Monday, May 12, 2008

"Triangle" joint projects / services of paper industry microbiology.

Paper industry microbiology - both research and services - is suffering from the lack of money today (as other research areas, too). Company R&D prefer joint projects instead of their own institutional research. There seems to be certain synergism between partners of paper industry (paper mills, raw material and biocide suppliers as well as research institutes and independent researchers on this area).

A "triangle model" of a joint project has proven to be beneficial one. Alternatives could be

* paper mill + biocide supplier + microbiological services
* raw material supplier + biocide supplier + microbiological services

National funding is very hard to achieve today: a lot of project proposals will be sent every year but a small fraction of them will be accepted by the funding organisations. Direct contacts between partners (mentioned above) in developmental, control and trouble shooting cases are faster and a combination of paper industry experience, knowledge of biocide chemistry and microbiological skills can give the best results in improvement and development of paper machine process and product hygiene.