Corporate Spotlight Interview, Nanocomp

April 29, 2014 11:52 AM EST By: Jennifer Rocha

TechConnect's Exclusive Interview with Mr. Peter Antoinette, President and CEO

How would you describe Nanocomp as a company?  Please include a brief history of the company.
Nanocomp was the first, and continues to be the only, volume manufacturer of high performance structural and conductive sheets, tapes, and yarns comprised of millimeter long and so, safe, carbon nanotubes (CNTs).  The Company’s products enhance and/or replace many metals (copper, aluminum), composite reinforcements (fiberglass, carbon fiber, or aramids like Dupont Kevlar® or Twaron®), or ceramics in electrical conduction, electromagnetic shielding (EMI), thermal management, ballistic armor, and structural composites applications.  The Company’s products are some of the highest performing lightweight materials on the market and sell in standard industrial macro forms—roll stock for sheet goods, spools for tapes and yarns, pre-packaged slurries for molding and 3-D printing, etc.

The Company has been recognized for its technical innovation (volume production of millimeter long CNTs) by the Wall Street Journal in 2008, winning its Technology Innovation Award for the materials category; and in 2013, the Company was named top Game Changing Manufacturing technology by Frost & Sullivan at its 2013 Manufacturing Leadership Summit. 

What are the primary industrial/societal applications for your technologies?
The Company’s products provide lightweight, structural, thermal and electrical solutions for transportation, personal protection (ballistic armor, fire shielding), energy usage, and consumer electronics applications.  All of these industries seek lighter weight, more robust, higher performance solutions.  Nanocomp’s solutions will improve and extend quality of life while reducing global energy consumption—the latter both due to the energy efficient manufacturing process and to the weight saving, fuel-reducing impact of structural and conductive solutions. 

Describe the importance of external partners to your company (corporations, federal agencies).  How do you leverage these relationships to create successful technologies to market?
The Company has worked closely with multiple agencies of the federal government as well as some of the world’s largest corporations.  With respect to its armor-related government partnerships, the Company identified areas of alignment in fields of interest and applications that worked for both parties with a focus on improving the survivability and effectiveness of our warfighters and first responders.  As an example, early US government grant funding in support of improving soldier armor served both the Company and the soldier—the Government progresses its aims for better, lighter protection systems for our troops, while the Company expects to generates sales on pricing and terms that enable it to build a sustainable business.

Why work with TechConnect World and the National Innovation Summit?  Who are you looking to meet with at the conference this June?
TechConnect World is considered one of the top conferences in the field of nanotechnology and emerging technology as a whole. Given the Company’s first-in-class technological and industrial/manufacturing innovation, the Nanotech 2014 conference is the best venue to have something of a coming-out party for Nanocomp and its story.  The TechConnect event provides the Company a platform for engagement with existing and prospective corporate and USG partners.  The Company hopes that the visibility gained through its sponsorship and presence at TechConnect will translate to new partnerships, new resources and new markets for Nanocomp and its products.

 

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