CEO Jelena Stojadinovic

The university-industry axis of interaction is a crucial element of stakeholder engagement, particularly in an innovation context. Whereby, universities serve as sources of new people and ideas for businesses. For example, universities may anchor engagement with and support of the early stages of the innovation process through to start-up formation, thus allowing industries a mechanism of reaching out and into the broader ecosystem. A new innovation ecosystem approach to corporate innovation can place even greater reliance on university relationships if they are to serve not only as a source of talent and bright ideas, but also as a conduit to new start-ups, and to deeper holistic interactions.

With this in mind, we continue our interview series with our FlowPhotoChem industry partners. Here, we speak with Jelena Stojadinovic, CEO at MEMBRASENZ (https://www.membrasenz.com). MEMBRASENZ is an SME with facilities in Germany and Switzerland. The company works to develop, produce and commercialize gas-separating membranes that are used in energy conversion systems. The properties of composite prototype membrane materials developed by MEMBRASENZ, such as ionic conductivity, gas tightness, chemical, mechanical and thermal resistivity, surpass the performance of the competitors on the market.

What primary business goals drive MEMBRASENZ’s university partnerships?
MEMBRASENZ business strategy is to develop a family of membrane products. Our first product, membrane for alkaline electolysers, is approaching the TRL (Technology Readiness Level) 7 and its placement on the market is foreseen for 2022. Thus, it was needed to, in parallel, engage in university partnerships to foster the development of new membrane products.

How is FlowPhotoChem aligned to MEMBRASENZ’s goals?
In the frame of the FlowPhotoChem project, MEMBRASENZ’s role is to work on the development of membranes for the photo-electrochemical (PEC) reactor, as well as the membranes for CO2 and CO reduction reactors. These tasks are aligned with our business goal to expand the product portfolio. In addition, besides the previously targeted hydrogen market, we have a chance to address the commodity chemicals market.

By what criteria does MEMBRASENZ use to choose its university partnerships?
MEMBRASENZ was given an exceptional opportunity by the coordinator and partners of the FlowPhotoChem project to join the project consortium. As a Startup, we have a chance to learn from both academic and industrial partners in the project and broaden our business competencies. Scientific/technological, work ethics and human compatibilities are some of the criteria we use to choose university partnerships.

How can collaboration formats, such as Horizon 2020/Horizon Europe be better designed to match the topics and business goals of MEMBRASENZ?
MEMBRASENZ takes part in two ongoing Horizon 2020/Horizon Europe collaborative formats, namely Research and Innovation Action (RIA) and a Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU). As a young Startup, we are attending the workshops and seminars organized by European Commission (EC) to gather detailed information on how to achieve an optimal relationship with current and prospective collaboration partners. Current Horizon 2020/Horizon Europe programs are already well designed to match Cleantech topics, which we are interested in, and our business goals. In the next years, we will put more efforts to produce membranes on an industrial scale and make the market entry with the help of collaboration formats, such as Horizon 2020/Horizon Europe. If possible, ideally, we could work together with current project partners in the frame of the subsequent projects on bringing our solutions to higher TRLs or, alternatively, identify other programs with the help of EC experts to bring our solutions to end-users.

What organizational structures, types of people and partner organisations, and processes support the business goals of MEMBRASENZ’s partnerships?
I would point out the support of the project coordinator, as well as project partners, officers and advisory board members, who all eagerly respond to our inquires and facilitate the integration of MEMBRASENZ as an early stage Startup, into the consortium of renowned academic and industrial entities.

What are the key performance indicators that most usefully evaluate a university partnership?
The common goal of the partnership, be it a new process or a reactor/components, can be achieved in a university partnership if we all make constant progress throughout the project. To evaluate the performance, proper monitoring and documenting thereof in the form of reports and demonstrators, is essential. In our case, an important indicator is a working prototype with accompanying documentation covering the material preparation, characterisation and operation in the reactor. As important is mutual understanding and willingness to continue the collaboration.

Thank you so much!