Alacrity Cleantech Talks
23 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 1 ratingAlacrity Cleantech Talks invites clean technology leaders, thinkers and sustainability experts to talk about solutions to the global challenges we face today. Our episodes cover 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.
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Episodes
The Food of the Future: Getting the Dish on Growing Food
June 09, 2022 22:10 - 32 minutes - 30 MBSeason 3, Episode 9 features host Sofie Campbell discussing the future of growing food using Agritech advancements with 3 Cleantech CEOs. Join Ken Grenier, CEO of Pacific Ridge Corp., Valerie Song, CEO of AVA Technologies, and Alycia van der Gracht, CEO of QuantoTech as they devour topics such as vertical farming, indoor growing year-round, and what sustainability means for the farmers of the future.
ESG Investing with Basma Majerbi and Lynn Works from the University of Victoria
June 09, 2022 21:39 - 46 minutes - 42.9 MBIn Season 3, Episode 8, Host Sofie Campbell is joined by Basma Majerbi, PhD and Lynn Works, MBA from the University of Victoria as they discuss the trends and mechanisms surrounding investing using ESG principals and Impact Investment funds. Learn about the evolving field of ESG rating scores and how businesses can adapt their operations to meet new standards.
How Nyoka Design Labs Uses Luminescent Technology to Create Plastic-Free Products
May 25, 2022 21:51 - 29 minutes - 27.5 MB3:30 - Paige: We started working with our first investors this year, so instead of doing as much as we could with very little funding, we're now really able to develop the bioluminescent system that we're using for our fully non-toxic, biodegradable light wand. We have a lab we're working out of, are developing different colours, making them brighter and longer lasting. We'll be launching a bright yellow colour in the new year. 6:20 - Paige: The lumi is a reusable, rechargeable glowstick al...
How Metaspectral is Applying Their Technology to Optimize the Plastics Recycling Sector
May 25, 2022 21:51 - 19 minutes - 18.3 MB5:20 - Francis: Metaspectral is deploying its technology into a variety of industries, including defense, space, recycling and agriculture. At the core the technology is much the same but just need to do some integration. Metaspectral can detect that there's an object floating on water, for example, and can determine what that object is made out of. In agriculture, we're able to detect how plants react to different types of pesticides which enables us to measure the rate of disease in plants...
How Innovators Like Properate and Endura-Form Are Helping Design the Green Building Industry
May 25, 2022 21:03 - 30 minutes - 27.6 MB8:12 - Arman: Building codes are moving towards being very software centric, meaning if you want to get your building in compliance with codes you need to use a variety of software tools. This is common practice for many construction industry professionals but for energy, this is new. So there is this significant need for software that can make innovation in the building sector possible, primarily focused on building efficiency. 9:35 - Arman: Our focus right now is to make it really easy fo...
Overcoming the Valley of Death in Cleantech
January 28, 2022 16:00 - 34 minutes - 32 MB06:28 - Sofie: Definition of the Valley of Death from Investopedia. The death valley curve is the span of time from the moment it receives its initial capital contribution until it starts generating revenue. This period of time can be really challenging for the business because their business model remains largely unproven because they haven't yet begun earning revenue. 7:50 - Cec: First learned about the Valley of Death around 2001 just after the Dot Com bust. Cec was the E-Business Evang...
What We Know About Canada's Cleantech Sector
December 16, 2021 20:00 - 37 minutes - 34.7 MB5:35 - Rich: I think we can all agree now that it's essential to our planet. We know there's a problem that we have to fix and the technology side is just a massive opportunity. As humans we're good at innovating when we have to, and now we have to. 11:00 - Peter: There is the technology mantra of "move fast and break things" but in cleantech you don't necessarily want to actually have incumbents doing that because in the cleantech industry entrepreneurs are working with technologies and...
Raising Funds in Cleantech
September 16, 2021 19:30 - 45 minutes - 41.4 MB4.20 - what stage of raising are each of the guests at? -dilutive versus non-dilutive funding -time and effort that goes into raising, especially when it comes to signing the paperwork -ISED and IRAP funding -SDTC’s funding program 8.25 - takeaways or learnings? -how to qualify investors -what to expect throughout the process 11.00 - closing on a “Safe” (a simple agreement for future equity) -investment mechanism that’s well suited to early-stage rounds 13.00 - surprises about rais...
Cleantech Insights from Leaders in Cleantech Podcast Host, David Hunt
September 09, 2021 15:00 - 28 minutes - 26.4 MB1.30 - how David began his career in the cleantech industry back in 2007, talking with a electrical engineer about wind turbines and solar panels at his daughter’s school 3.30 - the uniqueness of the cleantech sector and its disruptive nature and the culmination of many technologies that are coming to fruition (batteries, solar power, grids, etc.) -how digitalization is clearly fundamental to enabling much of the innovation that's going on 4.10 - disruption in cleantech is faster than in...
Exploring Cosmic-Ray Muon Tomography with Ideon Technologies
February 16, 2021 14:30 - 30 minutes - 28.1 MB-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 batter...
Sustainable Development Technology Canada's Role in Cleantech Funding
February 05, 2021 15:00 - 38 minutes - 35.4 MB-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 compa...
Marketing in Cleantech with First Light Technologies and Ocean Diagnostics
January 28, 2021 16:00 - 44 minutes - 40.6 MB-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 deve...
Monitoring Our Oceans with Ocean Diagnostics and MarineLabs
January 12, 2021 16:00 - 43 minutes - 40.2 MB-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? ...
How Plugzio and Audette Use Energy Consumption and Efficiency to Build Their Platforms
December 16, 2020 18:22 - 44 minutes - 41 MB-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 jumpi...
Origen Air Tackles Indoor Air Quality
December 08, 2020 00:02 - 39 minutes - 35.9 MB-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 als...
Investing in the Cleantech Sector
November 24, 2020 23:00 - 39 minutes - 36.5 MB-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 runwa...
Women in Cleantech; A Day in the Life of Three CEOs
November 05, 2020 18:18 - 44 minutes - 40.6 MB-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 acces...
The importance of future thinking when it comes to energy
January 23, 2020 17:59 - 14 minutes - 13 MB-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
Shining a light on solar lighting with First Light Technologies
January 09, 2020 20:36 - 23 minutes - 21.7 MB-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...
Sustainable energy in the not-so-distant future with Progressive Fusion Solutions
November 26, 2019 18:47 - 12 minutes - 11.5 MB-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
Operating in the cleantech space as a founder, advisor, and investor with Peter van der Gracht
November 12, 2019 17:54 - 8 minutes - 8.16 MB-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
Disrupting industries without disrupting systems with Pani Energy
October 31, 2019 17:31 - 16 minutes - 15 MB-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 b...
Getting to know our oceans better with Open Ocean Robotics
October 09, 2019 17:10 - 12 minutes - 9.38 MB-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