2 Sep 2010 09:00
Imperial Innovations Group plc
World Economic Forum picks Novacem as "Technology Pioneer" for 2011
London, 2 September 2010. Imperial Innovations Group plc (AIM: IVO, 'Innovations'), a leading technology commercialisation and investment company, announces that the World Economic Forum has named its portfolio company Novacem as a "Technology Pioneer" for 2011.
Novacem is one of just 31 start-ups identified by the Forum as being poised to have a critical impact on the future of business, industry and society. Earlier this year its carbon-negative cement was named as a "Top-10 Emerging Technology" by the prestigious Technology Review magazine published by Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Novacem's technology has great potential to reduce the construction industry's estimated 5% contribution to global carbon emissions. Not only does it reduce the amount of CO2 produced by kilns fired during its creation, but it also absorbs and locks away atmospheric CO2 on hardening. For every tonne of Portland cement replaced by Novacem cement, up to 0.75 tonnes of CO2 could be captured and stored indefinitely. This will transform the cement industry from a significant emitter of CO2 to a significant absorber.
Stuart Evans, Novacem CEO said:
"The cement industry recognises the problem of carbon emissions and we believe our carbon-negative cement technology could go a long way to reducing the building industry's emissions if it was adopted on a global scale."
Novacem's cement was developed by Dr Nikolaos Vlasopoulos, with whom Innovations worked to create Novacem and spin it out of Imperial College London. Innovations was also instrumental in hiring the highly experienced entrepreneur Stuart Evans to run the company as Chief Executive.
With funding from Innovations, the London Technology Fund and the Royal Society Enterprise Fund, Novacem has been able to expand the team and accelerate the development of its product.
Susan Searle,Innovations' CEO said:
"This is yet another high-profile endorsement of Novacem's pioneering technology and with the help of Innovations we believe Novacem will become a significant supplier to the construction industry."
Enquiries:
| Imperial Innovations | 020 7594 6589 |
| Susan Searle, Chief Executive Officer |
|
| Diana Crisp, PR Manager |
|
|
|
|
| College Hill | 020 7457 2020 |
| Carl Franklin / Tony Stephenson |
|
|
|
|
| J.P. Morgan Cazenove (NOMAD to Imperial Innovations) | 020 7588 2828 |
| Michael Wentworth-Stanley |
|
Notes to editors
Imperial Innovations - www.imperialinnovations.co.uk
Innovations creates, builds and invests in pioneering technologies addressing global problems in healthcare, energy and engineering. It combines deep understanding of science and technology with commercial acumen and strong investment expertise.
Innovations supports scientist-entrepreneurs in the commercialisation of their ideas by:
·; leading the formation of new companies and providing facilities in the early stages
·; providing significant investment and encouraging co-investment to accelerate the transition from R&D to products
·; providing operational expertise
·; helping to recruit high-calibre industry figures and experienced entrepreneurs as executive management and Board members.
Innovations has exclusive access to scientific and technological developments coming out of Imperial College London, one of the world's leading research institutions. It has already achieved significant success with its early investments; for example its £1.5m investment in obesity drug developer Thiakis could return up to £22m, following its sale to Wyeth for £100m in 2008, while the sale of Respivert, a small molecule drug discovery company resulted in Innovations realising £9.5m, a 4.7x return on investment.
In the year to July 2009, Innovations invested £14.4m in 20 ventures, helping to launch six new companies. With a technology portfolio of more than 80 companies, Innovations' most advanced assets, in addition to Thiakis, include:
·; Ceres Power (now listed on AIM): Micro combined heat and power generators for domestic use
·; Circassia: Innovative vaccines for the treatment of a wide range of allergies
·; Nexeon: Advanced materials that extend the cycle life and significantly increase capacity of rechargeable batteries
·; Veryan: Stents inspired by the human vascular system
Novacem Limited - www. novacem.com
Novacem, founded in 2007, is a spin-out from Imperial College London. The founders are Stuart Evans, Dr Nikolaos Vlasopoulos and Dr Chris Cheeseman. Stuart Evans is the Company's chairman. He is an experienced technology entrepreneur, having been the founding CEO at Cotag International and then at Plastic Logic. Dr Vlasopoulos is the Company's Chief Scientist and Dr Cheeseman, who is a Reader in Waste Management at Imperial College London, is the Company's Senior Scientific Adviser.
The Company is developing a new generation of green cement systems that is designed to help combat global warming by locking atmospheric CO2 into construction materials. Its cement combines the sustainability of timber and the recyclability of metal with the technical properties and high thermal mass of concrete. Its use therefore minimises CO2 emissions during building construction, operation and disposal. It novel recyclable cement system is based on magnesium oxide and special mineral additives. In contrast to Portland cement, its manufacturing process causes minimal CO2 emissions and it requires lower temperature processing. It hardens by absorbing atmospheric CO2 and therefore offers the unique potential to develop a range of 'carbon negative' construction materials.