The family of companies contributes to innovation and technology transfer. We invest heavily in research and development and enable skills transfer in our countries of operation, particularly in southern Africa. Marine mining Being a technology leader often enables us to make low-margin diamond deposits, that others might not be able to extract efficiently, economically viable. This is especially the case in marine diamond mining and exploration. Continuous investment in more efficient marine dredging and filtration technologies has ensured that diamond mining will continue in Namibia for at least another 20 years. This benefits us, our government partners, suppliers and employees. South Africa will also benefit from our marine expertise, with the start of the South African Sea Areas project in 2007. X-ray systems Scannex is a low-dose x-ray system designed by DebTech, the De Beers research and development arm. Scannex was initially designed to prevent employee theft of diamonds and aid diamond recovery from ore. It removes the need for body searches and is therefore preferable from a human rights perspective. Scannex allows persons to be scanned over 200 times per year and remain within internationally accepted standards of radiation exposure. The technology has been adopted successfully for other purposes such as medicine. The Statscan digital x-ray system was developed in South Africa by Lodox Systems, an independent company launched in 2002 with De Beers as one of the shareholders. Statscan provides a full body x-ray in less than a minute that shows all trauma injuries in a single image. Its low and controllable radiation makes it well suited for children and pregnant women and eliminates the need for traditional radiation shielding. Lodox, as a result of Statscan, has been awarded a number of prestigious international awards. In May 2005, the company added South Africa's most important design and technology award – the SABS Disa Design Institute Awards – to its international achievements.