There is still plenty of room for innovation in the chemical industry; that is if new and more robust strategies and tactics are used to transform and grow our businesses. Given today's increasingly competitive global environment with slow growth and limited returns in traditional chemical-based businesses, DuPont is looking to generate value with knowledge rather than capital intensive products and services, drawing on a wide range of sources. We see this as the way to grow, transform the science base for our businesses, and create significant value for DuPont and our customers.
14.1 The Ever-Present Challenges for the Innovation Process
Started in 1802 as a small manufacturer of explosives on the banks of the Brandywine River in Wilmington, Delaware, USA, DuPont today is a USD 27 billion company with operations in over 70 countries and about 59,000 employees worldwide. Our customers are primarily other manufacturing companies served by our five businesses, called "growth platforms" within the company: Safety and Protection, Electronic and Communication Technologies, Coatings and Color Technologies, Performance Materials, and Agriculture and Nutrition.
Our skill and capabilities as an explosives manufacturer dominated our first century, when we grew and prospered with the encouragement of the US government, supplying explosives for the military, construction, and land development. In our second century, we became a manufacturer of chemicals, paints, and polymers such as neoprene, nylon, Kevlar , Teflon , Nomex , and Lycra . This transformation was accelerated through our collaborations with universities and other industries. We have now begun our third century recognizing the need for a whole new transformation of our businesses, to be based on emerging sciences and technologies including biotechnology, nanotechnology, and microelectronics (Fig. .1).