From Academia to Innovation: Minviro’s Path to Sustainability

Measuring and reducing the environmental impact of some of the worlds’ largest companies

Journey to spinout

Exeter Innovation’s Cornwall based Commercialisation Manager began working with NERC funded PHD Student Robert Pell in 2019. Supervised by Professor Frances Wall (Cambourne School of Mines) and Professor Xiaoyu Yan (Environment and Sustainability Institute), Robert was researching how Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approaches could be used to assess and optimise the environmental impact of mining and processing of rare earth elements. ​

​After identifying and establishing the intellectual property and rights associated with the innovation, the Commercialisation Manager supported a successful application to Innovate UK’s ICURe Programme which enabled Robert to undertake extensive market exploration, traveling to 8 countries and speaking with over 120 companies. ​

​By Spring 2020 the project had secured ICURe follow-on grant funding and closed it’s first round of private investment in parallel to executing the formal spinout transaction with the University.

Journey to impact

Minviro now employs 44 team members across offices in London, Perth and Shanghai serving multiple global industries including batteries & EV’s, renewables and electronics. Through a mixed model of software, consultancy and R&D, Minviro is working with some of the largest companies in the world such as Tesla and Rio Tinto to measure, report and help decarbonise entire value chains from raw material extraction to end of product life disposal and recycling. It has delivered over 200 projects for customers and measured over 125 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.

An important emerging partner

The university and Minviro are currently engaged in consultancy, collaborative Innovate UK and industrial studentship projects. There have been multiple joint publications between the company and the University and were cited as an example of impactful CSM research outcomes in the recent successful £4.5m Critical Minerals Accelerating the Green Economy Centre application. 5 of Minviro’s employees studied at the University of Exeter. ​

Founder Exeter Innovation Testimonial ​

“Jim provided excellent support for Minviro since its formation. Jim supported with technical guidance, introduced a number of contacts, and highlighted a number of commercial and grant opportunities. Throughout my time working with Jim, he has been knowledgeable and professional. Particular credit must be given to the expert support provided when Minviro looked to raise funds. Jim’s knowledge and experience made this process much easier.”​

– Dr Robert Pell, Chief Executive Officer, Minviro​

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