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• Imperial Entrepreneurs

  22 October 2009
• 

• Table of contents:

  1. Update
  2. Talk on GreenTech
  3. Enternship Launch

• 1. Update

  Dear IE Members
  
  The year could hardly have started better with a hyper-charged launch and party. A taster of the exciting year ahead.
  
  Our next event on the 27th October is a Talk on "Commercialising Innovation&GreenTech" and we are honoured to have Prof Emeritus Keith Barnham, Imperial's GreenTech Guru, record holder of the most efficient single-junction solar cells and founder of Quantasol, the spin-out bringing the technology to the market which raised over £5 million in investment and won numerous awards.
  
  The event wil take place in Blackett LecT1, starts at 6pm and is followed by a networking reception where you will get the chance to meet potential team members and mentors. To facilitate the process we have a traffic light format and each person will have a colour on their name-tag depending on whether they:
  
  -Have an idea and looking for team-members (Green)
  -No idea but looking to join a team (Orange)
  -are mentors(Blue)
  -are Investors(Red)
  
  Teams can also showcase their ventures on the website or on our Younoodle platform so as to attract interest and new team-members. Younoodle will be used exstensively throughout the competition so make sure you sign-up if interested in entering. http://younoodle.com/groups/ideas_empowered
  
  
  
  Price: FREE for members. Membership for the year is £5 at the event and £10 later in the year. Buy Membership online or on the door.
  Where: Imperial College, Blackett Lab LecT1, Prince Consort Rd SW7.Map
  When: Talk 6-7.15pm, Networking Reception 7.15-9pm
  Register: Fill in the form
  http://niccolo.wufoo.com/forms/talk-on-commercialising-in...
  
  
  
  

• 2. Talk on GreenTech

  Price: FREE for members. Membership for the year is £5 at the event and £10 later in the year. Buy Membership online or on the door.
  Where: Imperial College, Blackett Lab LecT1, Prince Consort Rd SW7.Map
  When: Talk 6-7.15pm, Networking Reception 7.15-9pm
  Register: Fill in the form
  http://niccolo.wufoo.com/forms/talk-on-commercialising-in...
  
  
  
  
  
  About Quantasol:
  
  Professor Barnham, Emeritus Professor in the Department of Physics, set up spin-out company QuantaSol in 2007 to commercialise his research in photovoltaics (PV)- solar power technology that converts sunlight into electricity. The company has pioneered 'Quantum Well Solar Cells' which use semi-conductor gallium arsenide and achieve better efficiency than silicon PV cells.
  "Our technology is capable of more than double the efficiency of the silicon PV cells currently on the market," he explains, "and our latest top cell is better than that of the present world record cell."
  QuantaSol's highly efficient products appeal to an expanding global market for concentrator solar systems which focus light onto small cells so that fewer are needed for significant electricity output. QuantaSol's PV cells can also be used for new applications, such as 'smart windows' that can track sunlight and darken when necessary to act as blinds, while the PV cells provide electricity.
  
  QuantaSol has strong ethical policies, something Professor Barnham believes is important. He hopes the company's technology will provide electricity to the many parts of the developing world where there is lots of sunshine but no electrical grid, in the same way that mobile phones have provided lifelines in these areas without a telephone network.
  "The gallium arsenide chips in mobile phones have made this method of communication cost-effective," he explains. "A square metre of concentrator PV cells contains the same amount of gallium arsenide as in two mobile phones and could supply electricity for one household in the developing world. However we need to drive the cost down by expanding the PV market."
  Professor Barnham thinks the UK should follow the German example-Germany has similar sunshine levels to the UK but already 200 times the PV capacity. He says: "In the UK more than 60 per cent of electricity is used within buildings. There is seven times more solar energy that falls on those buildings than is consumed inside, therefore solar alone could supply their electricity
  
  
  Biography:
  Keith Barnham is Emeritus Professor of Physics and Senior Research Investigator in the Physics Department at Imperial. He lead the Quantum Photovoltaics Group which for 15 years has pioneered the application of quantum wells and quantum dots to photovoltaics publishing over 100 papers in this area and holding a number of patents. The group was shortlisted for the prestige international award the Eni Italgas Prize for Energy and Environment in 2006. They presented 4 oral papers at the recent World PV conference, one of which was chosen as a conference highlight. At the previous World conference in Osaka a group presentation received a prize for its outstanding contribution to PV.
  
  Having been a Professor of Physics since 1997, and Acting Head of the Experimental Solid State group in 2004 he took early retirement in 2005 to concentrate on the research and its commercial exploitation in two spin-out companies, Solarstructure and QuantaSol which are being incubated with help from Imperial Innovations and the Carbon Trust. He started his research career as an Experimental Particle Physicist at the University of Birmingham, CERN Geneva, Berkeley California and Imperial, co-authoring over 100 scientific papers in this field. He then spent 5 years as Senior Tutor in the Physics Department. This was followed by a Royal Society/SERC Industrial Fellow at Philips Research Laboratories studying Low Dimensional Structures before joining the Experimental Solid State Physics group at Imperial in 1986.

• 3. Enternship Launch

  Enternships.com After-Party on 17th November: mingle with the UK's top entrepreneurs & start-ups
  
  IE & NACUE has partnered with Enternships.com - the award winning portal for entrepreneurial work placements - to offer all IE/NACUE enterprise society members 50% off tickets to the Enternships.com "After Party" on 17th November (see e-invite attached). The event kicks off from 9.30pm at the fantastic London venue - Floridita on Wardour Street.
  
  It's a great way to celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week and rub shoulders with the UK's top entrepreneurs, business leaders, press, and fellow student entrepreneurs whilst having loads of fun!
  
  Tickets are limited and on a first-come-first-served basis so register today on:
  
  http://enternships.eventbrite.com/?discount=vip_afterpart...
  

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