New IN-PART global challenge tackles the plastic pollution crisis with sustainable solutions from academia

IN-PART has launched a new global challenge campaign to help mobilise the academia-industry ecosystem. The main goal is to address the issues around developing sustainable plastics, polymers and alternatives.

IN-PART is inviting universities, research institutes and academics to submit commercialisation opportunities covering these areas, with the aim of supporting companies working towards a circular economy for plastics and greener manufacturing processes. 

The pandemic has highlighted the role university-industry collaboration has to play in addressing global challenges. Building on work from previous campaigns addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, IN-PART is seeking innovation and technologies from academics and university research commercialisation professionals developing new methods for plastics and polymer production from renewable and sustainable sources and embedding better end-of-life solutions.

The projects submitted by academics and institutes will be proactively disseminated to a network of industry decision-makers, which includes leading plastics, chemicals and packaging companies, who will be reviewing submissions related to their key R&D focus areas, including stabilisation of biopolymers, oxo-biodegradable plastics and packaging alternatives.

As a versatile and highly durable material, plastics have completely revolutionised many sectors, but they have a widespread, negative impact on the environment. Their production requires non-renewable fossil fuels and releases a large proportion of our carbon dioxide emissions. In addition, their disposal is another major issue due to their long natural breakdown periods and the chemicals they release into the environment. 

“We want to support our university-industry community in any way we can,” outlined Robin Knight, co-founder of IN-PART, “and our global challenge campaigns mean we can leverage our platforms and community to help tackle major international issues through research and innovation”.

By developing digital solutions curated and managed by in-house STEM experts, IN-PART aims to simplify the initial connection between the right people in academia and industry, starting meaningful conversations that help to drive impact from research through collaborative development and commercialisation.

About IN-PART

IN-PART develops digital solutions, curated by in-house STEM experts, that simplify the initial connection between decision-makers in academia and industry. Their goal is to help drive impact from research by matching innovation and expertise on a level playing field globally. Since their first platform launched in 2014, IN-PART have initiated over 10,000 new conversations between teams in academia and industry, and made available £26million in industry funding for new research through their Discover platform. www.in-part.com 

Written by Fran Wilkinson. Edited by Alex Stockham.

Copyrights reserved unless otherwise agreed – IN-PART Publishing Ltd., 2021: ‘Press Release: New IN-PART global challenge tackles the plastic pollution crisis with sustainable solutions from academia’

IN-PART:

We believe brilliant connections can solve real-world problems. We match research pioneers from academia with decision-makers in industry sectors striving for a greater positive impact.

Our goal is to enable connections from around the world to match academic research with industry on a level playing field. Through our intelligent, matchmaking platform we showcase leading university innovations and connect academics with an international community of decision-makers in industry, creating meaningful dialogue and partnership.

Connect, a digital partnering platform for university-industry collaboration.

250+ universities and research institutes around the world currently showcase their research and innovation on IN-PART to find new collaboration partners in industry. R&D teams get free access to the platform (create an account here). There are no hidden costs and we don’t claim downstream success fees.

Discover, a bespoke scouting service for open innovation.

Through Discover, corporate R&D teams can leverage our extended academic network, which reaches multiple teams across 1,200+ universities and research institutes worldwide. In response to a specific research requirement or challenge, Discover enables R&D teams to identify new opportunities for commercialisation or to solicit proposals for new research.

Interested in speaking with our Discover team? Request a demo |  TTO or academic? Sign-up for weekly Discover emails.

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