Press release

Heerlen, NL, 05 Jan 2015 18:00 CET

Royal DSM, the Life Sciences and Materials Sciences company, and professional cycling team Team Giant-Alpecin today announced an innovation partnership aimed at enabling Team Giant-Alpecin to benefit from DSM's innovative power. Based on its extensive knowledge in Materials Sciences and Life Sciences, DSM will help to develop new innovations in the area of materials, fabrics and food with the potential to improve the performance and safety of the team's riders

The partnership will see Team Giant-Alpecin and DSM bring together their specialists to create a roadmap for innovations to advance performance and safety within the sport of professional cycling. Team Giant-Alpecin and DSM will jointly select the most promising innovation projects from this roadmap that they will then develop together with manufacturing partners, through whom the innovative products will also be brought to market.

DSM's Chief Innovation Officer Rob van Leen says: "DSM’s innovators and the top athletes from Team Giant-Alpecin have a lot in common. We both aim for the best performance, work together as a team and believe in the power of innovation to reach new frontiers. I firmly believe that by teaming up we can both win – the team in their sport, DSM in its business”. He adds: “Cycling is a hugely popular leisure activity in the Netherlands and growing throughout the world. Cycling as mode of transport benefits people as well as our planet. We see that protective, durable, lightweight and comfortable gear is becoming more important, in cycling as well as many other sports and leisure activities. With our materials we have excellent capabilities to support and push these trends.”

Iwan Spekenbrink, general manager of Team Giant-Alpecin says: “This partnership with DSM, a prestigious and innovation-driven company with high moral standards and social responsibility is a perfect match: our innovation-driven approach, expressed by our motto “Keep Challenging” is a core driver and DSM is in excellent position to contribute and help us stay competitive. Vice versa in a very competitive field like elite sports, DSM can display the value of their innovative power and show how this contributes to performance and safety.”  He adds: “We appreciate DSM’s strategy, embedded in a framework of moral standards and aimed to contribute to a Brighter Living, for people and for the planet. This links perfectly to our team’s approach: aiming to perform, while strictly respecting the basics of sports and fair play, respecting the environment in which we act.”

DSM has a long history of supporting sporting innovations. In its partnership with the Dutch Olympic Committee (NOC*NSF) the company co-developed amongst other things rowing boats, sailing boats, bobsleighs, various types of protective clothing for skaters and cyclists and recovery drinks for top athletes. DSM is also partner of the Human Power Team from the universities of Delft and Amsterdam; with their Velox recumbent bicycle, for which DSM provides a number of high performance materials, they hold the world speed record in cycling at 133.78 km per hour.