Start Up Companies |
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Prior efforts by Professor Mukerjee have played an important role in the establishment of two successful start up companies in the Boston area. They are Protonex Corp., and Encite llc. Professor Eugene Smotkin is one of the founders of Nuvant systems Inc., based in Crown Point Indiana. Further Dr. Vasilis Gregoriou is the CEO of Advent Technologies with branches in Athens and Patras, Greece and Boston, MA. These ventures are an opportunity to bring research to the market and to provide students with opportunities in the cutting edge environment of new technology development. Future job opportunities with potential equity partnerships are also part of this endeavor. In addition, these start-ups are a source of income to the University through licensing agreements and contracts. |
The Following start up companies are associated with the center |
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Encite LLC (Bedford MA) |
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| 'Development of Novel Architectures for Micro-Fuel Cells for Portable Power Applicatoins' .The initial capital for this venture was raised by the summer of 2000; the second round of financing has been recently concluded through venture partners. The principal development partners for this venture are Sarnoff Corporation, Princeton, New Jersey (for device fabrication and optimization of the chip based fabrication process); Northeastern University, Boston (Electrocatalytic Interface development and fuel cell testing); and Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (Membrane processing). Prof Mukerjee involved as a member of the scientific advisory board and constitute one of the founding members of this company. In addition, Prof Mukerjee consult's for this company on a regular basis. | |
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Protonex Corporation (Marlboro MA) |
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| 'Novel Materials for Low Cost Fuel Cell Systems'. This company is focused on developing manufacturing technology for more affordable fuel cell stacks. Unlike Integrated Fuel Cell Inc., this venture focuses on conventional stacks (5 to 50 W power) with the emphasis on affordability and volumetric and gravimetric foot print. This company has recently become public via an offering at AIM (UK). They continue their ongoing interactions with this venture | |
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Nuvant Systems Inc. (Crown Point, Indiana) |
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| Nuvant develops and integrates catalysts and electrolytes for stationary and portable fuel cell electrode assemblies. NuVant has pending patents for inorganic fuel cell electrolytes operating between 250-400°C. Nuvant’s patented array reactor technology provides a competitive edge by enabling precise, accurate parallel evaluation of electrode assembly components and fabrication methods under fuel cell conditions. Array technologies will also benefit the electrochemical energy storage, electro-synthesis and the electrochemical sensor industries through direct sales or R&D partnering. Nuvant Systems has strategic alliances with the University of Notre Dame and Northeastern University. Dr. Smotkin (Technical Advisory Board Leader and Chairman of the Board of Directors) holds a research professorship in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering of the University of Notre Dame and is a full Professor of Chemistry at Northeastern University. | |
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Advent Technologies (Athens, Greece) |
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| Advent Technologies SA develops new materials and systems for renewable energy sources such as fuel cells and photovoltaic systems. Advent Technologies is committed to bring the technology to the mass market, an enabling technology which will dominate the world market in stationary fuel cells. The major effort of the Company focuses on a high temperature PEM fuel cell system based on its proprietary technology. The Company, founded by researchers from the Foundation for Research & Technology-Hellas (FORTH-ICEHT) and the University of Patras in February 2005, is a spin-off operation from these two academic institutions and is funded by industrial partners (Germanos – Sunlight S.A., Velti S.A, ILPRA S.A.), private investors, and the Greek Ministry of Development under the PRAXE B program for matching capital. Advent Technologies is headquartered in Athens, Greece and occupies research, development and manufacturing space in the Patras Science Park (PSP) and in its US location in Boston Massachusetts. | |
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