Phantin / en Renewable energy research, clean-tech startups from łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ take centre stage /news/renewable-energy-research-clean-tech-startups-u-t-take-centre-stage <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Renewable energy research, clean-tech startups from łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ take centre stage</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-04-17-summit-nanoleaf-display.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=ax0rdxkl 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2017-04-17-summit-nanoleaf-display.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=WvNX4dNy 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2017-04-17-summit-nanoleaf-display.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Pz8vBycT 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-04-17-summit-nanoleaf-display.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=ax0rdxkl" alt="photo of conference attendees checking out Nanoleaf display"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>lanthierj</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-04-17T09:16:38-04:00" title="Monday, April 17, 2017 - 09:16" class="datetime">Mon, 04/17/2017 - 09:16</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Nanoleaf was just one of the łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ startups at the Toronto Sustainability Summit (all photos by Johnny Guatto)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/chris-sorensen" hreflang="en">Chris Sorensen</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Christopher Sorensen</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/innovation" hreflang="en">Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startups" hreflang="en">Startups</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/alumni" hreflang="en">Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sustainability" hreflang="en">Sustainability</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/nanoleaf" hreflang="en">Nanoleaf</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/phantin" hreflang="en">Phantin</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/vive-crop-protection" hreflang="en">Vive Crop Protection</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/nanotechnology" hreflang="en">Nanotechnology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/lighting" hreflang="en">Lighting</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Toronto Sustainability Summit </div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>If Silicon Valley is where big minds fixate on small problems – a better way to hail a taxi or swap photos on your smartphone – then the University of Toronto may soon be known as the place where the world’s biggest, most intractable issues are solved.&nbsp;</p> <p>That was the underlying message at łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ’s recent Toronto Sustainability Summit, held at the MaRS Centre in downtown Toronto.&nbsp;</p> <p>The sold-out event brought together leading łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ researchers, key government officials and senior industry executives to discuss ways to work together to tackle planet-threatening climate change. Reza Moridi, Ontario’s minister of research, innovation and science, took the opportunity to announce a new, $7 million competition designed to develop breakthrough technologies to help the province’s industrial plants reduce greenhouse gas emissions.&nbsp;</p> <h3><u><a href="/news/u-t-brings-city-together-toronto-sustainability-summit">Read more about the summit</a></u></h3> <p>“Universities have a crucial role to play,” said <strong>Meric Gertler</strong>, łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ’s president, offering a long list of research areas, from biofuels research to environmental law, where łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ excels. “In fact, among universities worldwide, I was delighted to recently discover that łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ is the seventh leading producer of research and scholarship in environmental research and environmental sciences –&nbsp;and we’re third in North America behind Berkeley and Harvard.”</p> <p>Over the past three years alone, łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ attracted more than $300 million in funding for clean technology and renewable energy research. The university boasts more than 550 faculty working in the space, including 11 Canada Research Chairs.&nbsp;</p> <p>The breadth of łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ’s sustainability research, focusing on subjects both large and small, was on full display at the summit.&nbsp;</p> <p><u>Professor&nbsp;<a href="/news/five-visions-future-energy-science-literacy-week-panel"><strong>David Zingg</strong>, the director of the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies</a>,</u> talked about trying to overcome the challenges of reducing airplane emissions – namely the sky-high price of developing new aircraft types – by applying high-fidelity aerodynamic shape optimization to aircraft designs.</p> <p>At the other end of the spectrum, <u><a href="/news/10000-greenhouses-professor-david-sinton-awarded-ewr-steacie-memorial-fellowship"><strong>David Sinton</strong>, a professor in the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></u>, explained how the study of small-scale fluid dynamics is yielding big insights by turning harmful carbon dioxide into useful products like fuels.&nbsp;</p> <p>łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ is not just creating climate change and sustainability knowledge. It’s implementing it, too. Many of łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ’s researchers are working in partnership with industry or launching their own companies. Some 14 startups in clean tech and renewable energy were launched&nbsp;over the past three years.</p> <p><strong>Cynthia Goh</strong> is&nbsp;the founding director of <u><a href="http://www.impactcentre.ca/">łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ’s Impact Centre development hub</a>, </u>the academic director of<u><a href="http://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/"> University of Toronto Entrepreneurship</a></u> and&nbsp;a professor of chemistry in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science. She cited one young one company with a potentially bright future that she co-founded with <strong>Cheng Lu</strong>. It’s called Phantin and it makes nano-coating that repels dust from solar panels, boosting their energy production.&nbsp;</p> <h3><u><a href="/news/here-comes-sun-phantin">Read &nbsp;more about Phantin</a></u></h3> <p>The hurdles new clean-tech companies face are particularly daunting. Alumnus<u> <a href="/news/meet-darren-anderson-vive-crop-protection"><strong>Darren Anderson</strong> is the founding president of Vive Crop Protection</a></u>, which uses nanotechnology to improve the delivery of fertilizer and pesticides to farmers’ crops. Anderson told the panel it takes far longer to build a clean-tech company than one based on a smartphone app.&nbsp;</p> <p>“We launched our first product literally a month before our tenth anniversary,” said Anderson, who started Vive in 2006 from łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ’s chemistry department.&nbsp;</p> <p>Clean-tech also tends to be expensive, which can turn&nbsp;off venture capital, or VC, investors. &nbsp;</p> <p>“Anytime I say we’re a clean-tech company that’s focused on sustainability, the VC just cringes,” said <strong>Gimmy Chu</strong>, the CEO of <u><a href="https://nanoleaf.me/en/">green lighting company Nanoleaf </a></u>and another łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ alum. “So the question is: how do you [build] the business model?”&nbsp;</p> <p>Nanoleaf’s solution: make a LED light bulb that’s both eye-catching and two times more efficient than those already on the market – and then follow it up with modular lighting panels that look more like art installations than light fixtures.&nbsp;</p> <h3><u><a href="/news/federal-government-backs-three-u-t-startups-and-their-clean-tech-innovations">Read more about Nanoleaf</a></u></h3> <p>Fortunately, there’s an expanding universe of accelerators and incubators on the łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ campus to help guide today’s budding entrepreneurs. One of those programs is the Rotman School of Management’s Creative Destruction Lab. The nine-month program pairs startups with experienced technology entrepreneurs and investors to help them scale up their businesses.&nbsp;</p> <p><u><a href="http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/FacultyAndResearch/Faculty/FacultyBios/Blundell"><strong>Richard Blundell</strong>, an adjunct professor at Rotman</a>,</u>&nbsp;said the biggest challenge facing startups in the clean-tech space is seldom technology-related. Rather, it’s finding an innovative way to succeed in a crowded marketplace.</p> <p>“If the business doesn’t make money,” said Blundell, “then it will fail.”</p> <p><img alt="photo of panel at summit" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__4265 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/2017-04-17-summit-panel-nanoleaf.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px; margin: 10px;" typeof="foaf:Image"></p> <p><em>(<strong>Gimmy Chu</strong> shows one of the Nanoleaf light bulbs to, from left: <strong>Tom Rand</strong>, <strong>Richard Blundell</strong>, <strong>Cynthia Goh</strong> and <strong>Darren Anderson</strong>)&nbsp;</em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 17 Apr 2017 13:16:38 +0000 lanthierj 106826 at Here comes the sun for Phantin /news/here-comes-sun-phantin <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Here comes the sun for Phantin</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>lavende4</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-05-17T12:53:10-04:00" title="Tuesday, May 17, 2016 - 12:53" class="datetime">Tue, 05/17/2016 - 12:53</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Cheng Lu at the SkySolar Canada plant in Brampton</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/jennifer-robinson" hreflang="en">Jennifer Robinson</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Jennifer Robinson</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/invention" hreflang="en">Invention</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/innovation" hreflang="en">Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/chemistry" hreflang="en">Chemistry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/phantin" hreflang="en">Phantin</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startups" hreflang="en">Startups</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><div about="/news/they-started-here-u-t-recognizes-top-inventions" class="node node-story node-teaser clearfix" id="node-14110" typeof="sioc:Item foaf:Document"> <h2><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', sans-serif; font-size: 11.0819px; line-height: 13.6418px;"><a href="/news/they-started-here-u-t-recognizes-top-inventions">They started here: łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ recognizes top inventions </a></strong></h2> <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', sans-serif; font-size: 11.0819px; line-height: 13.6418px;"><span class="rdf-meta element-hidden" content="They started here: łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ recognizes top inventions " property="dc:title"></span><span class="rdf-meta element-hidden" content="0" datatype="xsd:integer" property="sioc:num_replies"></span> </strong></div> <p>By 2017, it’s estimated Canada will have enough working solar panels to fill 55,000 football fields and generate 6GW of electricity each year.</p> <p>Across the globe, vast fields of solar panels are growing China’s solar market by more than 10 GW of power every year.</p> <p>Enter <strong>Cheng Lu</strong>, the brains behind Phantin, a dust-repelling, self-cleaning nanomaterial coating that keeps solar panels clean, boosts their energy production and requires less maintenance.</p> <p>On May 17, Phantin will be among four products recognized as&nbsp;<a>łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ Inventions of the Year</a>. The awards, which recognize their uniqueness, potential for global impact and commercial appeal, were&nbsp;presented at the university’s third annual łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ Celebrates Innovation event in front of an estimated 200 guests, including Ontario Lt.-Gov. Elizabeth Dowdeswell.</p> <p>“It’s exciting to be able to see your product out in the world,” says Lu, a research associate in łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ’s department of chemistry. “I started working on this as a hobby and now it’s more serious. This award will give us more attention, find more partners and attract more investors.”</p> <p>“It’s a great validation of what Cheng has been doing,” adds his co-inventor, chemistry professor <strong>Cynthia Goh</strong>.</p> <p>Already, in testing near Toronto, Phantin has improved solar electricity generation by four percent. That may not sound like a lot but with the solar market in Canada estimated to produce 6.3GW of power by 2020, Phantin could generate an extra 0.45 billion kWh of electricity annually, worth $200 million – or more in areas that are drier and dustier.</p> <p>Sprayed on in an ultrathin transparent layer – often by Lu himself – Phantin is different from existing self-cleaning coatings. Along with stopping dust from settling, it also doesn’t require water and breaks down organic material through photocatalysis. That means improved energy production and less harm to the environment.</p> <p>The product can be applied to existing panels or become part of the production process, he says. And someday, he hopes everyone can buy it in their local grocery store and spray it on their home solar panels themselves.</p> <p>The research of a scientist like Lu can go in any number of directions. It could be publishing a paper or it could be translating their science into a product, explains Goh, who is also a director at łÔąĎ±¬ÁĎ’s Impact Centre, one of nine campus-linked accelerators and more than 60 entrepreneurial program and course offerings under the umbrella of the <a href="http://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/">Banting and Best Centre for Innovation &amp; Entrepreneurship</a>.</p> <p>“We teach scientists on how to relate to the business world and we encourage them to see what the world needs and use that as pathway in their research,” she says, adding proudly: “Cheng will be the model of our future professors.”</p> <p>A big reason Cheng thought of commercializing his product was because of an intensive summer program called Techno he took at the Impact Centre a few years. That support has continued at the university ever since as he worked to get Phantin off the ground.</p> <p>“It’s been a chance to get to know the real world,” says Lu, who quickly corrects anyone who calls him a businessman. He remains a scientist first and foremost and has a partner that handles the business end of Phantin. “It’s a collaboration. We need scientists and businessmen to work together.”</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Tue, 17 May 2016 16:53:10 +0000 lavende4 14112 at