South African petrochemicals giant Sasol warns that maintaining strict secrecy regarding intellectual property (IP) hampers cooperation between businesses and universities and thus constrains the development of innovations, to the disadvantage of business. This was pointed out by Sasol Research &Technology Analytics senior manager Dr Tracy Bromfield at the recent Department of Science and Technology – National Research Foundation Nanotechnology Symposium 2016 in Pretoria.
Some ten years ago Sasol, which has its own in-house research facilities, launched a programme of cooperation with South African universities. This includes research partnerships, providing funding to support researchers and acquiring equipment at about 11 universities around the country. For example, Sasol is a partner in the Centre for High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy, at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, in Port Elizabeth. This programme, she stressed, also involved cooperation with the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation and had “leveraged off” their efforts.
One of the key objectives was and is to develop young researchers. To this end, the group has been seconding personnel to universities. Originally, these were senior staff, nearing retirement, who passed on their expertise to students. More recently, Sasol has also been sending young staff to universities to carry out research and develop their expertise.
But when this programme started, the company was concerned that its IP might “leak out” if it was shared with university researchers. This, she pointed out, proved counterproductive and Sasol realised it had to find another approach. It did so by developing a series of IP agreements with the universities that safeguarded the company’s IP while recognising the contribution made by the universities in developing new IP and acknowledging their rights to it. “This helps bridge the scarce-skills gap,” she said.
The joint Sasol/university research projects do not duplicate the company’s own in-house research – rather, they complement it. One major result of the cooperative research has been the development of the in situ magnetometer at the University of Cape Town, which allows the performance of catalysts during the actual production process. This was a first-in-the-world achievement. Sasol, she affirmed, has realised that sharing information is what triggers innovation. “You need to be prepared to invest over a long time. You need to create a safe space where IP is no longer a threat but an opportunity.”
“I think of Sasol as a technology company,” stated Bromfield. The company has registered more than 500 patents for processes, reactors and catalysts. “Our catalysts are nanoengineered. We really focus at the small scale. . . . Technological leadership requires ongoing investment. You have to be mindful of the objective you seek to achieve at the end of all that [research]. You need to do good science.”
“Nanocatalysis is important for chemicals processing,” she explained. “Characterisation at the nanoscale enables innovation. It’s not only about catalysts and their characteristics – it’s also about their performance.”