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Sumitomo Chemical, Zymergen forge partnership for renewable specialty materials
Sumitomo Chemical and Zymergen have signed a multi-year partnership to bring new specialty materials to the market. This collaboration will enable the development of new materials to meet consumer trends in high-tech industries.
A press release indicated that the partnership will leverage Zymergen’s proprietary platform combining advances in artificial intelligence, robotic lab automation, and cutting-edge genomics, to unlock sources of molecular diversity based on sustainable and renewable resources. The specialty materials developed may enable advanced optical films for displays, hard coatings that won’t scratch, flexible electronics circuits, and adhesive materials, with the goal of making next-generation, high-tech products a reality for consumers.
Richard Pieters, president of Products at Zymergen said, “This cooperation unites the best of both worlds with Zymergen’s expertise exploring the molecular diversity of biology to make new polymers and materials, and Sumitomo Chemical’s technology leadership in serving the most demanding markets and unique insights in next-generation materials.”
Sumitomo Chemical VP Hiroshi Ueda said, “Through molecular biology we will be able to deliver our customers performance capabilities not previously possible by reliably and cost-effectively engineering biology.”
Founded in 2013 in Emeryville, California, Zymergen is a manufacturer of molecular products for industrial fermentation applications.