Knowledge transfer partnership recognised for plastics project

A partnership between the University of Sheffield and a spinout company specialising in biodegradable biopolymers has been awarded a business award for their development of a new material.

‘Floreon’ is a high performing, environmentally friendly bioplastic developed by the University and Floreon Transforming Packaging Ltd after four years of research.

Leading the team from the University, Professor Alma Hodzic, said that wininng the ‘Best Partnership’ award in the ‘Knowledge Transfer Partnership Best of the Best 2014 Awards’ was “fantastic recognition” of the successful collaboration between the two parties.

Shaun Chatterton, CEO of Floreon, stated: “This KTP is a perfect example of the successful partnerships between industry and academia; the technology created by researchers at The University of Sheffield and the independent partner Floreon driving forward the commercialisation of the product. We are positive about the possibility of developing a global brand having already invested over £1 million into this exciting innovation.”

Floreon’s Technical Director, Dr Andrew Gill, who started working on the project as a PhD student and KTP Associate at The University of Sheffield, said alongside The University of Sheffield, Floreon has developed a “novel, commercial product and built a company around it.”