AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals announces the 20 finalists for the 2018 edition of its Imagine Chemistry challenge. Imagine Chemistry was launched to help solve real-life chemistry-related challenges and uncover sustainable business opportunities. The 2018 edition generated no less than 150 innovative ideas from startups, scale-ups, scientists and others, according to the company.
"This is the second year of Imagine Chemistry, and if anything, we had upped the challenge for potential partners, putting forward harder-to-solve problems," says Peter Nieuwenhuizen, chief technology 0fficer at AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals. "The number and quality of ideas again surpassed our expectations and we have a list of finalists that we believe hold great potential to address customer needs and contribute to a sustainable future."
The finalists from the challenge categories are:
Sustainable small particle technologies
Edinburgh Napier University UK
FineCell Sweden Sweden
RMIT University Australia
University of Nottingham UK
Waste water-free chemical sites
Arvia Technology UK
Model Engineering Belgium
Water Knight The Netherlands
Intelligent chemical plants
Fero Labs USA
Invert Robotics Europe The Netherlands
RISE Sweden
Semiotic Labs The Netherlands
Serious VR The Netherlands
Revolutionizing chlorate production
FaradPower USA
Wageningen University & Research The Netherlands
Sustainable liquid-to-powder technologies
MicroSpray Technologies UK
Zero footprint surfactant platforms
Fraunhofer UMSICHT Germany
Green Lizard Technologies UK
Royal Cosun The Netherlands
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Finland
Open idea box
Solugen USA
The finalists will now participate in a three-day event in June at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, where they will be supported by RD&I and business development experts to further develop their business ideas and concepts.
For more information, visit: www.akzonobel.com
See where it began this year: 2018 Imagine Chemistry Challenge Calls On Start-Ups
For insight on the three top 2017 winners, see Imagine Chemistry Challenge Names Winners.
