WIREDGOV

A new spin-out will use artificial intelligence and innovative experimental methods to improve the manufacturing of products such as drugs and fertilisers.

Pandemic-beating drugs could enter production more quickly and agrichemicals such as fertilisers could be produced with fewer toxic raw materials thanks to technology from the new company SOLVE.

The spin-out has been launched by Imperial College London and global chemical company BASF under an innovative partnership model with funding from BASF subsidiary Chemovator in a pre-seed round led by venture capital firm Creator Fund.

The technology is based on techniques that Dr Linden Schrecker developed as a PhD student at Imperial’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Centre for Doctoral Training in Next Generation Synthesis and Reaction Technology (REACT CDT).

Dr Schrecker worked with Professor Mimi Hii from the Department of Chemistry, Professor Klaus Hellgardt from the Department of Chemical Engineering, with co-supervision and funding from BASF.

SOLVE will offer its services to a range of clients from across the chemical and pharmaceutical industries including BASF, which is already a customer.

Scaling the manufacturing of new chemicals

SOLVE is using innovative chemical processing techniques to build up large sets of data on chemical reactions, which it will use to train machine learning models to rapidly predict the optimal ways to manufacture high-value chemicals.

The technology is designed to enable chemical companies to scale manufacturing of new chemicals more quickly, and to optimise manufacturing processes.

This could make chemical production more sustainable by helping shift from toxic to benign materials, minimising waste, and reducing energy use.

It is also expected to reduce the costs of setting up and running manufacturing facilities and make supply chains more resilient to changes in the availability of raw materials.

Dr Linden Schrecker, SOLVE CEO and founder said:

Solvents often improve reactions but are not in the final product, so they’re inherently wasteful and are subject to increasingly heavy regulation.

Even in the last decade we’ve seen the number of viable solvents drop, with many commonly used solvents being banned. We can provide clients with extra flexibility to vary how they manufacture a product.

Data-driven chemistry

SOLVE’s technology could herald a data-driven transformation of research and development in chemical manufacturing.

At present, industrial chemists often use a combination of intuition and trial-and-error to find the best manufacturing processes, but the company aims to offer a more efficient alternative.

The company is building up experimental data sets using novel techniques in flow chemistry, an advanced form of processing in which reactions are carried out in a continuous flow rather than in batch vessels

Jane Nicholson, Executive Director for Research Base at EPSRC said:

This venture represents a leap forward for chemicals development, offering innovative solutions that will enhance manufacturing efficiency and quality of future products.

It is an excellent example of how EPSRC’s doctoral training investments support talented individuals to push the boundaries of what’s possible and it’s great to see these research outcomes being brought to market through this start-up company.

Innovation in technology transfer

In addition to its innovative technology, the formation of SOLVE has been hailed for its rapid speed and innovative multi-way collaboration between highly engaged stakeholders from government, industry, academia and the investment community.

Jamie Macfarlane, CEO of venture capital firm Creator Fund said:

At Creator Fund, we’ve proven that PhD students have the commercial and technical skills to build massively successful companies and we have a unique model to identify and support talented individuals early on. Linden is an exceptional talent and we’re excited to see where he takes the venture.

The formation reflects the environment provided by Imperial through the EPSRC REACT CDT.

Professor Mimi Hii, Director at the EPSRC REACT CDT said:

REACT has been fantastic for providing not only interdisciplinary scientific training but the soft skills and networking students need to realise the real-world value of their research in a variety of sectors including industrial chemistry and entrepreneurship. Linden was one brightest students we worked with in REACT and is now applying the same interdisciplinary mindset.