Editing Symyx Technologies

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Symyx Technologies, Inc.
| logo = [[File:Symyx-logo.JPG|214px|Symyx Technologies]]
| foundation = {{Start date and age|df=yes|1994}}
| location = [[Santa Clara, California]] United States
| key_people = [[Isy Goldwasser]] ([[Chief executive officer|CEO]]) <br />[[Steven D. Goldby]] ([[executive chairman]]) <br />[[Rex S. Jackson]] ([[Executive Vice President|EVP]] and General Counsel) <br />[[W. Henry Weinberg PhD]] (EVP and CTO)<br/> [[Luigi Berini]] ([[Chief executive officer|CEO]] of Symyx Technologies Europe)
| type = [[Public company|Public]]
| traded_as = {{NASDAQ was|SMMX}}
| industry = Life Sciences; Chemical and Energy and Performance; Materials and Consumer Products
| products = Electronic lab notebook and R&D execution and analysis software, lab automation and breakthrough materials technology
| num_employees = 400
| homepage = {{URL|http://accelrys.com//}}
| footnotes = <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1095330/000114036110008820/0001140361-10-008820.txt|title=FORM 10-K}}</ref>
| successor = {{ublist | Spinoff: Freestate, Inc. | Merged: [[Accelrys]]}}
}}

'''Symyx Technologies, Inc.''' was a company that specialized in informatics and automation products. Symyx provided software solutions for scientific research, including Enterprise Laboratory Notebooks and products for [[combinatorial chemistry]]. The software part of the business became part of [[Accelrys]], Inc. in 2010 and then in 2014 this company merged with [[Dassault Systèmes]]. Symyx also offered laboratory robotics systems for performing automated chemical research, which in 2010 was spun out as Freeslate, Inc.

==Products==

Symyx offered high-speed combinatorial technologies for the discovery of new materials. Using proprietary technologies - including instruments, software and methods - Symyx was able to generate hundreds to thousands of unique materials at a time and screen those materials rapidly and automatically for desired properties. This approach was said to deliver results hundreds to thousands of times faster than traditional research methods, at a fraction of the cost.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.healthtech.com/news/strategic_briefings/2007/Symyx.asp |title=Symyx Technologies & Pharmaceutical R&D: A Synergistic Combo |date=July 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928105952/http://www.healthtech.com/news/strategic_briefings/2007/Symyx.asp |archive-date=28 September 2007 }}</ref> Symyx applied this technology to revolutionize materials discovery in the life sciences, chemical, and electronics industries.

==History==

Founded in 1994 by Dr. [[Alejandro Zaffaroni]] and Dr. [[Peter G. Schultz]], Symyx' conceptual basis drew from [[Affymax]], Inc. and [[Affymetrix]], Inc., which commercialized the use of high-speed combinatorial methods for [[pharmaceutical]] and [[genetics|genetic]] research, respectively.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sma-digital.com/sma/200703/?pg=14 |title=Automated Research: Not just for pharma |date=April 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929200629/http://www.sma-digital.com/sma/200703/?pg=14 |archive-date=29 September 2007 }}</ref> Dr. Eric McFarland, professor at UCSB, was the founding director.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://chemengr.ucsb.edu/people/eric-mcfarland | title=Eric McFarland| date=2015-07-22}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://greenyug.com/about-us/eric-w-mcfarland-ph-d-m-d/ | title=Eric W. McFarland, PhD, M.D. &#124; Greenyug LLC}}</ref> Symyx screens about a million materials a year and has produced a product pipeline with several materials that have the potential to be commercialized in the next few years. Examples of their discovery efforts include X-ray storage phosphors for radiography, polymers to speed DNA research and catalysts for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, chemicals and plastics.

In 2004, Symyx Technologies acquired Intellichem, a software manufacturer for [[electronic laboratory notebook]]s<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2004/11/15/daily8.html |title=Symyx buying IntelliChem |date=15 November 2004 |publisher=bizjournals.com |accessdate=17 September 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Intelligent Electronic Laboratory Notebooks for Accelerated Organic Process R&D |journal=Organic Process Research & Development |volume=8 |issue=6 |pages=1015–1023 |year=2004 |doi=10.1021/op049890j |last1 = Van Eikeren|first1 = Paul}}</ref> and, in 2007 Symyx Technologies acquired [[MDL Information Systems]] (originally Molecular Design Limited, Inc.), a provider of R&D informatics in the chemistry and life sciences industries, which had been launched as a computer-aided drug design firm in January 1978.  With this purchase came the purveyorship of the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]]-[[NIOSH]] [[Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances]] (RTECS, www.cdc.gov/niosh/rtecs), a database of basic toxicity information on household chemical substances, food additives, drugs, solvents, biocides, and chemical waste components which as of first quarter of 2012 contained ≈170,000 entries. In 2008, Symyx sold non-RTECS portions of the occupational health and safety (OHS) component of the MDL business to ChemAdvisor, Inc., of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Subsequent innovations derived from these business components included an enterprise [[Electronic lab notebook|electronic laboratory notebook]] (ELN) capable of supporting multiple scientific disciplines.<ref>[http://www.mdl.com/products/experiment/symyx_notebook Symyx Notebook], 2008  {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928083214/http://www.mdl.com/products/experiment/symyx_notebook |date=28 September 2011 }}</ref>

In 2010 Symyx spun off their laboratory robotics business as Freeslate, Inc. Freeslate developed high throughput systems for automating chemical research. In 2010, the remaining Symyx software business merged with [[Accelrys]], with the combined company being known simply as Accelrys.<ref>{{cite news |title=Shareholders approve Accelrys-Symyx merger |first=Mike |last=Allen |newspaper=San Diego Business Journal |date=2 July 2010 |url=http://www.sdbj.com/news/2010/jul/02/accelrys-and-symyx-take-final-steps-merge/ |accessdate=3 December 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.genomeweb.com/informatics/accelrys-merge-symyx-all-stock-transaction|title=Accelrys and Symyx merger announcement (from genomeweb)|date=April 2010}}</ref> In 2014, Accelrys in turn merged with Dassault Systèmes,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://schnitgercorp.com/2014/01/30/huge-news-ds-accelrys-merge-plm-chemistry/ |title=Dassault Systèmes and Accelrys to merge PLM & chemistry |date=30 January 2014 |access-date=14 June 2020 }}</ref> who announced the creation of the BIOVIA brand to supply software for scientific applications.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.3dsbiovia.com/about/news-pr/biovia-announcement.html |title=Dassault Systèmes Introduces BIOVIA |date=21 May 2014 |access-date=14 June 2020 }}</ref>

==Business model considerations==
{{Unreferenced section|date=May 2025}}
The concept of combinatory chemistry (outside of bio-tech area) was the focus of Symyx. The initial Symyx business model was to provide contract research for large chemical companies at a contract size from $0.5 Million to $200 Million. The company had initial success in gaining enough contracts to reach profitability, with small deals with few initial customers which led to large deals, such as with Exxon. Symyx then started to sell equipment.

One other key point was the company had to develop new tools and hire new people when a new project came up because the contract was in a brand new research area and required different expertise. Therefore, the research contract business was not scalable. This is seen as the reason for company failure, even though the company had over 500 patents. Other companies followed Symyx's path. Intermolecular licensed Symyx patents on electronic materials and is developing tools for the electronic materials companies.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.3dsbiovia.com/ Official website as BIOVIA/Dassault Systèmes]

[[Category:Chemical companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Defunct computer companies based in California]]
[[Category:Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area]]
[[Category:Companies based in Santa Clara, California]]
[[Category:Software companies established in 1994]]
[[Category:1994 establishments in California]]
[[Category:American companies established in 1994]]
[[Category:Defunct software companies of the United States]]