A few decades from now it won’t be surprising if world’s diamond capital is not Antwerp or Surat but Singapore!! Thanks to the persistence and innovation of a company set up by non-resident Indians.
World’s leading diamond growing company, Singapore-based IIa Technologies plans to expand its capacity by 50% to 450,000 carats by 2017. The company, owned by non-resident Indians, has started the world’s largest diamond greenhouse, a 200,000 square foot, state-of-the-art facility in Singapore to annually grow 300,000 carats of diamonds.
IIa Technologies has also launched “Cultured in Singapore,” a new brand initiative that underlines the technological advancement in diamonds that the company has achieved in Singapore.
IIa ‘grown diamonds’ are the first-ever sustainable, conflict-free, origin-guaranteed, high quality diamonds that were conceptualized and cultured in Singapore, company’s CEO Vishal Mehta said.
The new brand mark identifies the origin of IIa Diamonds and certifies them as 100% cultured in Singapore, a country known for its innovation and high levels of sustainability, Mehta said. The brand initiative is also aimed at positioning Singapore as a major source of grown diamonds for the world, he said. Creating a diamond resource within Singapore truly showcases what the country stands for – progressive technology, innovation and business resilience, he said.
“IIa’s grown diamonds come at a time where consumers are looking for more options to meet their needs,” Pure Grown Diamonds CEO Lisa Bissell said. New York-based Pure Grown Diamonds, part of IIa Holdings Group, is marketing the grown diamonds. In addition to being conflict-free, the cost of producing these diamonds is 30%-40% lower than that of mined diamonds, Bissell said.
Mehta said that the annual growth in global demand for diamonds is around 30% making alternate sourcing critical to meet the burgeoning needs worldwide. He cited a Frost & Sullivan report and said supply of mined diamonds is depleting and would decline to 13 million carats in 2050 from the estimated 133 million carats in 2014.
RESEARCH CENTER
IIa Technologies has also launched a first-of-its-kind diamond research center that will provide all the scientific know-how to different teams within the company. These research teams aim to further develop existing diamond growing technologies and offer high quality ‘grown diamonds’ for various high-technology industries and applications beyond the luxury sector.
It will also conduct cutting edge research on the Microwave Chemical Vapour Deposition or MPCVD method of growing diamonds to establish next-generation applications for them that will have far-reaching technological impact on the semiconductor, healthcare and engineering sectors.
The IIa Technologies facility was recently inaugurated by Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam. Tharman said it was a matter of great pride that after eight years of painstaking research, IIa Technologies has developed its know-how and successfully scaled up the growth type of IIa diamonds.
The center is expected to generate new applications for diamonds, either from existing research ideas or by developing something completely out of the box, by working in conjunction with the relevant industries and research partners, said Tharman, who is also Singapore’s Finance Minister.
Grown diamonds have important spin-offs for other industries. Many technology applications experience thermal or heating related issues as devices miniaturize. “Diamond is an excellent heat sink because of its superior thermal conductivity,” Tharman said. “We look forward to seeing IIa Technologies spinning off new innovative applications through its research center,” said the Deputy Prime Minister.
Industry reports have forecast that over the next 30 years, grown diamonds will become a dominant player in not only high technology applications but also a major consumer item for the luxury world, said Mehta. “Grown diamonds will also provide a good hedge for diversification of use in an industry that has, so far, heavily relied on a single product, the gem quality diamonds.”
The diamonds are highly identical to their mined counterparts with the only difference being their point of origin, Bissell added.
IIa Technologies was set up in 2001 by Devi Shanker Misra – the current Chief Technology Officer – when he joined hands with the family of Mehtas, a third generation professionals in the gems and jewellery industry. The Singapore headquarters were established in 2005.
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