ERA Chair roundtable to enhance connection with industry

On Thursday, March 14th, participants of the ERA Chair ACCELERATOR project’s roundtable, led by the renowned chemist and principal investigator Alexander Dömling from Palacký University’s CATRIN, spoke about the possibilities of cooperation, current challenges in synthetic chemistry and knowledge sharing. The meeting took place at the Rector’s Office of Palacký University with the participation of researchers and representatives of the CATRIN Technology Transfer Office, as well as with industrial partners from the Czech Republic and abroad.

The discussion was based on 20 pre-formulated questions aimed at promoting mutual understanding and exploring potential cooperation. A number of other issues emerged as pressing challenges to tackle in the future.

“Professor Dömling’s group focuses on research that goes from basic research to real industrial applications. There is the so-called valley of death that needs to be bridged during the technology transfer process. The aim of the meeting was to contribute to balancing the needs and expectations from both academics and industry,” explained the CATRIN Director Pavel Banáš.

Among the participants of the meeting was Roman Buchtík, a representative of Farmak, a.s, Olomouc, or Thanasis Spathis, CEO of SyNoesis Therapeutics, a Greek pharmaceutical company.

The central theme of the ACCELERATOR project is miniaturization and automation, which leads to sustainable chemistry and at the same time contribute to more efficient development of new drugs, nanomaterials or substances for plant protection or biostimulants. Alexander Dömling is not only a world-renowned scientist in the field of organic synthetic chemistry, but also has rich experience with translating research results in practice.