Industrial Collaborations and Innovation
Transfer of knowledge and technology to the industrial sector is an integral part of the institute’s activities.
Globally, 12 research projects in collaboration within the industry were active in 2019, including the Esteve-ICIQ and Henkel-ICIQ joint units. These units are a unique model of collaboration in an open innovation environment.
Projects with Industry
| Research Field | Type of companies | Earnings in 2019 | R&D Projects |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homogeneous Catalysis | Pharmaceutical, fine chemicals, materials | 1.238.000 € | 7 |
| Heterogeneous Catalysis | Materials, petrochemical, automotive | 100.000 € | 1 |
| Pharmaceutical Solid State | Pharmaceutical, fine chemicals | 480.000 € | 4 |
Evolution of revenues from industrial collaborations
In 2018 ICIQ opened its High-Throughput Experimentation platform (HTE) to industrial collaborations. The HTE platform is extremely useful to find the best conditions for a given chemical reaction in an accelerated way. Moreover, the capabilities of the HTE platform complement and enhance the capabilities of other technology development units at ICIQ such as CSOL (process development, synthesis) and Ertflow (flow chemistry).
As for 2019 highlights related to ICIQ’s Technology Development Units, in April Crysforma co-organized a Crystallization workshop in Barcelona alongside crystallization equipment company Technobis. Over 60 pharmaceutical industry professionals attended the workshop, which featured speakers by Eli Lilly, Novartis, Catholic University Louvain and Strathclyde University Glasgow, in addition to Crysforma speakers. In May 2019, Ertflow also organized an industry-oriented workshop on the topic of Flow Chemistry. The event took place in the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB). Over 40 industry professionals attended the workshop, which included speakers from companies J&J Pharmaceutical, Lonza i Eli Lilly, besides ICIQ’s.
During 2019 CSOL carried out 10 projects directed to the further development and valorization of technologies originated in ICIQ’s Research groups, with the objective of transferring these technologies to the industrial sector. The main areas where new catalysts and reagents, technologies related to polymerization, and the prototyping of a photoreactor. These valorization projects were possible thanks to funding received from Fundació Obra Social la Caixa. Moreover, CSOL carried out R&D projects for industry clients in the pharmaceutical sector, including projects involving ICIQ’s high-throughput experimentation platform (HTE).
Regarding ICIQ’s protection of results, 3 new patents were presented as priority titles. In fact, we had 21 patents active in 2019 and 7 patent families were transferred to the industry. ICIQ’s patent portfolio can be reviewed here.
ICIQ’s spin-off company Orchestra Scientific, created in 2017, continued the development and construction of an economically affordable, modular and eco-friendly technology to separate CO2 from biogas and capture it from industrial emissions.