The CSIRO has entered into an agreement with friendly Melbourne-based organisation Boron Molecular, a manufacturer specialising in complex chemicals, to scale up products and bring them to the market quicker.
Boron Molecular – having originally spawned from the CSIRO in 2001 – will be able to license technologies created by the CSIRO, scale them, and export them globally. “This agreement will allow CSIRO and Boron Molecular to come together and commercialise high-end products and processes in a much more seamless way,” said research scientist Dr John Tsanaktsidis.
Under the agreement, the CSIRO will receive royalties for the commercialisation of its tech, while ultimately focusing its efforts on research.
Although labelled a chemicals company, Boron Molecular director Zoran Manev said that the agreement will cover electronics as well:
“We’ll be developing products that can be used for a range of applications, from electronics and specialist polymers, to key components for boronic acid building blocks used in the pharmaceutical industry.”
One doesn’t have to look back too far to see potential applications of the deal. Just 9 days ago, the CSIRO announced it had developed a substance to be used in lotions and creams that happens to be highly effective at killing superbugs. The project was done in conjunction with another start-up, Kayban — but large-scale extraction of the key component from flaxseed will be handled by Boron Molecular.
[CSIRO]