From the lab to the market
Bridging the valley of death
One of the problems that we face today in the field of technological development is that, in most cases, the research conducted in centres of excellence does not reach beyond a publication or a patent that has few possibilities of being exploited. That is, in most cases, the results won’t be applied to provide real benefit to society. This gap between research results and their application is what is known as the valley of death.
The ICIQ aims to bridge this gap through the valorisation of research results. For this reason the CSOL (Catalyst Selection and Optimization Laboratory) platform was created. In 2015, Obra Social “la Caixa” financed, for the second consecutive year, valorisation projects of the research conducted at ICIQ. The projects were selected according to their relevance, technological interest and social impact. These economic resources cover staff costs, laboratory consumables and equipment, and patent applications. In 2015 the following projects were developed:
- ‘Hydrogen production by water electrolysis using renewable energies’ (under the scientific supervision of Prof. J. R. Galán-Mascarós)
- ‘Methanol formation by hydrogenation of carbon dioxide at high pressures’ (under the scientific supervision of Dr. A. Urakawa)
- ‘In-silico studies for the formation of pharmaceutical co-crystals’ (under the scientific supervision of Crysforma and Prof. C. Bo)
The objective is that the projects move along the Technology Readiness Level metrics and are better positioned, so that they can contribute to the creation of a spin-off company, be licensed more easily or achieve new sources of funding.