Bioeconomy

SilicoLife and INVISTA collaboration featured in World Economic Forum report

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Ana Almeida

Aug 6, 2015

collaborative innovation

The partnership between the Portuguese startup SilicoLife and the global leader INVISTA was recognized as an example to follow by the World Economic Forum on the report on “Collaborative Innovation: Transforming Business, Driving Growth”.

For the past two years, the World Economic Forum has focused on fostering connections between young and large businesses, aiming at supporting the development of innovation-driven economies across Europe. Having acknowledged all the challenges faced by innovative entrepreneurs that want to scale their startups, and how partnerships can play an essential role in that case, the World Economic Forum released a report where leading practices and strategies are discussed.

And it is among the 6 chosen cases of Collaborative Innovation on the report that we can see SilicoLife.
According to Simão Soares, CEO at SilicoLife,

simão soaresTo be considered a good example in collaborative innovation by a world leading organization as the World Economic Forum is a great honor.

A positive past project led to a successful partnership

In 2013, after a positive outcome of a short joint project, SilicoLife partnered with INVISTA to develop new technologies to enable the production of industrial chemicals via bio-derived processe.

Back then, INVISTA intended to use SilicoLife’s development and application of optimization algorithms and proprietary computational and modelling tools to save time and resources by dramatically decreasing the time required to conduct experiments in the lab. For SilicoLife it was a matter of creating proprietary state-of the-art algorithms, developing further experience and expertise in the field through INVISTA.

And this partnership, expected to last for several years, has been a success:

We are very happy to co-develop technology platforms with a true global leader such as INVISTA, that is constantly seeking for innovative approaches for the production of industrial chemicals.

 

SEE ALSO: SilicoLife in the 40 Hottest Small Companies in Advanced Bioeconomy

 

Extra: Some conclusions of the “Collaborative Innovation: Transforming Business, Driving Growth” report

  • European companies and governments are increasingly turning to models of collaborative innovation, whereby established and incumbent companies partner with dynamic start-ups and younger firms, often giving them access to their facilities, network and markets.
  • “Due to lack of funding and fragmented markets, collaboration between established firms and young start-ups is particularly important in Europe,” said Nicholas Davis, Head of Society and Innovation and Member of the Executive Committee at the World Economic Forum.
  • For Antonio Pires de Lima, Minister of Economy of Portugal, “collaborative innovation has played a major role in the recent financial and economic adjustment period, contributing decisively to a structural shift in the Portuguese economy and driving a significant gain in competitiveness”.

 

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