Flexible Film

Last week I met with three student researchers from NINT who are developing a new flexible film with very useful properties. They suggest it could be a coating for buildings, but I wonder if there might be a better application for such a revolutionary material, especially an application that uses its flexible property. Problem is, no such application currently exists in the market.

Kodak Brownie No. 2, a tool to create a market

A mention on CBC radio reminded me of George Eastman, who patented a flexible photographic film in 1884. This was 45 years after Louis Daugerre  launched modern photography with his daugerrotype process, and 58 years after Nicéphore Niépce's earliest photograph from 1826. Clearly, Eastman was late to the photography game.

In 1884 all existing cameras created images on rigid glass plates, often prepared by the photographer himself, so Eastman’s flexible film initially had no market. Even after Eastman began selling his own “Kodak” roll film camera in 1888, few photographers switched to the new technology, although Eastman’s roll film did enable others to invent motion picture technology.

Said Eastman, "When we started out with our scheme of film photography, we expected that everybody who used glass plates would take up films. But we found that the number which did so was relatively small. In order to make a large business we would have to reach the general public.". In other words, establish a new market, rather than trying to compete in the old one.

With the slogan “You push the button, we do the rest”, Eastman went after the majority of the population who were not already photographers. He introduced the concept of a “snapshot”, and brought it to everyone with his low-cost Brownie cameras, advertising extensively in newspapers and at expositions.

Eastman became a very rich man, giving away almost $100 million back when that was real money. His favourite charities were the University of Rochester and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “MIT”.

The researchers from NINT are trying to attract development funding for their flexible film, and the funders want to hear about the market. Apparently “there isn’t one yet” is not an attractive answer, and the Alberta innovation system doesn’t fund market creation. Too bad, really, because NINT and the University of Alberta could use some wealthy new philanthropists.