-Peter Van Der Gracht, senior advisor at Alacrity Canada, talks to Gary Agnew of Ideon Technologies about the company's innovative mining solutions-how cosmic-ray muon technology is similar to x-ray technology-applying this technology to the exploratory phase of mining as part of the geophysics toolkit-straight-line imaging technique provides a high degree of certainty in the industry-technology is focused on displacing drilling, which is expensive to conduct-base metals and battery metals can be detected by density contrast using this technology-how does this technology fit within the regulatory framework?-removing hit-and-miss drilling from projects, cutting costs while increasing certainty-change management in mining means that a solution has to offer a significant value proposition to create the momentum to make the necessary changes-direct-to-customer business model with potential for partnerships-managing through a lot of complexity, providing the customer with a simple solution-providing "certainty-as-a-service"-developing an optimized plan with the customer using muon tomography technology to provide better geophysical certainty-innovation started at TRIUMF physics laboratory at the University of British Columbia in an effort to miniaturize the detection device's form factor-using muon detectors in archaeological sites; is this a new marketplace for the technology?-navigating commercialization in a scientific environment like TRIUMF; building a bridge between academia and industry-how the Canadian ecosystem has played a role in Ideon's growth and development-providing great environmental benefits and increasing profitability

Alacrity Cleantech Talks

Exploring Cosmic-Ray Muon Tomography with Ideon Technologies

-Peter Van Der Gracht, senior advisor at Alacrity Canada, talks to Rustam Sengupta of SDTC about how the federal government agency helps support innovative Canadian cleantech companies-comparing activity of the fund in 2019 versus 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic first started-emergency funding delivered through SDTC in March-how funding in the clean technology space has recovered after the initial impacts of the lockdown-what are the top 3 things SDTC looks for when assessing a company?-how do national and international policies or regulations impact SDTC's investment strategy?-the affects of not being able to travel to meet teams and companies-the value of a consortium partner for a cleantech company-how much traction does a company need before applying for seed funding; what stage should they be at?-what is the ideal Technology Readiness Level?-how do other funding options through federal agencies differ from SDTC's funds?-assessing the environmental benefits and commercialization of a clean technology-what's in store for the future of clean technology and post-pandemic recovery

Sustainable Development Technology Canada's Role in Cleantech Funding

-Mike Williams, Alacrity Digital Marketing Bootcamp facilitator and CEO of Jetstream Digital Agency, talks to Sean Bourquin of First Light Technologies and Ashleigh Erwin of Ocean Diagnostics about how their companies approach marketing in the cleantech space-how these two companies are developing a relatively new market for their clean technologies-more global, complex problems are occurring and clean technology is one of the solutions for these problems-challenge as marketers to develop this new market and becoming more relatable to customers-doing market research to identify the target sectors and customers that exist-marketing in the solar space across First Light's 10 year span of experience-how solar lighting has changed as "clean tech" has become a larger sector-being a purpose-driven company and doing something that's helpful or better than what's been done before-the difference between "greenwashing" a company and operating based on long-term benefits and economic value-oceans as an untapped economy and what the economic value is-in the past, "cleantech" meant expensive, but the economic value is balancing out these days-an inherent marketing problem in cleantech is to update customer knowledge about new technologies instead of "the way it's always been done"-agencies and regulations changing to meet sustainability and climate change goals so marketing as a clean tech company is more feasible now-focusing on a mandate and mission to discover the ocean and enter the blue tech space, while providing new knowledge and technology for microplastics research and pollution-how has increased education of the average customer or average person changed marketing strategies as more people understand climate change and clean tech as an opportunity?-helping policy makers make informed decisions that get translated into regulations-how solar lighting has changed in the last decade (macrofactors like core technology changes are creating a meaningful difference)-providing a better technical solution than what's previously existed is key-customers also taking climate change seriously and making careful decisions when it comes to the solutions they choose-providing resiliency and solutions that improve on the "old-fashioned way"-how the global pandemic has impacted marketing strategies and business-marketing is there to support business goals; COVID has highlighted new challenges and new opportunities in reaching customers, putting more importance on digital marketing-the agility of a startup-style mentality for many small cleantech companies-navigating the challenge of finding revenue to build out a marketing team early on-founding a company during the economic crisis of 2009 and now navigating the pandemic as a business owner-seeing the adaptation of businesses and people, despite the pandemic's effects-improved safety and human health as added benefits and opportunities for cleantech companies-the triple bottom line for cleantech companies and the purpose-driven people behind them-building resiliency and circularity in local communities-how will the future of clean tech marketing evolve?-keeping up with new tools and technologies, while translating face-to-face passion into a wholesome and effective marketing strategy-storytelling instead of pure promotion as marketing strategy

Marketing in Cleantech with First Light Technologies and Ocean Diagnostics

-Peter Van Der Gracht, senior advisor at Alacrity Canada, talks to Dean Wenahm of Ocean Diagnostics and Scott Beatty of MarineLabs about their ocean technologies -hear about how the companies use bluetech to helps us learn more about our oceans and coastlines, along with the impact that human activity and climate change are having on them-origin stories of the two CEOs and how they founded their companies-what are the key use cases and customers -how do these companies go to market?-quantifying customer benefits and returns on investment-what does a typical sales cycle look like in the oceantech space-what was the biggest surprise in the entrepreneurial journey-the next key milestone for these companies-what do these two founders see in the future of oceantech

Monitoring Our Oceans with Ocean Diagnostics and MarineLabs

-Peter Van Der Gracht, senior advisor at Alacrity Canada, talks to Mohammad Akhlaghi of Plugzio and Christopher Naismith of Audette about their platforms and how they make use of energy consumption data-what is a day in the life of an entrepreneur like and what are some of the surprises that have popped up along the way?-being "a hacker, a hustler, and a hipster" as an entrepreneur-saving energy as being a small part of functioning within a job or community-"entrepreneurship is jumping off an airplane and building a parachute on the way down" and the love/hate relationship with entrepreneurship as a job; failures are huge, but the successes feel amazing-saving energy is about saving money; in a startup you're either saving someone money or making someone money-energy ecosystem is changing very rapidly throughout the world and there is so much opportunity-how data around energy usage is used in Plugzio and Audette as platforms-data brings businesses out of darkness and acts as a feedback mechanism-the primary job of a building is to keep people comfortable; how layers of energy efficiency can be designed into buildings-the digital information gathered over the past 10 years in this space has matured and allowed the technology to advance, but the processes around this sector have not yet advanced-pulling in large building data to identify and display the best opportunities for improvement in energy usage-how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted their businesses, especially when focused on customers that have office buildings or other shared spaces-incentives for delivering money into the energy management space has been "business as usual," especially in institutional buildings and spaces-because of COVID, there is a huge trend in people buying electric mobility vehicles like bicycles and scooters-how these two companies go to market and find customers; the role of channel partners-how utilities and governments play a role in energy efficiency programs; incentives versus processes-how utilities can manage micropower; incentives as very effective, but for the wrong reasons-increasing awareness about energy consumption is good, but incentives are being allocated to people who don't need it-accessing financing for these companies; how government funding programs help-different entrepreneurial journeys to found these companies and platforms; learning from past experiences to develop the businesses-the next milestones for Audette and Plugzio-the future is not just about electric cars; increasing awareness around electric mobility - bikes, scooters, etc. - as the bigger picture-misconceptions around fast charging; different machines than gas vehicles so approach needs to be different as well-at the precipice of a huge investment event in energy usage and cleantech-the technology is there, the processes aren't quite there yet

How Plugzio and Audette Use Energy Consumption and Efficiency to Build Their Platforms

-Peter Van Der Gracht, senior advisor at Alacrity Canada, talks to Susan Blanchet and Andrew Crawford of Origen Air about their company and operations in the cleantech sector-origin story of the company; why Susan left her law career to join forces with serial entrepreneur, Andrew-business model is a "humanistic enterprise model" -how environmental and social governance ratings influence decision-makers-Origen Air's genetically modified plant products work to clean the air, while also reducing energy costs-minimum standards for indoor air quality set by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)-smart sensors and app will help decision-makers understand their indoor air quality better and improve standards-impacts of COVID pandemic on the business; founding Origen Clean, a probiotic fogging company-measuring an invisible problem, like indoor air quality, and then managing it through proprietary sensor technology and app-customer focus and go-to-market strategies-returns on investment and looking at the business model from an investor's perspective-short-term milestones; the clean air delivery rate (CADR) of the Sentinel Purifier, the first of Origen Air's products-funding programs and support for cleantech companies-marketing strategies and the long-term plan to reach the global market-the triple bottom line, caring about social responsibility and the environment in conjunction with profits-why the team behind Origen Air believes that "nature always wins"

Origen Air Tackles Indoor Air Quality

-Peter Van Der Gracht, senior advisor at Alacrity Canada, talks to Sarah Appelbaum of Pangaea Ventures and Kathryn Wortsman of Amplify Capital about investing in the cleantech sector-investment sweet spots, early-stage and later-stage investing-the criteria for investing in a Series A round or Seed funding-an impact fund as essential service fund; focusing on healthcare, cleantech, and education-deal flow still strong throughout 2020, though adjustments are being made to extend runways-team makeup and evaluation when looking to invest-leading rounds or partnering with other syndicate investors, whether it's institutional investors or angel investors-conducting due diligence during the COVID19 pandemic effectively-how are returns on investment being measured in cleantech?-cleantech sales cycles are longer than in other sectors, but customers are also very sticky-cleantech investors need patience and long-term outlook-how does regulation impact the complexity of going to market for a cleantech company-the importance of patents and intellectual property when looking at a potential investment opportunities-assessing a company against its competitors and leveraging partners and customers as advisors to validate the market-deals looked at versus deals made; what does the filter look like?-feedback for entrepreneurs in the cleantech space

Investing in the Cleantech Sector

-Julie Angus interviews Melanie McClare and Susan Blanchet, two fellow female CEOs operating in the Canadian cleantech space about their experiences as women in positions of leadership-cleantech as a supportive environment for women leading companies, becoming CEOs of their companies-COVID19 as a challenge for everyone, but especially for women that are also more likely to have to balance more family responsibilities as well-some positive COVID19 changes to the workplace and more access to funding have also helped make the cleantech ecosystem more resilient-government funding programs and extra support from mentors and business advisors have helped inform the changes necessary to the business development road map-COVID has created new opportunities in some spaces, paused opportunities in others-how cleantech can use challenges created by the pandemic to make the world a better place and to innovate in different sectors-COVID19 as a catalyst in innovation when it comes to environmental and social issues -how COVID19 has impacted women in the labour force and what we can do to recover from that impact-creating community around young women to encourage more of them to enter the cleantech space and use their environmental and social governance skills to create positive changes-supportive ecosystems in Calgary and Victoria for startups, active knowledge sharing within the community-advice for women interested in the cleantech sector or a STEM career and how to get involved in this space-lessons learned from failing, finding success on the doorstep of failure, and how to recharge after that experience-memorable moments in the entrepreneurial journey

Women in Cleantech; A Day in the Life of Three CEOs

-what "magnetic cusp inertial electrostatic confinement fusion reactors," also known as Polywell reactors, are and how they work-how these reactors differ from the nuclear reactors in use today-Polywell patents held by Dr. Rogers and how they help make advancements in the technology-how widespread adoption of Polywell could change the energy landscape-what Progressive Fusion Solutions hopes to achieve with Polywell in the future 

The importance of future thinking when it comes to energy

-how being CEO of First Light Technologies for a decade has shaped Sean's entrepreneurial journey-how the market has changed over the last decade and how the term "cleantech" fits into the change-why solar lighting used to suck and how evolution in the space has made it suck less-what First Light's products are and how they can be used-how the products are helping create "safer, more usable communities"-standing behind your product and delivering on your promise of service, even if it means carrying  a ladder across the Mojave desert-the future of solar lighting and hopes for cleantech's further development

Shining a light on solar lighting with First Light Technologies

-how "ageism" has played a part in his entrepreneurial journey-how Progressive Fusion Solutions started and what the company aims to achieve-what the Polywell reactor is and how it works-using an alternative method, inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC), to produce energy-why IEC is less known or employed in the traditional fusion sector-securing funding for a cleantech startup company-how Sam and the team plan to develop PFS over the next decade

Sustainable energy in the not-so-distant future with Progressive Fusion Solutions

-similarities and differences between cleantech and other sectors-challenges of operating in the cleantech space-getting funding for pilot projects-QuantoTech's  offerings as an engineering company, supplying energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly lighting to commercial growers-how the cleantech space could continue to develop and how Alacrity's working towards helping companies in the space grow-the experience of founding a company with his daughter

Operating in the cleantech space as a founder, advisor, and investor with Peter van der Gracht

-Pani Energy's goals in the energy and water sectors-how the company develops advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and system design to disrupt these sectors, without disrupting their foundational infrastructures-lessons learned from developing hardware and software in the cleantech space-working directly with treatment plants on a business-to-business scale-how the cleantech space has shaped Devesh's entrepreneurial journey and how the sector has evolved since Pani's beginnings-Pani's efforts in combating climate change and developing technologies that have a low barrier to implementation 

Disrupting industries without disrupting systems with Pani Energy

-Julie's journey across the Atlantic in a rowboat during a hurricane-going from adventurous expeditions to becoming a clean-tech startup founder, combining her love of science with her passion for adventure-Open Ocean Robotic's goals and possible impacts-how the company's energy-harvesting autonomous boats work-how Julie's experienced being a woman in the tech sector-the future of Open Ocean Robotics

Getting to know our oceans better with Open Ocean Robotics

Alacrity Cleantech Talks invites clean technology leaders, thinkers and sustainability experts to talk about solutions to the global challenges we we face today. Every two weeks, we publish an episode about how cleantech is making a difference, how science is trying to find answers to our everyday problems, and how we can keep the environment and sustainability in mind - even in business. Alacrity Cleantech Talks discusses the future of water, natural resources, energy and our role in making the world a better place.