Earthshot finalist 2023 praises collaboration with CIPA

We are honoured to be an Official Nominator for Prince William’s Earthshot Prize and proud of our record for finding patented, environmental innovations that have made it to the prize finals in consecutive years.

The Earthshot Prize awards £5M every year to the most impactful environmental solutions proposed by a network of Official Nominators, of which we are a part.

As the awards show was broadcast yesterday on BBC 1, Jim Ajioka, the Founder of our nominee Colorifix, spoke about the accolade of being chosen as a finalist in the Build a Waste-Free World category and of the importance of protecting the company’s intellectual property.

“Being finalists for the Earthshot Prize 2023, recognises not only our commitment to innovation but also the tangible impact of our technological advancements,” he said.

Our collaboration with CIPA has played a great role in navigating the complex landscape of intellectual property.

“We remain steadfast in our dedication to pushing the boundaries of technology, and the Earthshot Prize fuels our passion to continue shaping the future.”

Colorifix has developed an ingenious method of replacing harmful chemicals with biological alternatives in the industrial textile dyeing process. The company, based in Norwich, quite literally brings colour to life.

First, they find a colour created by an organism in nature. Via online DNA sequencing they pinpoint the exact genes that produce the pigment and then translate that DNA code into a microorganism. The resulting engineered microorganism is then able to produce the colour in the same way as it is in nature.

The full Earthshot Prize 2023 Awards show can be watched on BBC iPlayer here.

In 2022, our nominee Notpla won a £1m Earthshot Prize while two of our other nominees, Low Carbon Materials and LanzaTech were finalists. Notpla and Low Carbon Materials speak about the importance of patent strategy to their success.

Listen to a special Earthshot episode of our podcast, when we attended the Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit in New York and spoke with Pierre Paslier of Notpla and Natasha Boulding of Low Carbon Materials. We have also spoken to dozens of our Earthshot nominees about their enrivonmental innovations on the podcast’s Earthshot series.

Watch Earthshot videos on all three pioneering companies:

Date published: 13 November 2023

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