IP Group plc (LON:IPO), the developer of intellectual property-based businesses, has today noted that portfolio company Ceres Power Holdings plc and Doosan Corporation, have signed a collaboration and licensing agreement to jointly develop SOFC distributed power systems initially targeted at the Korean commercial building market.
The £8 million agreement is over two years and includes licencing, technology transfer and engineering services (subject to attainment of key milestones). Doosan will take a system-level licence of Ceres’ proprietary SteelCell SOFC technology to develop a low carbon 5-20kW power system.
Doosan has established itself as a world leader in the fuel cell industry and is now adding Solid Oxide technology to its existing portfolio of fuel cell technologies. Doosan’s existing stationary fuel cell business exceeded 1 trillion won (c. $850 million) in orders for the first time in 2018, three years after entering the market.
IP Group currently holds a direct undiluted beneficial stake of 18.8% in Ceres, which announced last week that results for the year to 30 June 2019 would be ahead of market expectations following continued strong commercial activity.
Dr Robert Trezona, Head of Cleantech at IP Group, said: “We’re delighted to see Ceres Power go from strength to strength, adding another major partner, South Korea’s Doosan, to an already impressive list of blue chip partners such as Bosch and Weichai. Ceres, which is building a new £8m manufacturing facility in Redhill to meet demand, is a great example of how IP Group’s model of backing and supporting breakthrough technology can help companies scale.”
Ceres announced today that it and Doosan intend to explore an expansion of the collaboration to access broader applications within South Korea and internationally as well as the potential to broaden the collaboration to include manufacturing.
