ABSTRACT

A Belgian multinational active in consumer goods is looking for sensors (developed or under active development) for accurate monitoring of home /building or car environments for significant levels of harmful microbes, in combination with machine learning algorithms. Licence or technical cooperation agreements are sought with industrial partners, technology providers or research centers.

FULL DESCRIPTION

Rapid urbanization, increases in automobile ownership, increased energy generation and other factors are all resulting in increasingly poor outside air quality for a growing fraction of the world’s population.

As homes and offices get tighter and utilize fewer air exchanges to save energy, building environment health is also negatively impacted.
Many countries are experiencing significant increases in the percentage of population concerned by severe allergies or asthma that are aggravated by poor air quality.
Likewise, as populations age, an increasing number of elderly suffer from various respiratory illnesses that are also aggravated by poor air quality.

A growing number of companies are launching air quality monitoring devices aimed to the home consumer, with the stated intent of helping them manage their air quality. Many of these home sensors suffer from poor accuracy, inability to distinguish between particle types (e.g., dust, pollen, pet dander, etc.), and the lack of a mechanism to take corrective action.

Typical “air care” products, on the market, focus on bulk removal particles via HEPA (high-efficiency particulate filtering) or other filters, as well as the removal and/or cover up of malodors. Solutions are inefficient and sometimes ineffective.

Additionally, it seems that there aren't effective monitoring devices (e.g.biosensors) for detecting microbial content of air, despite the problems that can be caused by microbes (including bacteria, molds, viruses, etc).

The absence of effective microbial monitoring technology leaves consumers unaware of potential problems due to bacteria, molds, etc. in their home and other enclosed spaces.

With the aim of finding a real solution to the above-mentioned issues, this Belgian multinational is looking for sensors (developed or under active development) for accurate monitoring of home /building or car environments for significant levels of harmful microbes, and this in combination with machine learning algorithms to make meaningful recommendations on corrective action for consumers to respond with tailored remedies to environmental health concerns posed by microbes.

The company is looking for collaboration with industrial partners, technology providers or research centers that have developed or are under active development of sensors combined with machine learning algorithms able to provide a sounded solution to this technology need.

The purpose would be setting up a long lasting cooperation via technical collaboration or licence agreement, allowing the large account to comply with its internal strategy and for the potential partner to interact in a systematic way with the large account so as to have immediate access to forthcoming similar requests.