STAznanost

Chemistry Institute enters strategic partnership with VC fund

Ljubljana, 21 January - The Chemistry Institute, one of Slovenia's largest research organisations, has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Vesna VC DeepTech Fund with a view to accelerating the commercial deployment of scientific findings.

Vesna VC DeepTech Fund is the first regional venture capital fund specialised in investing into deep tech projects and startups.

Its aim is to help bring basic research to technology readiness level nine (TRL 9), meaning that a project is ready for full commercial deployment.

The Chemistry Institute says many research projects never achieve level nine, mostly due to a lack of funds, and it hopes the partnership with Vesna will change that.

"This will make it much easier for innovations developed in the laboratories of the Chemistry Institute to live on in the form of new products and services," Chemistry Institute director Gregor Anderluh said as the agreement was signed on Tuesday.

Vesna VC DeepTech Fund partner Dalibor Marijanović said the transfer of technologies from research to industry was crucial for the promotion of entrepreneurship, job creation and support of industries that rely on advanced research and development.