Finalists

Nanochallenge and Polymerchallenge 2010 Finalists

Green Earth Aerogel Technologies
Ix-Neox
Krystalia
LambaEnergy
Nanà Innovations
Nanomed
Nanotred
Polymicrocaps

1. Green Earth Aerogel Technologies

Country: Spain
Category: NANOTECHNOLOGY
Sector: Cleantech, Energy, Sensors, Environment

Green Earth Aerogel Technologies is a startup company based in Barcelona. It is a company that produces advanced materials with applications in insulation, electronics, acoustics, flame resistance among others. The company produces aerogels from rice and rice husks using a patented technology. Rice husk are considered as agricultural wastes and can be used as a source of energy through bio-gasification. The ashes of the rice husk is rich in silicon and is a primary ingredient in the production of aerogels. The company produces two types of aerogels mainly silicon aerogels which are translucent and carbon aerogel which is dark. Both aerogels are advance materials that have many applications particularly in green building insulation. The goal of the company is to fight climate change through rice cultivation and energy efficiency using advanced insulation materials. Among its other potential sources of income is the sale of Carbon credits using the rice hays as source of carbon credits. The carbon credits could be sold to major airline companies whom are trying to reduce their carbon footprint. Carbon Dioxide absorbed by rice cultivation is stored in the hay of the rice and can be removed from the normal carbon cycle by burying it under ground. Thus carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is reduced in 3 ways. 1. Fuel Efficiency through advanced insulation 2. Reduce fuel consumption using bio-gasification 3. carbon capture via rice cultivation.

2. Ix-Neox
Country: USA
Category: NANOTECHNOLOGY
Sector: Nanomaterials and Nanoparticles

Ix-Neox is developing affordable renewable energy solutions by harnessing solar and kinetic energy. Our goal is to enable households that lack access to reliable electricity to have the same opportunities as those with dependable energy. The next generation products will be designed for developed countries for commercial lighting and OLED display system. Incorporated in 2009, Ix-Neox is comprised of a highly accomplished management team featuring engineering and marketing experts that collectively have over 80 years of industry experience. By utilizing solar and kinetic energy harvesting technologies and novel circuitry, Ix-Neox’s first product is the Solglobe. The Solglobe is a spherical light (5 inches in diameter) designed to provide up to 800 lumens, the equivalent of a 60-watt incandescent light bulb. Similar products provide 1/20th to 1/40th the amount of light the Solglobe can provide and are often toxic and non renewable. The Ix-Neox team has filed two provisional patents at the US PTO office Ix-Neox team is working with a national laboratory to develop unique technology for solar and LED technology for Solglobe products. A prototype of Solglobe is available and the production version will be released by Q1 201l.

3. KRYSTALIA

Country: India
Category: NANOTECHNOLOGY
Sector: Nanomaterials and Nanoparticles

The start-up (KRISTALIA) aims to produce a series of active nano coated diamonds (NCD) by using an hybrid PVD-PECVD technology. The NCD diamonds will be applied in the manufacturing of abrasive tools, particularly for the stone industry, in recognition of the increasing demands placed on the toolmaker to achieve an improved cost/performance

4. LambdaEnergy

Country: Italy
Category: NANOTECHNOLOGY
Sector: Cleantech, Energy, Sensors, Environment

The project consists in the realization and production of high-efficiency and low-cost electromagnetic wave absorbers. The most promising domain of application for this device is solar energy. The project is based on a recent invention by Dr. F. Riboli, Dr. K. Vynck, Dr. M. Burresi and Prof. D. S. Wiersma at the European Laboratory for Non-linear Spectroscopy (LENS). An international patent has been deposited by the research team. The invention concerns the concept of using interferences effects in random media to efficiently trap electromagnetic waves in engineered films on a broad range of frequencies and at all angles of incidence. When the material of the film presents a given absorption coefficient, the trapping of electromagnetic waves leads to a significant increase of the absorption (a factor of 4 is easily attained). The absorbed electromagnetic energy may then be converted into another form of energy (e.g. electrical, thermal). The device of the invention is particularly adapted to thin films, where large absorption enhancements can be obtained, while using a low quantity of material. Furthermore, the realization of the device does not require an important control over structural parameters since the concept on which it is based (interferences in disordered media) holds in presence of production defects. Finally, the operating range of the device can be shifted to all frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum simply by scaling the dimensions of the device. The invention may therefore be used in many fields, including solar energy (thin-film solar cells, thermal photovoltaics) and electromagnetic shielding. The relevant market of the invention is very large. The aim of this project is (i) to define a entrepreneurial plan to place on the international market one of the possible applications of the invention (e.g. thin films photovoltaics) and (ii) to study and characterize more deeply the physics involved in the invention from a fundamental point of view.

5. Nanà Innovations

Country: Italy
Category: NANOTECHNOLOGY
Sector: Nanomaterials and Nanoparticles

Nanà Innovations is a company boasting strong competencies in both coating nanotechnologies and product design. The company aims to boost the use of copper cookware within the market, making it simple, safe, functional and sustainable. The technology we are developing is a transparent ceramic film, which coats the whole surface of our pots. This material is highly biocompatible and can remain in contact with food for a long time without any contamination of heavy metals. Our product is 100% recyclable and consumes 10% to 50% less energy than other materials. Thanks to the thermal conductivity of copper, this pan heats up 24 times faster than an equivalent steel one. Our technical partner is Nanofab (Venice), a centre fully focused on nanotech research. We have been cooperating for 2 years and aim at achieving an international patent (within 4 months) and complete prototyping (within 10 months). The design of Nanà cookware is only possible thanks to its innovative coating. The pots are conceived for both food cooking and conservation use. Finally, the handles are revolutionary: a special thermo-insulating paint protects the hands from being burnt, when the heated pot is held from the top.

6. NANOMED

Country: Italy
Category: NANOTECHNOLOGY
Sector: Nanobiotechnology , Nanomedicine, Diagnostics

NANOMED s.r.l. designs, develops and produces nanofluidic lab-on-chips for the separation and concentration of biomolecules (proteins and DNA), applications that are of utmost importance in the fields of Genetics, Proteomics, Biology and Medicine. Separation of biomolecules out of a biological sample is often a preparatory procedure for many biomedical analysis processes, while concentration of diluted solutions of proteins is crucial for the field of cancer diagnostics. In fact, biomarker proteins that are related to cancer and other human diseases are often present at very low concentrations in biological fluids, and thus are very difficult to reveal using standard detection techniques, so preconcentration could help in overcoming the limits of detection systems. Lab-on-chip systems are extremely appealing for the biomedical market as they offer many advantages compared to standard techniques: they are portable, they need low fluid volumes consumption, separation is faster, processes are reproducible and complex analysis procedures can be performed on a single chip. Thanks to several years of research and experience in the field of nanotechnology for biomedical applications of its researchers, NANOMED has developed an innovative approach for the fabrication of cheap nanofluidic lab-on-chips. It is based on the use of low cost polymeric materials and soft-molding techniques that are well suited for high throughput production. This strategy is applicable to many different kind of devices for biomolecule manipulation. In particular, for the separation of long DNA molecule NANOMED has patented an approach that increases the separation capabilities of the device, it is based on the use of elastomeric nanostructures such as nanochannels and nanoslits of dynamically variable cross section and on the application of pulsed electric fields. NANOMED technologies are extremely appealing for industrial applications as they can be integrated on more complex systems for the implementation of lab-on-chip for biomedical analysis.

7. Nanotred

Country: Italy
Category: NANOTECHNOLOGY
Sector: Nanobiotechnology , Nanomedicine, Diagnostics

The idea of the team “Nanotread” is to exploit the enormous combined potentials of nanoparticles and of biological molecules for the diagnosis and management of the prostate cancer. Gold nanoparticles can be employed to carry a vaste array of molecules able to emit signals that can be detected by highly sensitive devices (e.g. SERS reporters, fluorescent trackers, radioisotopes); on the other hand biological molecules such as antibodies and ligands recognizing target tumor cells can be chemically cross-linked to gold nanoparticles to direct them against the tumor cells within the body. Being multivalent carriers of molecules of different type the use of gold nanoparticles allows for the targeting of multiple effector molecules to tumor cells and for a multi-purpose diagnostic/therapeutic effect, including hyperthermic effects. Antibodies are biological molecules endowed with great selectivity and which can be manipulated by protein engineering techniques to make them uniquely selective for target molecules present on tumors. By linking antibodies or their engineered derivatives to nanoparticles one can deploy against tumor cells the full potential of reagents used for the diagnosis and therapy of tumors. The team Nanotred has developed a product named “Nanozap” which is made of gold nanoparticles bearing a potent tracking molecule cross-linked to anti-prostate tumor antibodies. Nanozap has the potential to recognize and detect tumor cells in the body. Nanozap is also a versatile device that can be modified to carry several different type of effector molecules. The team Nanotred has the potential and the technological skills to develop a large series of different multi-purpose reagents derived from Nanozap and which can be applied in several different types of tumors for the delivery of different types of effector molecules, alone or combined.

8. Polymicrocaps

Country: Colombia
Category: POLYMER-BASED MATERIALS
Sector: Multifunctional Polymers and Composites

Pharmaceutical active drugs (API´s)are mainly hydrophobic moieties. The present technology involves two or more polymers and a technology for manufacturing micro and nanocapsules including those API´s dissolved into them. It can be defined as polymersomes small non agregatting spherical, quasi spherical as well as worm like micelles, being the active either included in the polymersome membrane or into it. Pharmaceutical grade polymers were co processed following a patented methodology .Coagulation of the polymersomes was addressed as a supernatant of fluid rounded micro and nanospheres . The -precipitate is mainly composed of polymer-drug co-crystals and micro-nano capsule agglomerates. These micro and nanospheres have in itself the property of electrical current conduction but can also be arranged into micro and nanotubules with increased electrical conduction properties.During it’s production process, different hydrophyllic and hydrophobic drugs are incorporated.