A MAGICAL AND FRIENDLY NIGHTLIGHT RECEIVES AWARD IN ACCELERATED TECHNOLOGIES, INC.’S WATERCLEAR™ 2001 PROTOTYPE DESIGN AWARD CONTEST

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A MAGICAL AND FRIENDLY NIGHTLIGHT RECEIVES AWARD IN ACCELERATED TECHNOLOGIES, INC.’S WATERCLEAR™ 2001 PROTOTYPE DESIGN AWARD CONTEST
10 November 2001 - DSM Somos

The project presented by Lunar Design, San Francisco, California, has been selected as the Grand Winner in Accelerated Technologies, Inc.’s WaterClear™ 2001 Prototype Design Award competition Joel Jacobs of Lunar Design was awarded the Grand Prize at EuroMold by two of the contest panel judges, Jim Reitz and Terry Wohlers, at the DSM Somos® stand November 29th.

Lunar Design’s winning entry, entitled Lunar Firefly Project, features a product named Glimo, a nightlight designed as a friendly, magical, luminescent bug intended to appeal to children. The playful approach to this nightlight is meant to evoke feelings of fun and comfort. Using its suction-cup feet, Glimo can be attached to a window so that solar power energizes the nightlight.

One of the judging criteria for the designer submitted projects was the uniqueness and interest of the application of DSM Somos® 10120 WaterClear™ resin. For Glimo the use of this material was important to the process of allowing the design to be presented and analyzed much more tangibly than with alternative materials. Glimo presents functionality that is explicitly based upon transmission and interaction with light, and it is essential to produce prototypes that are optically clear yet also durable enough for hands-on evaluation. Previous prototype solutions for similar design projects were produced in ABS, which is a time-consuming and expensive alternative.

Somos® 10120 WaterClear™ stereolithography resin is a unique optically-clear ProtoFunctional® prototyping resin combining many desirable engineering properties, mimicking the flexural strength and modulus of polycarbonate, the notched izod impact strength of Nylon 66, and the tensile strength of ABS. Its transparent appearance may be dyed, in a secondary step, for color tint.

Joel Jacobs, Director of Product Design of the winning company, received a Palm m505 handheld product, a free WaterClear™ model of his project, and $5000 in rapid prototyping services from Accelerated Technologies Inc.

In addition to its wining entry, Lunar Design also submitted five other designs which combined innovation with design in products ranging from household to information systems accessories.

Mike Durham, General Manager, Accelerated Technologies Inc., commented on the selection of Lunar Design as the grand prize winner by stating, “The selection of Lunar Design as the Grand Prize winner reflects the quality and range of projects that would benefit from the choice of a Somos® WaterClear™ resin. It was applications such as the ones presented by Lunar Design that led to ATI’s decision to first beta test the Somos® WaterClear™ material and than to later host the WaterClear™ Design contest. Both the number and quality of the contest submissions were impressive, and the final decision on the grand prize winner from the ten finalists was difficult to make.”

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About: DSM Somos
DSM Somos is an unincorporated division of DSM Desotech—a world leader in the development of UV-curable materials—and a member of the global DSM family.

DSM Somos is currently the world's second largest materials supplier to the rapid prototyping industry, providing stereolithography liquids and
selective laser sintering powders used for the creation of three dimensional models and prototypes directly from digital data. Somos' patented ProtoFunctional materials are used by a variety of industries, including automotive, aerospace, medical and telecommunications.

DSM Somos has developed a full line of rapid prototyping materials that replicate the performance parameters of production materials, saving both time and money in new product development. From thermoplastic elastomers to polyethylene and polypropylene, DSM Somos has stereolithography and selective laser sintering technologies.

The Somos business has been actively involved in the development of rapid prototyping materials since the late 1980s, from the introduction of the first commercial Somos stereolithography resin in 1992.

DSM Somos is part of DSM Desotech, a leading innovative formulator and manufacturer of high quality ultraviolet and electron beam (UV/EB) curable materials.

DSM Desotech is a business unit of DSM - an international chemicals and materials group headquartered in The Netherlands, with annual sales of EUR 8.1 billion and a work force of approximately 22,000 employees at more than 200 sites worldwide.

DSM is active worldwide in life science and nutritional products, performance materials and industrial chemicals. The company specializes in innovative products and services that help improve the quality of life and DSM products are currently used in a wide range of end markets and applications such as human and animal nutrition and health, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, automotive and transport, coatings, housing and electrics & electronics (E&E). The group has annual sales (pro forma including the recent acquisition - renamed DSM Nutritional Products) of approximately EUR 8 billion and employs about 26,000 people around the world. Ranking among the global leaders in many of its fields, DSM is headquartered in the Netherlands, with locations in Europe, Asia and the Americas.

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