Millions for innovations in non-ferrous metal industry

The official signing of nine contracts under the 3rd CuBR competition was held on 29 May 2017 in Warsaw. The event was attended by Jarosław Gowin, Deputy President of the Council of Ministers, Minister of Science and Higher Education, and Radosław Domagalski, President of the Management Board of KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. - CuBR is a perfect example of investing public funds to the advantage of both science and industry. Collaboration between NCBR and KGHM supports the objectives in the area of research commercialisation and business partnership - says Jarosław Gowin, Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Science and Higher Education. Under the 3rd CuBR competition, the consortia composed of entrepreneurs, universities and research institutes will be allocated with more than PLN 60 million for development works and transferring their results into the non-ferrous metal industry.

- KGHM acts as one of the CuBR programme founders and we can see how its importance has been growing. This year, we have recorded a banner number of 45 applications and more than 60 involved scientific units. As the pioneers of collaboration with a governmental institution for enhancing industry competitiveness we have already gained the prospective effects. As many as 12 projects in the areas related to our field of operation have been under way. We relish the opportunity to implement the other ones under the 3rd competition. We expect that high level of technological readiness of the projects will enable implementation of innovative solutions supporting development of our company – says Radosław Domagalski-Łabędzki, President of the Management Board of KGHM Polska Miedź S.A.

CuBR was established in 2012 under the agreement between the National Centre for Research and Development and KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. The initiative aims at supporting scientific research and development works for non-ferrous metal industry to enhance development and technological progress in this sector. Both partners have contributed equally to the programme budget amounting to PLN 200 million. To this date, there were two editions of the competition under which 12 currently implemented projects were selected. Under this-year 3rd competition, a positive recommendation was provided to 9 projects for the amount exceeding PLN 62 million. The projects are of comprehensive content-related scope and cover the following areas: communications systems in excavations, technologies for assessing the technical condition of mine shaft hoists, shooting record development, corrosion protection of installations in the ore enrichment plants, exhaust shaft and flotation reagent odour reduction, trainings for mining equipment operators or methods of process gas protection and disposal.

- Collaboration with KGHM forms a model example of the initiative, under which the NCBR and Polish entrepreneurs jointly co-finance the research and development works, contributing to increased competitiveness of the Polish economy. The point is that technological progress translates into better extraction and production safety and reduced negative impact on the environment – explains Professor Maciej Chorowski, Director of the National Centre for Research and Development.

Total amount allocated by NCBR and KGHM to support research and development works under the three competitions has already exceeded PLN 150 million. 21 projects were co-financed. Support under the CuBR Programme enabled development of among others innovative technology of copper ore preparation for flotation with the use of high-energy disintegration techniques, automatic equipment for block crushing in copper ore mine excavations and innovative technological solution for slag decoppering in suspension smelting of copper. - The solutions developed under the CuBR Initiative in the previous editions will be verifiable this year, since this is when the completion of the first projects is scheduled. Basing on the experiences gained during the first two competitions, the current one better adjusts the scope of projects to the needs of KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. and protects the intellectual property of both entities: science and industry – reasons Rafał Pawełczak, Vice-President of KGHM. Involvement of both the KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. employees with comprehensive practical knowledge and experience gained during the dozens of years of the Company’s operation and of the largest technical universities in Poland and research institutes ensuring adequate support and scientific background is the key to success. NCBR and KGHM intend to announce the 4th competition with estimated allocation of app. PLN 45 million later this year.