Bayer MaterialScience LLC will sell its fundamental intellectual property on carbon nanotubes and graphenes to Germany's FutureCarbon GmbH.
Bayer announced its decision to sell the patents in May 2013, attracting potential buyers.
“For BayerMaterialScience, ground-breaking applications for the mass market relating to our own portfolio and therefore comprehensive commercialization are not likely in the foreseeable future,” said CEO Patrick Thomas.
Much of the knowledge from BMS' research on nanotubes was made available to other companies and research institutions within the Innovation Alliance for Carbon Nanotubes (Inno.CNT) which has about 90 members.
FutureCarbon, based in Bayreuth, a provider of carbon-based composites, has acquired the bulk of the patents from the past ten years for an undisclosed amount.
"We are pleased that FutureCarbon, one of the partners from the Inno.CNT development network, will be carrying on our company's work," said Thomas. "We remain confident that the technology harbors tremendous potential, particularly for a renowned specialist company like FutureCarbon."
“We enjoy a long-standing development partnership with Bayer,” said Walter Schütz, managing director of FutureCarbon. “We are happy that we were able to acquire the Bayer patents for further market realization of the technology. They expand our applications base substantially and open up new possibilities and business segments for us.”
