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NANOTECH START-UP SPINS OFF IN REGION Y-Carbon, a nanotechnology start-up company based in the Navy Yard Keystone Innovation Zone (KIZ), has received $500,000 in funding along with its first contract. As a spin off from the A.J. Drexel Nanotechnology Institute at Drexel University, Y-Carbon has obtained exclusive rights to intellectual property invented and patented by Prof. Yury Gogotsi's team at the University. The company obtained its first subcontract from BAE Systems out of Baltimore for work funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The applications developed by Y-Carbon have enormous business opportunities in the fields of energy, water and medicine. One particular area of application is the ability to replace or supplement the use of batteries in consumer electronics. The company's new CEO, Ed Erickson, is seeking government funding as well as venture capital and strategic partnerships. In a recent article published in Philadelphia Business Journal, Erickson noted that they would be looking into how to commercialize the battery-replacement technology in some niche markets. "[Y-Carbon Inc.] will be able to solve a large number of energy, environmental and health problems ... that don't have a good solution at the moment," said Gogotsi, who led the team that developed Y-Carbon's technology and is the company's founder and chief science officer. |
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