Digitisation activities: Two examples

At the End of 2018, an AI lighthouse project was initiated as part of the strategic partnership with IBM. The project is aiming at using historical data through appropriate algorithms for accelerated compound development.

SciTai gives Evonik compound experts easier access to the accumulated knowledge of internal research results via an intelligent graph database. The knowledge graph used can be imagined as a virtual network in which information from a wide variety of sources is logically linked. 20 years of research work is now digitally available in one central place. In addition, the innovative tool allows the prediction of material properties and formulations by means of artificial intelligence. This iniative is developed with close collaboration to IBM’s research department.

Evonik's business goes beyond the production of chemical products and this is impressively illustrated by the example of COATINO®: Thanks to artificial intelligence, the digital, voice-controlled assistant for the coatings industry can provide expert answers to complex questions. It helps scientists and coating experts to work in a more targeted and time-efficient manner.

The voice-controlled digital assistant supports the human experts in the world of paints and coatings in their work intelligently. From a mathematical perspective, the colourful world of coatings today offers almost unlimited possibilities: Even concerning additives, there is a long list of different variations that provide a paint with special properties. For paint manufacturers, however, the search for the right additive has often been like running a marathon.

As a digital assistant, COATINO® puts an end to this time-consuming and sometimes frustrating procedure: Now a coatings developer can consult COATINO® and simply specify which properties the additive they are looking for should contain. The laboratory assistant then immediately provides suitable answers. As a search result, COATINO® delivers a clear, well-founded and comprehensible recommendation for a specific additive. For this purpose, the digital assistant accesses a cloud-based database that is continuously updated. In addition to many other sources, it also contains test results that Evonik has determined on the company's own high-throughput plant. For this purpose, Evonik uses modern methods from the field of big data Science and Machine Learning to ensure that COATINO® always suggests the most suitable additive.

In developing the platform, Evonik places emphasis on data security. The development is done with European partners, considering the strict European data protection regulations. Profound technical know-how is thus much easier to obtain through COATINO®, always and everywhere.