Press release from Ideon Innovation                      Lund April 14, 2009

First big customer for new rubber curing control

Reosense, one of the companies in the Incubator at Ideon Innovation, won its first order last week. Its product, CureSense®, improves productivity and quality in the rubber moulding industry. Reosense’s first customer is Trelleborg Industrial AVS, a world-leader in the design and manufacture of rubber antivibration mountings and suspension components, which has also been involved in the development of the product.

Rubber products for almost one trillion Swedish crowns  (90 billion euros, or 120 billion US dollars) are sold around the world each year, and the market for CureSense® is calculated to be SEK 2 billion. Trelleborg Industrial AVS has been involved in the development of the product for two years, and their order guarantees continued financing. Reosense has recently received a further  2 million SEK from Midroc New Technology, which is now one of the largest owners of the company.

“This is proof that CureSense® has the potential to increase productivity in the manufacture of  rubber components. Depending on the volumes produced, our customers can often recoup their investment in less than a year. The benefit to the customer lies in the increase in manufacturing capacity of existing equipment of 10-20 percent, which saves enormous amounts of money, as well as improving the uniformity of product quality”, says Jonas Lundberg, MD of Reosense.

Today, the quality in rubber products can vary, which means that some finished products have to be rejected or that machinery is not used to its full capacity. This naturally affects the total cost, as well as the environment.

“When times are tough we try to find methods of reducing our costs, and CureSense® is therefore especially interesting”, explains Thomas Persson, Industrial Development Manager at Trelleborg Industrial AVS.

Reosense aims to be a world leader in cure time control for rubber product manufacturing, and the rubber industry has shown great interest in their product. Jonas Lundberg has been invited to give a talk at the Nordic Rubber Conference to be held in connection with the Elmia Polymer fair in Jönköping, Sweden in May, and at the International Rubber Conference in Nuremberg, Germany in June this year.

Hopefully, large European press manufacturers will recognise CureSense® as a valuable complement to their machines. Letter of Intent for Distribution agreements have already been signed with two of them, and demonstrations will be given at various trade fairs throughout the year.

Professor Alan Gent at the Department of Polymer Physics and Polymer Engineering at the  University of Akron in Ohio, USA, has already given his expert opinion.

“The CureSense® system is an interesting way of monitoring cure kinetics in situ, with the potential for increasing efficiency, and hence productivity, in the elastomer industry.

Reosense is an innovative incubator company at Ideon Innovation in Lund, southern Sweden.
For further information on Reosense, please visit: www.reosense.com or contact

Jonas Lundberg by phone: +46 705-53 35 26 or email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

For more information on Ideon Innovation, please visit: www.ideoninnovation.se or contact:

Mikael Kipowsky by phone:  +46 708-82 86 05 or email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

ABOUT REOSENSE

Reosense has developed CureSense®, a monitoring system that can improve the efficiency in the manufacture of rubber products by up to 20%. This means savings of many millions for the rubber industry, and the potential of less costly products. CureSense® is an on-line cure time control system. Curing is optimised, which increases productivity and provides more uniform quality, with less waste as the result. Manufacturing equipment can be used more efficiently, which is of benefit to both the manufacturer and the environment.

ABOUT IDEON INNOVATION

The Ideon Science Park in Lund is one of Sweden’s first, and the largest in the country. Ideon Innovation is an incubator where innovative ideas can develop and grow. High demands are placed on companies wanting to join Ideon Innovation – their products must be innovative, and have a high potential for commercialisation. People thus work hard to get into Ideon Innovation, and then work just as hard to leave it, with a commercial product.

The Incubator provides entrepreneurs with tailor-made active management support, financial, technical and commercial networks, and a creative environment in which to grow. The incubator also offers the opportunity to interact with other innovators and to develop networks, as well as the structure required for the company’s long-term development and continued survival. Our goal is to “hatch” at least 12 viable growth companies per year.

The incubators are part of the innovation system in Lund. Its activities are financed by Innovationsbron, Ideon Science Park, Lund Municipality, The County of Skåne, Sparbanken Finn and three partners (Öhrlings PricewaterhouseCoopers, Setterwalls Advokatbyrå and Awapatent).

ABOUT MIDROC NEW TECHNOLOGY
Midroc New Technology AB is a Swedish venture capital company that invests in the early stages of pioneering technologies with proven global potential in the areas of life sciences, security and clean technology. Midroc New Technology is part of Midroc Europe, which offers entrepreneurial, consulting and property management services. The group has a turnover of about SEK 4 billion and a total of 2700 employees.