The winners of the Intellectual Property Award (IPA), the competition for Italian technological patents resulting from public research organised by the Ministry of Economic Development in collaboration with Netval (Network for Research Valorisation), were announced at the Italian Pavilion of Expo Dubai.

A total of 217 innovative patents developed by Universities, Research Centres and Scientific Hospitalisation and Treatment Institutions were considered for the competition; and 35 of these were selected for the final stage in Dubai.

At the end of the process, the award-winning projects were those able to propose innovations with the greatest economic and social impact in 7 technological areas of reference for the global ecological and digital transition: agritech and agrifood, cybersecurity, green tech, life science, future mobility, aerospace, and alternative energy.

Among the winning patents of the Politecnico di Milano, we highlight those that involve the Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering “Giulio Natta”:

"SINERGY, METAL-POLYSULFIDE FLOW CELL BATTERY"

Winner in the "alternative energy" sector.

Developed by the Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering, the invention consists of a metal-polysulfide flow cell battery that uses inexpensive, abundant and non-toxic materials. These characteristics are crucial for application of the technology for storing stationary-type energy that can support the intermittent production of renewable energy. Another advantage is the possibility of making use of sulphur-rich waste, creating a virtuous circle of circular economy.

The inventors: Luca Magagnin, Gabriele Panzeri, Eugenio Gilbertini, Alessandra Accogli, Matteo Salerno, Luca Bertoli