Nornder Verdandi, the commercial arm of Norway’s Independent Industrial Polymer Institute Norner (Stathelle; www.norner.no), has acquired 30% of the shares in catalyst developer Econic Technologies(London / UK), a portfolio company of technology commercialisation and investment group Imperial Innovations (London / UK; www.imperialinnovations.co.uk), which itself controls 43.3% in Econic. The investment money is to go towards R&D purposes.

Econic Technologies develops catalysts that enable the production of plastics, including PC and PU, using CO₂ as a feedstock. Not only does this technology save on expensive feedstock costs, it also reduces the materials’ eco footprint. Made together with Imperial Innovations, the GBP 1.1m investment will also serve to scale up Econic’s catalyst production process.

Commenting on the transaction, Imperial Innovations CEO Susan Searle said, “Econic’s technology has the potential to offer a significant reduction in the production costs of a range of polymer materials. We are pleased to be investing alongside Norner Verdandi, whose process technology expertise will be invaluable to the development of Econic’s technology.”

Norner focuses on a range of R&D projects, including CO₂-based plastics as well as reducing the odour in plastics recycling. The Norwegian group last year established a subsidiary in India – see Plasteurope.com of 30.11.2011.