Richard Palmer explains how he turned his innovative orange gunge into a solid business prospect
For an explanation of why the Ministry of Defence is so interested in Richard Palmer's start-up d3o lab, witness the company's product demonstration video on Youtube. Wearing rubbery pads on his knees, and with padding built into his hat, Palmer challenges another man to hit him on the head with a spade, and then repeatedly in the leg for good measure. He can't feel anything, of course. The pads are made out of d3o, a flexible, liquid substance that Palmer invented, which becomes hard as rock on impact. "There's a molecular bond in d3o that's sensitive to speed," explains Palmer. "It behaves differently when you try to move it quickly, in the case of an impact, or when you try to move it slowly, in the case of normal body movements."
Palmer developed the formula for d3o after experimenting with a variety of polymers that "behave in a non-linear manner". As a snowboarder, he immediately saw the potential of a light, flexible material that hardens to protect the wearer from injury. "The molecules snag and lock together, becoming solid," he explains. Now, alongside partnerships with sports clothing companies, such as The North Face, HEAD, berghaus and Puma, d3o is developing a commercial relationship with the MoD to supply the lining for soldiers' helmets.
Palmer says the innovation was not discovering a liquid that hardens—"If you put a thick mixture of cornflower in a bowl and tap it, it will feel like a piece of wood"—it's in creating a balance between the properties that make it suitable for commercialisation. "All sorts of material properties exist out there; they just don't have an obvious product application," he explains.
He says it helps to be relatively ignorant about the laws of chemistry. "When you look at an innovation, quite often if you know less about it you are not restricted by the knowledge of what apparently won't work. I'm not stupid, but I'm not a chemical engineer."
Profiting from a succession of partnerships with sportswear companies, Palmer was eventually introduced to Lieutenant General Dick Applegate, the MoD's Defence Equipment and Support chief. "He very quickly saw the value in it," recalls Palmer. Applegate suggested the company make an application to the Centre for Defence Enterprise, the MoD body responsible for vetting civilian innovation. "We made a couple of applications and were successful with the helmet lining [idea]," says Palmer. Last week, the MoD began testing the material, checking its response to hard impact. If successful, it will provide a huge boost to the company. "We want to get into ballistics," says Palmer.
d3o lab doesn't yet have its own manufacturing base, preferring to rely on contractors in the US, China and the UK, although Palmer admits China wouldn't be an "acceptable" partner to the MoD, should military testing of d3o prove its potential. Testing began last week. "I've been down there. The feedback is good but now it's about refining [the design]. We're balancing the compromise that always exists. How much shock absorbency do you want; how much weight can you put up with."
Posted 17 March 2009 : Director.co.uk
