Institute of Chemistry USP held its first innovation fair, the INOVIQ, on December 2^nd, in parallel with a Graduate Workshop. Twenty-three companies and 140 students attended the events, organized by IQ’s Board of Directors, Innovation Commission, Chemistry and Biochemistry Graduate and Professional Master programs.

“We invited Chemical and Pharmaceutical industries to introduce products and tentatively do business. The fair had a large participation of RIDC Redoxoma”, said Professor Marisa de Medeiros, from INOVIQ’s organizing committee. In total, 24 products and processes derived from IQ research were presented, six of them from Redoxoma researchers.

At the opening, Professor Paolo Di Mascio, Director of IQ-USP, pointed out that INOVIQ and the Workshop are part of a series of important events held at IQ in the recent weeks. “These events show that regardless of the crisis and bad news we received this year about research and scholarship funding, we are united and strengthened. We are very proud of our community competence and responsiveness.”

Of the six Brazilian unicorn startups (companies that worth over a billion dollars), four were born at USP, and among the 16 CEOs of these companies, 10 are alumni of the University. Also, for the third consecutive year, USP was considered the most enterprising university in the country, according to the Brazilian Entrepreneurial Universities Ranking prepared by a group led by the Brazilian Confederation of Junior Enterprises (Brasil Júnior). These data were presented by Professor Luiz Henrique Catalani, coordinator of Inova USP. “This demonstrates the strength we have in transforming basic knowledge into applied knowledge. There is no conflict between basic science and applied science. This is an idea that no longer exists it is a thing of the past. Presently, USP works hard organizing tools to aggregate and transform its community,” he said.

For Professor Koiti Araki, chairman of the IQ Innovation Commission, innovation is a process and a culture. “It is a process that depends on everyone, we need to be united to make it happen and this union is only possible if we can create a language. This language is possible when we gather at events like this, just to exchange ideas, exchange experiences and then find opportunities to innovate”.

Professor Luiz Carlos de Souza Ferreira, director of the ICB-USP and coordinator of the Pasteur-USP Scientific Platform attended the IQ events and, in an interview given to Redoxoma, said he had “full conviction that one of the challenges that the Brazilian university has to face - and easily win - is to bring the culture of innovation to the academic environment. The innovation to which I refer is one that, from a particular discovery, invention, it adds economic value. These are discoveries that bring resources, investments; products and services that generate an intellectual property, which, in turn, will generate resources. Invariably, an innovation is born in a research environment, and academia is par excellence this environment in Brazil and worldwide. This discovery must migrate to a company, which will have the role of transforming that knowledge and discovery into a valuable product or service, generating wealth, jobs, tax payments and then, societal benefits. This process of generating knowledge that can be transferred to a company will only happen if universities, companies and the government - subsidizing and providing the means - work together.”

From a business perspective, Caetano P. Sabino from BioLambda, a startup focused on development of equipment and services based in optics and photonics concepts, noted that in Brazil there is little incentive to show the science that could become a product. According to him, companies do not know what the university can offer, so an initiative like INOVIQ is important, but can be improved. Also, for him, scientific dissemination plays an important role in changing this situation. “Many companies follow the news in Pesquisa FAPESP,” he said.

Redoxoma at INOVIQ

Among the products exposed by Redoxoma researchers, Professor Ana Maria da Costa Ferreira took her “Iminic complexes with essential metals as tumor agents”, which show antiproliferative activity against various tumor cells, such as neuroblastomas, sarcomas, and melanomas, targeting DNA and mitochondria; the “Iminic Complexes with Essential Metals as Antitrypanosome Agents”; and the “Advanced Oxidation Process for Effluent Treatment”, which is already operating in a reactor installed in a petrochemical plant.

Professor Guilherme A. Marson introduced “Low-Cost Molecular Models” that help to solve a classic problem in chemistry teaching, that is, visualization of abstract three-dimensional concepts. Developed from three-dimensional visualization research and following PNLD pedagogical requirements, the templates are a cost-effective, easy-to-use resource for teachers by simply printing, pasting on rigid material such as cardboard, cutting and assembling. According to Marson, “There are several possible business models: for example, the company can license the product with USP and sell the molecular kits in the form of a book from which you take the models and assemble them; or kits can be sold in partnership with publishers as supplemental material for Chemistry courses.”

Professor Mauricio S. Baptista’s group took to the fair the proposal of “Effective sun protection” in the form of melanin-coated nanoparticles, which can be used as an additive to sunscreen. Currently, available sunscreens offer no protection against visible light, which has a harmful effect on the skin similar to that of ultraviolet light. With nanoparticles developed by the researchers, sunscreens will protect against the visible and infrared spectral range.

Photoprotectors for Pharmaceuticals, Nutraceuticals, and Cosmetics. From research by his group, Professor Paolo Di Mascio presented at the fair the possibility of using biflavonoids extracted from Araucaria as photoprotector, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-aging agents. “The project was developed with compounds extracted from Araucaria, a Brazilian endemic tree, as a renewable source of raw material for cosmetic and nutraceutical products. The great idea was to extract biflavonoids from branches that have already fallen off the tree since Araucaria is protected by law in Brazil. The tree itself is easy to grow, but the Araucaria forest is endangered. Our idea is to use the fallen branches and not use solvents for extraction. Thus, besides being a renewable source, it is also green chemistry,” explained researcher Lydia F. Yamaguchi.

Professors Koiti Araki, Denise Freitas Siqueira Petri, Liane Marcia Rossi, Roberto M. Torresi, Susana Cordoba de Torresi, Jorge Cesar Masini, Ricardo Giordano and Mari Cleide Sogayar also presented their products. Inova Química Júnior and IQ Analytical Center also participated.

Workshop

This was the 7^th Workshop of the IQ Professional Master Program and the 1^st joint Workshop of the three postgraduate programs. For the coordinator of the professional master’s program, Professor Alcindo Aparecido dos Santos, the Workshop aims to demonstrate the potential that the institution has historically played in São Paulo and Brazilian society. “IQ has been acting for decades in leading human resources training and scientific policymaking.”

Former IQ students Helder Nakaya, a professor at USP’s Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Priscila Castelani from Oxiteno, respectively, talked about “Do you just study or work? Science as a Profession” and “Skills for a Career in Industry”. And Lucio Agnes, from IQ, talked about “FAPESP programs to drive innovation”.

Daniel Pimentel, director of Emerge Initiative, a startup supporting innovation and entrepreneurship in academic science, gave a presentation on “How to undertake in science” to a packed auditorium.

The program also featured a presentation of scientific dissemination videos made by students and a poster session.