Project Leader, Organisation
Vince Logan, Davren Global Pty Ltd (www.davren.com.au)
Status
ACTIVE
Background
The Plant Biosecurity Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) was funded under an Australian Government and Industry research partnership from 2012-2018. The CRC developed the Davren™ technology package with selected research and industry partners.
Davren Global Pty Ltd is a spin-off company formed by the PBCRC to develop and commercialise the Davren™ technology package. It has exclusive, global rights to the Davren™ technology package IP.
Davren Global owns Davren US (C-Corp) to develop the technology in the United States and has invested in Davren US Nuts LLC to develop the technology for the US tree nut industry.
The Australian Plant Biosecurity Science Foundation (APBSF Ltd) owns 100% of the Davren™ technology package IP (two patent families, extensive data from research and associated know-how) and is the single shareholder in Davren Global Pty Ltd.
Davren™ is a package of technologies focused around synthetic amorphous silica. We have demonstrated its significant potential in the laboratory and early field trials with a wide range of insects and commodities, and varying environmental conditions.
The Davren™ package will have several advantages over existing insect control treatments in the target markets:
- active against many insect pests
- targets only certain insects and is safe to mammals, fish, plants and the environment generally
- quick acting
- comprises silica, a naturally occurring material found throughout nature, manufactured to a high degree of purity and is safe to humans
- may provide long term protection of six months and more, subject to environmental conditions
- does not affect further downstream processing of grains
- meets growing consumer demand for non-chemical options
The Davren™ technology package is a new approach to insect pest control that combines three key parts:
- A synthetic amorphous silica manufactured to certain specifications optimized for insect control.
- A new technology that activates the silica material by delivering the product in the preferred structure.
- Tailored technology to apply the activated silica at the preferred rate on a range of targets.
The Davren™ technology package offers the opportunity to control insects in a range of environments where toxic chemicals are used, and/or current practices are relatively ineffective or cost-prohibitive.
It overcomes the limitations of currently available silica products registered for insect pest control that include unacceptable changes to commodity handling characteristics, relatively long insect kill times, high dosage rates and performance reductions linked to factors such as relative humidity, temperature and insect life stage.