Demonstrating again the importance of basic research to the nation’s economy and technological progress, a recent review showed that over the past 15 years, discoveries in LBNL’s Materials Sciences Division (MSD) have served as the basis for commercially successful start-up companies whose aggregate market value now is estimated to approach $1.5 billion.

MSD’s most prominent Technology Transfer success story to date involves Symyx Technologies, Inc., a publicly traded company with over 200 employees. In 1995, Symyx obtained an exclusive license to combinatorial chemistry technology developed by MSD Scientist Peter Schultz. Symyx then further developed and applied the technology to the rapid discovery of new materials for the electronics and chemical industries. Today, Symyx creates libraries of thousands of materials, and employs sophisticated parallel processing and high throughput analysis to identify those that exhibit the desired properties. The materials discovery methods used by Symx are up to 100,000 times faster than conventional "small-batch" procedures. The company is now focusing on the discovery of new materials for the catalysis, polymers, and electronic industries. Examples of new materials developed and commercialized by Symyx are x-ray storage phosphors (for Agfa), catalysts for elastomer synthesis (for Dow), and electronic polymers (for JSR). [In recognition of this work, Symyx has received Frost & Sullivan's 2005 High Throughput Technology Leadership Award.]

In 2002, solar cell nanotechnology developed by MSD Scientist Paul Alivisatos served as the basis for an exclusive license to start-up company Nanosys, Inc. This technology combines self-assembled inorganic semiconductor nanocrystals and plastic composites to produce lightweight, flexible solar cells of almost any required size and shape. Subsequent development of the technology by Nanosys has lead to investments from both the public, the National Science Foundation, and the private, venture capital backing, sectors.

Other MSD spin-offs are in various stages of maturation. Nanomix, Inc. is developing MSD-generated nanotechnology for applications in sensors, field emission displays, and hydrogen storage systems. Quantum Dot Corporation is selling MSD and MIT-developed semiconductor quantum dot fluorescence probes for biomedical assays. PolyPlus Battery Company is manufacturing environmentally friendly, high power-density, lithium polymer batteries based on an MSD-developed  organosulfur cathode. Corrosion-resistant rebar made from “dual phase” steel developed by MSD is being manufactured by MMFX Steel Corporation of America and is being used in to highway and bridge construction projects across the country. Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which is developing glycomics technology to aid in drug discovery and development based in part on technology licensed from MSD, has raised $46M from investors and has filed for an IPO.

Materials Sciences Division (510 486-4755), Berkeley Lab.