Todd Arndorfer, Business Growth Manager for Carestream Health speaks with TechConnect News.
Please tell us about yourself and your role within Carestream.
My experience over the past 29 years includes leadership and engineering roles within the manufacturing operations of 3M, Eastman Kodak and Carestream. I started in product development and then shifted into engineering, working at several different sites around the United States and three years in Italy.
Currently as Business Growth Manager for Carestream Health, our team and I identify, attract and commercialize new partnership and manufacturing opportunities for Carestream’s precision coating assets. We see our expertise in solution based roll-to-roll coating as a core technology and key enabler of the future growth of Carestream Health.
What are technology/solution areas that you have a primary interest in?
Carestream is primarily interested in the areas of energy storage, smart windows, display/touch screen, medical device, electronics and other advanced materials, but we are open to any technology that can be married with our coating process expertise and manufacturing assets. The key criterion is that our high speed roll-to-roll processing, quality systems and worldwide presence bring value to the partnership and to the customers in a market segment.
What level of commercial maturity do you typically look for in technology partnerships?
We are primarily interested in collaborations with innovative established companies and startups that have unique product IP, a clear understanding of customer needs and a well defined path to market. Ideas can be at bench scale, in development or late stage, as long as they involve the casting or coating of flexible materials. To scale our partner’s ideas, our engineers and material scientists build on more than 100 years of coating leadership from our 3M and Kodak legacy to deliver the problem-solving expertise for optimal product design, technology integration, and manufacturing support.
Tell us why innovation is important to your company and how this model supports your efforts to find new innovations.
Carestream operates a contract coating business that helps companies commercialize their new products. The hundreds of coating leads we consider each year serve as a vantage point for Carestream to identify new technology that may make sense to pursue in partnership. We also know most of the products that come our way will need either process adjustments and enhancements or a formula modification to make them coatable on our assets. This initial engineering work takes place in our Coating Assessment Lab, and our experienced staff creates innovative solutions to these unique challenges every day.
Why work with TechConnect and the National Innovation Summit as a technology prospector? Who are you looking to meet with?
TechConnect is a strong event with 20 years experience showcasing a broad range of new technology in a way that makes it easier for corporate partners like us to make connections with the right people. Carestream is eager to meet companies whose new technology in combination with our precision coating expertise can address unmet market needs to generate growth for both companies.
Tell us why you participate at TechConnect World?
2018 will be Carestream’s first year at TechConnect. We are hoping to meet with startups and innovators, but also have fruitful discussions with peer companies that also serve as corporate sponsors
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