UH Technology Licensed to C-Voltaics wins Special Edition COMS Young Technology Award

UH Technology Licensed to C-Voltaics wins Special Edition COMS Young Technology Award
Revolutionary Coating Protects Fabrics from Liquids

Young Technology AwardDuring a special international edition of the COMS Young Technology Award, the judges awarded C-Voltaics with 5,000 Euros. Shay Curran, associate professor of physics and director of the Institute for NanoEnergy at the University of Houston, is the CEO of C-Voltaics.

The company is a nanomanufacturing technology company dedicated to using nanotechnology to provide smarter and more efficient protection to products. It manufactures nano-materials for macro-scale coating applications. The underlying technology was developed from federal, state and private funds and is exclusively licensed to C-Voltaics by UH.

Nano-Coating: The Invisible Protector

Shay Curran
Shay Curran, director of the Institute for NanoEnergy and associate professor of physics at University of Houston, accepts COMS Young Technology Award for C-Voltaics. Curran is CEO of the company.
C-Voltaics produces the SCHN range of nano-coatings, the “invisible protector” for glass, fabrics, plastics and metals against the damage caused by water, moisture and salt water. It can serve as a self-cleaning coating when used on glass in buildings, solar panels and cars. The SCHN coatings can also be used as a waterproof protector for wood, masonry and tarpaulin. See product video.

“It is quite an honor for C-Voltaics to be selected as the winner,” Curran said. “We faced some tough competition from the other nanotechnology companies vying for the award.”

The COMS Young Technology Award was part of COMS 2013, an annual international conference on commercializing micro- and nanotechnology. COMS focuses primarily on entrepreneurship and marketable solutions, not just science and technology. It is a hands on, practical meeting to assist companies in bringing products to market and in finding new customers or the perfect development partner.

Company Expected to Have High Return on Investment

The selection of C-Voltaics as the winner was based on the venture capital point of view, which company would have the highest return on investment in the shortest period of time. The judges were also impressed by the proven customer demand: several people in the audience wanted to buy the product on the spot. In addition, the product is patented.

C-Voltaics was one of six international nanotechnology companies battling for the special edition of the COMS Young Technology Award. Its competitors included:

  • Ouchless Glucose (America), offering a painless and continuous glucose monitoring system for diabetes patients
  • Serstech (Sweden), offering a small spectrometer to analyze unknown chemicals in an instant
  • BjR International (Norway), developing a waste treatment plant to treat organic matter and shredder residue while greatly reducing waste volume, emissions and producing syngas, electricity or liquid fuel
  • BoBClean (The Netherlands), developing an efficient ultrasonic cleaning solution or device for the cleaning of various surfaces in medical or technical applications
  • MIMETAS (The Netherlands), offering organ-on-a-chip solutions for testing new drugs

The conference took place August 25-28 in Enschede, The Netherlands, and was hosted by MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology (University of Twente), Kennispark Twente and MANCEF.

- Kathy Major, College of Natural Science and Mathematics