The opening of a new dedicated R&D space at Liphatech’s headquarters in France signals a new area of investment and innovation for the company.
Each year, Liphatech allocates 12-15% of its turnover to the search for innovations. Making this significant investment year on year has seen Liphatech, which is part of the De Sangosse Group in France, discovering three of the most widely used active ingredients for rodent control over the past 70 years: chlorophacinone, bromadiolone and difethialone.
Whilst its research continues into actives and bait formulations, Liphatech has announced the opening of its very first Fablab. Located at the Liphatech head office in southwest France, Fablab is a collaborative space, backed by the existing applied research laboratory, where employees from any job or field of activity can propose ideas for new hardware and equipment.
“This type of operation is unprecedented in the company. Everything is made available for us to design, test and develop prototypes of bait stations and traps in record time,” explains Richard Deslux, Fablab facilitator (pictured above). “We apply the empirical method: at each key stage, we experiment with the prototypes in order to improve, modify and adjust them according to our observations.”
Liphatech’s Fablab was launched following discussions with customers who identified a market for new mechanical solutions that complement today’s baits. With 75% of company shares owned by its employees, Liphatech’s flexible investment dynamics allowed the innovation hub to be up and running in just a few months.
“Whatever the economic situation, we maintain a policy of significant investment in our industrial facilities and in our research into innovations,” said Patricia Mora Matel, chief operating officer for Liphatech. “We have the freedom to operate and the ability to act and react quickly. The recent opening of the very first Fablab is proof of this.”
Whilst the focus is on new rodent management equipment, Liphatech remains committed to R&D into actives and bait formulations.
The latest active substance discovered through its research program is currently being evaluated by the relevant European authorities – a process that can take between three and five years. In the end, the development of a new active will have taken 15 years and seen more than 10 million euros invested in the project.
Developing new and improved bait formulations is a key focus, with Liphatech’s global offices working together to investigate new anticoagulant-based products with an improved environmental profile.
“Creating a new recipe might sound simple,” said Céline Demoulin, head of the R&D centre of Pont du Casse, France. “And yet there are many criteria to consider: the choice of ingredients, their compatibility and interaction, industrial constraints, cost, and so on. It is Liphatech’s know-how that sets us apart in the market.”
