Rio Negócios celebrates the approval of the first bioenergy patent developed at the GE Global Research Center in Rio de Janeiro. The National Intellectual Property Institute (INPI) approved the GE patent request for a solution which reduces the cost of producing second generation ethanol (cellulosic ethanol), allowing that the industry is able to recover over 25% of enzimes used in the process. The request was approved by INPI after a record analysys time of 18 months.

In order to receive the GE Global Research Center, a USD 500 million investment, Rio de Janeiro competed with over 160 other locations before being recognized as the city with the best environment for installation. In 2010, Rio Negócios built and worked on Rio’s candidacy, attracted the investment, provided support throughout the entire permit process and connected the company to the main deciders and stakeholders, making the beginning of operations for the first group of researchers easier even before the innauguration of the Research Center’s headquarters, at UFRJ Technology Park, last year. In addition, the agency also acted in the developmento of a R&D cluster in the region, attracting other companies such as EMC, Siemens, BG and L’Oreal to establish themselves alongside GE.

“We never doubted the value that the GE Global Research Center would generate to the country. In addition to this first patent, the researchers are expecting the approval of 10 more. The development of patents that meet the challenges faced by the Energy sector is fundamental to strengthening one of a country’s strongest development vectors”, declared Marcelo Haddad, president of Rio Negócios.

The project was developed in a collaboration between Brazilian researched and the main HQ of the Center in Niskayuna, NY. The idea is to tend to local demands and use GE technologies to support the region and the country’s development in several strategic sectors. “This achievement is born out of the first sustainable patent request made by GE in Brazil. Within the country’s offered conditions, out Research Center seks to develop technologies focused in the challenges of the domestic market and strives to deposit patent requests locally. This new solution can also be applied in other countries, according to specific needs and realities, which will make Brazil an innovation exporter”, points out Suzana Domingues, leader of Bioenergy Systems at the GE Global Research Center in Rio.

The GE Global Research Center is the fifth unit outside the US, the first in Latin America, and the most important for the company in the oil and gas segment. This unit allows GE to innovate locally, from Rio de Janeiro to Latin American clients, and to export these innovations to several strategic markets worldwide.