3M in search of the next big thing

James McNerney

LONDON - 3M is a company that likes to break the law. In fact, it positively revels in it. But this stalwart of the New York Stock Exchange isn't doing an Enron or a WorldCom, because the laws it is breaking are those of physics.

3M invents things. Best known for its ubiquitous Post-it notes and the Scotch brand adhesive tapes, the company spends US$1.1 billion ($1.63 billion) a year researching and developing new products. And along the way it has broken a few laws.

It recently, for example, tore up the 200-year-old Brewster's Law of physics governing the way in which light reflects off minerals.

3M's discovery is now being used in materials in interior lighting.

The company's chief lawbreaker is Larry Wendling, a 3M veteran of 28 years who heads a team of 700 research scientists based in Maplewood, Minnesota.

In September 2003, the company underwent an overhaul of its laboratories that elevated Wendling to vice-president of corporate research and led to more resources being funnelled into long-term R&D.

"We had sort of lost a handle on technology development," admits Wendling.

"But we have now gone through an extensive period of figuring out what are the future technologies and high-growth markets. We are going to develop technology faster than before. We have aggressive growth targets. Quite simply, our business model is to create things that didn't exist before."

Wendling and his team have come up with a list of 12 technologies on which 3M will focus its research dollars.

Of these, Wendling believes that nanotechnology offers the biggest potential to produce the next Post-it-style blockbuster for 3M.

Much of what 3M does is shrouded in secrecy for fear of its competitors stealing the march on inventions.

But ahead of the company's second-quarter results, out this week, Wendling has revealed for the first time the three inventions that he predicts hold the potential to become the next big thing for 3M.

First is in the area of drug delivery. 3M believes it has discovered a painless way of injecting drugs into the body using a system called microneedles. It comes in the form of a special patch, around 1cm square, containing 1000 microscopic needles. They are coated with a drug that, when lightly pressed on the skin, is absorbed by the body.

"The drug delivery is pain-free. The needles are so small, you don't notice them."