“Performance Sustaining Technology” Utilizing Hydrogenated Polymer Wins “Tire Technology of the Year Award”
May. 19. 2022
Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. is pleased to announce that our “Performance Sustaining Technology,” which utilizes hydrogenated polymer to extend tire performance life, has won the “Tire Technology of the Year Award” at this year’s “Tire Technology International Awards for Innovation and Excellence.” Recognizing outstanding advancements in tire technology, this prestigious awards ceremony served as one of the opening highlights of “Tire Technology Expo 2022,” which is being held this May 18th through 20st in Hannover, Germany.
This is the fourth time that Sumitomo Rubber Industries has received the “Tire Technology of the Year Award,” following previous awards for our “4th Generation Run-Flat Tire Technology” (2010), our “ADVANCED 4D NANO DESIGN New Materials Development Technology” (2017) and our “SENSING CORE Technology” (2019). At the awards ceremony held on May 18th, Dr. Bernd Löwenhaupt (Managing Director of Sumitomo Rubber Europe GmbH) accepted the award on behalf of the Sumitomo Rubber Group. In his acceptance speech, Dr. Löwenhaupt remarked, “This award is the result of collaborative research between our group, our suppliers and other research institutes, and so I would like to thank and share credit with everyone who was involved. The Sumitomo Rubber Group has recently proclaimed a Long-Term Sustainability Policy*1 toward the realization of a sustainable society. Moving forward, we will continue to accelerate our research and development activities so that we may apply our advanced materials technologies in order to create innovation that will contribute to the realization of a sustainable society.”
 Scene from Awards Ceremony |
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| “Performance Sustaining Technology,” Made Possible Thanks to Hydrogenated Polymer |
Held in Europe every year since its inception in 2001, the “Tire Technology Expo” is a trade exhibition and scientific/technical conference related to tire manufacturing and the overall tire industry. Each year, the expo features various research reports and presentations from tire manufacturers as well as raw material suppliers and public research institutions, as well as an awards ceremony that recognizes outstanding technical achievement in five separate categories*2.
“Performance Sustaining Technology” is a groundbreaking technology that suppresses tire wear and the natural degradation of tire performance that occurs over time, thereby allowing tires to continuing performing like brand-new for longer periods of time. For the development of this innovative technology, the Sumitomo Rubber Group took full advantage of our proprietary “Tyre Leap AI Analysis*3” AI Technology and “ADVANCED 4D NANO DESIGN*4” New Materials Development Technology in order to shed light on the molecular-level mechanisms that cause tire wear and performance degradation over time. As a result of this research, we succeeded in making “Performance Sustaining Technology” a reality thanks to the adoption of hydrogenated polymer, which is completely unlike the conventional polymers used in tires before now. “Performance Sustaining Technology” is one of the core technologies of our “SMART TYRE CONCEPT*5,” a forward-thinking concept for the development of future tires and peripheral services that aim to take safety and environmental friendliness to the next level.
The Sumitomo Rubber Group takes great pride in this award, which recognizes our advanced technical capabilities and pioneering efforts in the field of materials research and development. Moving forward, we will continue working to contribute to the realization of a sustainable society by adopting various advanced technologies in order to create tires that provide ever higher levels of performance in terms of fuel efficiency, grip, wear resistance and long-lasting performance.
※1. Sumitomo Rubber Establishes Long-Term Sustainability Policy: “Driving Our Future Challenge 2050” (News Release Issued August 5, 2021)
※2. Environmental Achievement of the Year, Tire Technology of the Year, Tire Industry Supplier of the Year, Tire Manufacturing Innovation of the Year, Tire Manufacturer of the Year
※3. Sumitomo Rubber Pioneers “Tyre Leap AI Analysis,” A New AI-Based Technology Designed to Accelerate the Development of Tire Performance Sustaining Technology (News Release Issued October 18, 2019)
※4. Sumitomo Rubber Completes Development of ADVANCED 4D NANO DESIGN New Materials Development Technology (News Release Issue October 29, 2015)
＜Reference＞
■Tire Technology Expo 2022 Official Homepage