3-134

3.23.2  Valence Lithium Phosphate  3-135

3.23.3  Valence Lithium Phosphate Stability and Dependability  3-137

3.23.4  Valence Safety Focus  3-137

3.23.5  Valence Lithium Phosphate Alternative to Lead-Acid  3-138

3.23.6  Valence Lithium Phosphate Storage and Run-Time  3-138

3.23.7  Valence Lithium Phosphate Safety and Maintenance Free  3-138

3.24     ITN Energy Systems  3-139

3.24.1  ITN Intelligent Processing, Sensors, & Controls: 3-142

3.24.2  ITN Control: 3-144

3.24.3  ITN Sensors  3-147

3.24.4  ITN Unique Sensors: X-Ray Fluorescence And

Parallel Detection Spectroscopic Ellipsometer 3-148

3.25     ULVAC   3-159

3.26     Intersil 3-159

4. Thin Film Lithium Ion Battery Technology   4-1

4.1   Vendor Lithium-ion Battery Strategy  4-1

4.1.1    Rechargeable Lithium Batteries Characteristics  4-2

4.2   Challenges in Battery Design  4-3

4.2.1    Advanced Lithium-ion Batteries Requirements  4-7

4.3   Vendor Lithium-Ion Battery Positioning  4-8

4.3.1    High-Quality, Volume Manufacturing Facilities  4-10

4.4   Applications Of Lithium-Ion Batteries  4-11

4.5   Mobile Phone Industry  4-12

4.5.1    Nanowires  4-13

4.5.2    Thin Film Battery Enabling Chemistries  4-13

4.5.3    The Cathodes  4-14

4.5.4    Solid State Devices Provide More Energy Density  4-14

4.6   Advantages of Lithium-Ion Batteries  4-15

4.6.1    Lithium-Ion Battery Shortcomings  4-18

4.6.2    Charging  4-19

4.6.3    Applications  4-19

4.6.4    Costs  4-20

4.7   Lithium Cell Chemistry Variants  4-20

4.7.1    Lithium-ion  4-21

4.7.2    Lithium-ion Polymer 4-22

4.7.3    Other Lithium Cathode Chemistry Variants  4-23

4.7.4    Lithium Cobalt LiCoO2  4-23

4.7.5    Lithium Manganese LiMn2O4  4-23

4.7.6    Lithium Nickel LiNiO2  4-24

4.7.7    Lithium (NCM) Nickel Cobal Manganese – Li(NiCoMn)O2  4-24

4.7.8    Lithium Iron Phosphate LiFePO4  4-24

4.8   Operating Performance Of The Cell Can Be Tuned  4-25

4.9   Lithium Metal Polymer  4-26

4.9.1    Lithium Sulphur Li2S8  4-26

4.9.2    Alternative Anode Chemistry  4-26

4.10     ExxonMobil affiliate, Tonen Chemical

Polyethylene-Based, Porous Film   4-27

4.11     Cymbet Alternate Manufacturing  4-27

4.12     Thin-Film Batteries Packaging  4-27

4.13     ITN Energy Systems Fibrous Substrates, PowerFiber  4-28

4.13.1  ITN Sensors  4-31

4.14     Cell Construction  4-32

4.15     Impact Of Nanotechnology  4-33

4.16     Thin Film Batteries  4-34

4.16.1  Thin Film Battery Timescales and Costs  4-37

4.16.2  High Power And Energy Density  4-37

4.16.3  High Rate Capability  4-38

4.17     Comparison Of Rechargeable Battery Performance  4-39

4.18     Polymer Film Substrate  4-45

4.19     Micro Battery Solid Electrolyte  4-46

5.1  Nanotechnology Thin Film Battery Lithium-Ion Company Profiles   5-1

5.1   Nanotechnology Thin Film Battery Lithium-Ion  5-1

5.2   A123 Systems  5-1

5.2.1    A123 Systems Revenue  5-1

5.2.2    A123Systems Registration Statement for Initial Public Offering  5-2

5.2.3    A123 Systems Batteries Benefits  5-2

5.2.4    A123 Systems Competitive Advantage  5-4

5.2.5    A123 Systems Strategy  5-7

5.2.6    A123Systems and GE   5-8

5.2.7    A123 Acquisition of Hymotion  5-9

5.2.8    Procter & Gamble Duracell and A123 Systems Collaborate  5-10

5.2.9    Cobasys and A123 Systems  5-10

5.3   Advanced Cerametrics  5-11

5.4   Altair Nanotechnologies  5-12

5.4.1    Altair Nanotechnologies Power and Energy Group  5-12

5.4.2    Altair Nanotechnologies Performance Materials Division  5-12

5.4.3    Altair Nanotechnologies Life Sciences Division  5-14

5.4.4    Altair Nanotechnologies One-Megawatt Battery

System Available for Commercial Operation by AES

Energy Storage, LLC   5-14

5.4.5    Altair Nanotechnologies Revenues  5-15

5.5   Applied Data  5-16

5.6   Bekaert 5-16

5.7   Robert Bosch GmbH   5-17

5.8   Boston Power / Sonata  5-17

5.9   BYD   5-21

5.9.1    Warren Buffett Buys 10 Percent Stake In BYD

Chinese Battery Manufacturer 5-21

5.10     Cymbet 5-23

5.10.1  Cymbet Thin-Film, Solid-State Battery Technology  5-23

5.10.2  Cymbet and ANT Wireless Sensor Network  5-23

5.10.3  Garmin International ANT™ Wireless Network  5-25

5.11     Dow   5-25

5.12     E-One Moli Energy Group  5-26

5.13     Ener1  5-27

5.13.1  Ener1 Third Quarter 2008 Revenue  5-27

5.13.2  Ener1 Positioning Technology Originally

Pioneered By Argonne National Lab  5-30

5.13.3  Ener1 Acquires Enertech Leading Korean

Lithium-ion Battery Cell Producer 5-31

5.13.4  Ener1 / Enertech Specializes In Producing

Large Format Flat (“Prismatic”) Cells  5-32

5.13.5  EnerDel Operations  5-34

5.14     Energizer  5-39

5.15     Excellatron  5-44

5.16     Exon  5-45

5.16.1  ExxonMobil Chemical / Tonen Chemical Corporation  5-46

5.17     Front Edge Technology (FET) 5-47

5.18     GE   5-47

5.18.1  GE Global Research  5-48

5.18.2  GE Energy Financial Services  5-48

5.19     GM    5-48

5.19.1  General Motors Faces Bankruptcy  5-50

5.20     Ignite  5-51

5.21     IPS  5-51

5.22     Johnson Controls-Saft 5-52

5.23     KSW Microtec  5-52

5.24     LG Petrochemical 5-53

5.24.1  LG Chem   5-54

5.25     MMT Funds  5-54

5.26     NEC   5-54

5.26.1  Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., NEC, And Subsidiary

NEC TOKIN Joint-Venture Company – Automotive

Energy Supply Corporation (AESC) – 5-55

5.26.2  First Commercial Application For AESC’s Li-Ion Batteries  5-57

5.26.3  NEC TOKIN Lithium-Manganese Electrodes by 2009  5-59

5.26.4  Nissan Partnership With NEC   5-59

5.26.5  NEC Lamilion Energy  5-60

5.27     Oak Ridge Micro-Energy  5-60

5.28     Panasonic / Sanyo  5-61

5.29     QuantumSphere  5-63

5.30     Saft 5-64

5.30.1  Saft Battery Technologies  5-66

5.30.2  Saft Industrial Battery Group (IBG) 5-68

5.30.3  Saft Specialty Battery Group (SBG) 5-69

5.30.4  Saft Rechargeable Battery Systems (RBS) 5-71

5.30.5  Saft Research and Development 5-71

5.30.6  Johnson Controls-Saft United States Advanced

Battery Consortium (USABC) 5-72

5.31     Samsung  5-73

5.32     Solicore  5-73

5.32.1  Solicore’s Flexion® Batteries Bluechip Million Unit Purchase  5-74

5.32.2  Solicore Embedded Power Solutions  5-75

5.33     Think  5-75

5.34     Valence  5-76

5.34.1  Valence Strategy  5-77

5.34.2  Phases Of Valence Business Strategy  5-78

5.35     Ulvac  5-80

Tables and Figures

Table ES-1  ES-4

Lithium-Ion Battery Market Driving Forces 

Table ES-2  ES-6

Energy Advantages Of Thin-Film Batteries 

Figure ES-3  ES-8

Worldwide Lithium-Ion Thin Film Advanced Battery

Shipments, Market Shares, Dollars, 2008 

Figure ES-4  ES-10

Worldwide Lithium-Ion Thin Film Advanced Battery 

Shipments, Market Shares, Dollars, 2009-2015 

Table 1-1  1-3

Principal Features Used To Compare Rechargeable Batteries 

Figure 1-2  1-8

BMW’s Mini E Electric Car Powered By A Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery 

Table 1-3  1-9

Examples of Hybrid Electric Vehicles 

Figure 1-4  1-19

Typical Structure Of A Thin Film Solid State Battery 

Table 1-5  1-22

Characteristics Of Battery Cells 

Table 2-1  2-4

Lithium-Ion Battery Market Driving Forces 

Table 2-2  2-6

Energy Advantages Of Thin-Film Batteries 

Figure 2-3  2-8

Worldwide Lithium-Ion Thin Film Advanced Battery 

Shipments, Market Shares, Dollars, 2008 

Table 2-4  2-9

Worldwide Lithium-Ion Thin Film Advanced Battery 

Shipments, Market Shares, Dollars, 2008 

Figure 2-5  2-12

Worldwide Lithium-Ion Thin Film Advanced Battery 

Shipments, Market Shares, Dollars, 2009-2015 

Figure 2-6  2-13

Worldwide Lithium-Ion and Advanced Lithium-ion

Battery Market Forecasts,  Automotive, Power Tools,

Electric Grid, and PC Card,  Dollars, 2009-2015 

Figure 2-7  2-14

Worldwide Lithium-Ion Thin Film Automotive Advanced Battery 

Shipments, Market Shares, Dollars, 2008 

Figure 2-8  2-15

Worldwide Lithium-Ion Thin Film Automotive Advanced Battery 

Shipments, Market Shares, Dollars, 2008 

Figure 2-9  2-21

Worldwide Lithium-Ion Thin Film Advanced Battery 

Shipments, Market Shares, Dollars, 2009-2015 

Figure 2-10  2-22

Worldwide Lithium-Ion Thin Film Advanced Battery 

Shipments, Market Shares, Units, 2009-2015 

Figure 2-11  2-23

Worldwide Lithium-Ion Thin Film Advanced Battery 

Shipments, Market Shares, Units and Dollars, 2009-2015 

Figure 2-12  2-30

Worldwide PC Card On Board Lithium-Ion Batteries 

Market Forecasts, Dollars, 2009-2015 

Figure 2-13  2-35

Worldwide Lithium-Ion Thin Film Cordless Tool Advanced Battery Shipments, Market Shares, Dollars, 2008 

Table 2-14  2-36

Worldwide Lithium-Ion Thin Film Cordless Tool Advanced Battery Shipments, Market Shares, Dollars, 2008 

Figure 2-15  2-38

Worldwide Lithium-Ion Battery Portable Power

Tool and Advanced Portable Battery Shipments,

Market Forecasts, Dollars, 2009-2015 

Figure 2-16  2-41

Worldwide Electric Grid Lithium-Ion Battery

Storage Market Forecasts, Dollars, 2009-2015 

Table 2-17  2-45

Commercialization Challenges Of The Automotive,

Truck, and Bus Thin Film Battery Industry 

Table 2-18  2-47

Integrated Thin Film Battery Personal Transport

Power Systems 

Table 2-19  2-49

Requirements For Advanced Power Sources In A

Variety Of Military Applications 

Table 2-20  2-50

Large-Format Lithium-Ion Battery Key Advantages 

Table 2-20 (Continued) 2-51

Large-Format Lithium-Ion Battery Key Advantages 

Figure 3-1  3-2

A123 Systems Lithium Ion Battery 

Table 3-2  3-3

A123 Systems APR18650M1 Features 

Figure 3-3  3-4

A123 Systems lithium ion battery Cells: 26650 

Figure 3-4  3-5

A123 Cells: 32 Series 

Figure 3-5  3-7

A123 Systems Hybrid Characteristics 

Figure 3-6  3-8

A123 Systems Hybrid Discharge Characteristics 

Table 3-7  3-9

A123 Systems Benefits…

Table 3-8  3-10

A123 Systems Heavy Duty Custom and Standard Solutions 

Figure 3-9  3-16

LG Chem Lithium-Ion Batteries 

Table 3-10  3-32

Saft Lithium Technologies 

Table 3-11  3-33

Saft Lithium-Ion Battery Main applications 

Table 3-11  (Continued) 3-34

Saft Lithium-Ion Battery Main applications 

Figure 3-12  3-35

Saft Non Rechargeable Battery 

Table 3-13  3-39

Saft Lithium-Ion Construction Features 

Table 3-14  3-40

Saft Lithium-Ion Battery Benefits 

Figure 3-15  3-42

Saft Lithium-Sulfur Dioxide (Li-SO2) Batteries 

Table 3-16  3-44

Saft Lithium-Ion Battery Variations 

Table 3-16  (Continued) 3-45

Saft Lithium-Ion Battery Variations 

Table 3-16  (Continued) 3-46

Saft Lithium-Ion Battery Variations 

Table 3-16  (Continued) 3-47

Saft Lithium-Ion Battery Variations 

Table 3-16  (Continued) 3-48

Saft Lithium-Ion Battery Variations 

Table 3-16  (Continued) 3-49

Saft Lithium-Ion Battery Variations 

Figure 3-17  3-57

EnerDel Automotive Battery 

Table 3-18  3-58

EnerDel Lithium Ion Battery System for HEVs 

Table 3-19  3-59

EnerDel Automotive Battery Features 

Table 3-20  3-60

Imara Thin Film Battery Cells 

Figure 3-21  3-65

NEC Fuel Cells and Catalysts 

Table 3-22  3-72

Key Features of Sony NP-FP71 Hybrid Lithium Ion

Rechargeable Battery 

Table 3-22  (Continued) 3-73

Key Features of Sony NP-FP71 Hybrid Lithium Ion

Rechargeable Battery 

Figure 3-23  3-74

Panasonic Lithium Batteries 

Figure 3-24  3-75

Panasonic Lithium-Ion Rechargable Batteries 

Table 3-25  3-76

Panasonic Rechargeable Lithium ion Batteries Features:

Table 3-26  3-76

Panasonic Rechargeable Lithium ion Batteries 

Table 3-27  3-77

Panasonic Rechargeable Lithium ion Batteries 

Table 3-28  3-85

Solicore Flexion Battery Product Features:

Table 3-29  3-86

Solicore’s Flexion Lithium Polymer Battery Applications 

Table 3-30  3-87

Solicore’s Flexion Lithium Polymer Battery Uses 

Figure 3-31  3-88

Solicore Flexion High Temperature Batteries Survive Lamination 

Table 3-31A   3-89

Solicore RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) Applications 

Table 3-32  3-96

Excellatron Nanotechnology Thin Film Battery Features 

Table 3-33  3-97

Excellatron Battery Advantages 

Table 3-34  3-99

Excellatron Battery Thin Film Solid State Battery Components 

Figure 3-35  3-102

Excellatron Thin Film Battery Charge/Discharge Profile at 25ºC.

Figure 3-36  3-103

Excellatron Thin Film Battery Charge/Discharge

Profile At 150ºC.

Figure 3-37  3-104

Excellatron High Temperature (150ºC) Charge And

Discharge Capacity 

Figure 3-38  3-106

Excellatron Capacity And Resistance Of Thin Film Battery

As A Function Of Temperature 

Figure 3-39  3-106

Excellatron’s Battery (0.1 mAh) Discharged By A 100 mA

Pulse at 80ºC.

Figure 3-40  3-108

Excellatron High Rate Pulse Discharge 

Figure 3-41  3-109

Long Term Cyclability Of A Thin Film Solid State Battery 

Figure 3-42: 3-110

Excellatron Thin Film Battery Long Term Cyclability 

Figure 3-43  3-111

Discharge Capacity Of Several Typical Cathode Materials 

Figure 3-44: 3-112

Excellatron Thin film batteries deposited on a thin polymer substrate.

Figure 3-45  3-114

Excellatron Proprietary Passivation Barrier and Packaging 

Table 3-46  3-115

Comparison Of Battery Performances 

Figure 3-47  3-131

Oak Ridge Construction of a Thin Film Battery 

Table 3-48  3-136

Key Features of Valence Lithium Phosphate Technology 

Table 3-49  3-139

ITN Commercial Markets:

Figure 3-50  3-140

ITN Thin Film Battery:

Table 3-51  3-141

ITN Thin Film Battery Design Features/Advantages 

Table 3-52  3-142

ITN Thin Film Battery Economical production 

Table 3-53  3-143

ITN Thin Film Battery Strengths 

Figure 3-54  3-145

ITN Intelligent Process Control

Figure 3-55  3-146

Framework of Intelligent Processing of Materials 

Figure 3-56  3-149

XRF Instrument Developed by ITN Used on a System  

Figure 3-57  3-150

Thin Film Deposition 

Figure 3- 58  3-150

ITP Thin-film Process 

Table 3-59  3-151

Thin-film Process Capabilities 

Table 3-60  3-152

ITNThin-film Material Processing Experience Metals 

Table 4-1  4-4

Challenges in Lithium-ion Battery Design 

Table 4-2  4-35

Thin Film Battery Unique Properties 

Table 4-3  4-38

Comparison of battery performances 

Table 4-4  4-40

Comparison of battery performances 

Table 4-5  4-42

Thin Films For Advanced Batteries 

Table 4-6  4-43

Thin Film Batteries Technology 

Table 4-7  4-44

Thin Film Battery / Lithium Air Batteries Applications 

Figure 4-8  4-45

Polymer Film Substrate Thin Flexible battery Profiles 

Figure 4-9  4-46

Design Alternatives of Thin Film Rechargable Batteries 

Table 5-1  5-3

A123 Systems Batteries Benefits 

Table 5-2  5-5

A123 Systems Competitive Positioning 

Table 5-2  (Continued) 5-6

A123 Systems Competitive Positioning 

Table 5-2  (Continued) 5-7

A123 Systems Competitive Positioning 

Figure 5-3  5-19

Boston-Power Charge Curve 

Figure 5-4  5-20

Boston-Power Discharge Curve 

Figure 5-5  5-35

EnerDel Operations 

Figure 5-6  5-36

EnerDel Lithium Power Systems 

Figure 5-7  5-37

EnerDel Lithium Power USABC Contracts 

Figure 5-8  5-38

EnerDel Lithium Power Think Projct

Figure 5-9  5-63

Sanyo Battery Targets 2020 

Figure 5-10  5-65

Saft Sales Segments Half 1, 2008 

Figure 5-11  5-67

Saft Revenue H1 2008 

Figure 5-12  5-81

Ulvac Vacuum Pumps, Gauges, and Valves

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