Imperial and BASF intensify commercialization of chemical innovations

Imperial College London and BASF have published a report (30 September 2025) intensifying efforts to translate joint research into commercially adoptable chemical-manufacturing technologies.

• Main announcement: The partners are stepping up work to turn research into ready-to-adopt technologies (report published 30 September 2025). Their collaboration (since 2019) focuses on lower-energy and lower-material chemical production, continuous production at smaller scales, and use of AI to optimise manufacturing; they have launched the startup SOLVE Chemistry to provide hardware and AI solutions and are exploring new campus-based facilities to help firms test and de-risk investments.
• Background and partners: The programme has UK government support via EPSRC under IConIC and includes partners Almac / Almac Sciences, AM Technology, CPI (UK-CPI), METTLER TOLEDO Autochem, Siemens, SOLVE Chemistry, Sterling Pharma Solutions; research outputs include papers in venues such as NeurIPS, and concrete technology routes include photochemistry (using light instead of heat) and partnerships to scale pharmaceutical-relevant molecules with Almac Sciences.