Events Therapeutics Legal Co. Tech. A breakthrough technology with real industrial potential is not always enough.
Successful commercialization requires a clear market strategy.
French start-up company IT Concept was established in 1991 to exploit a discovery made in the laboratories of the national research institute, CNRS, by Robert Verger. Lipases, a group of enzymes which break down oils, are widely used in industry, especially in detergents. Verger found a way to study lipase activity by measuring variations in the interfacial tension at the oil-water boundary caused by the oil's decomposition. The effect was well known, but at the time Verger built and patented a prototype tensiometer no one had produced a commercial instrument. It soon attracted considerable interest both from manufacturers and industrial users of lipases.