LONDON (Commodity Online) : World Gold Council (WGC) on Tuesday announced the launch of new strategic initiatives to develop the long-term industrial markets for gold.

WGC will co-invest with venture firms to accelerate the development and commercialization of gold-based innovative technologies.



Through its new Innovation Partnerships, WGC will support companies engaged in the development of new practical applications for gold.

Industrial demand for gold, in the five years to 2008, was 440 tones per year, around 12% of total demand.

Gold’s unique attributes make it an ideal technical material for a range of industrial applications. Most demand currently comes from the electronics industry through gold’s use in semiconductor chips.

Additionally, there are many emerging uses for gold in new fields including pollution control catalysts, fuel cells, functional coatings and nanotechnology which show genuine potential to expand this market.

WGC’s unrivalled breadth and depth of understanding of the industrial uses for gold affords a unique position to help facilitate and accelerate commercialization of cost effective, gold-based innovations.

Through this initiative, WGC will increase its engagement with early stage ventures to support and accelerate the commercialization of emerging gold-based technologies to market.

It is already a key investor in one start up company developing an innovative use for gold in the automotive industry.

This initiative will enable WGC to collaborate with precious metal, chemical, electronics, materials and biomedical companies, ranging from small enterprises through to established international businesses, where there is real market potential to exploit gold’s unique technical properties.

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