Team
Dr Franky So
Inventor and CTO
Dr Franky So holds 80 issued patents and has published more than 160 peer-reviewed articles. He is the editor- -in-chief of the journal Materials Science and Engineering Reports, and serves as an associate editor for IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, IEEE Journal of Display Technology, SPIE Journal of Photonic Technology and Organic Electronics. Franky is the former head of the OLED research group at Motorola, where he was named a Distinguished Innovator and Master Innovator. He is a Lecturer of the IEEE Photonics Society, a Charter Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, and a Fellow of IEEE, OSA and SPIE. In 2015, he joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the North Carolina State University, where he is currently the Walter and Ida Freeman Distinguished Professor.
Matthew Stone
Chairman
Matthew is the founder and major financier of this project. He is a specialist in technology transfer from laboratory to industry, and provides commercialisation consultancy to some of the world’s leading research centres, as well as some of the most innovative private businesses. From a corporate finance background, he has specialised in biomass processing, energy, and clean technology for over 12 years, and has successfully launched numerous projects from concept to commercial realisation. Today, Matthew is the founder and major shareholder of several successful companies, including Renovare Fuels, US Cleantech and Teysha Technologies. He maintains extensive contacts both in industry and research, and provides unrivalled operational and strategic insight. Matthew’s past and present clients include government agencies in Europe, US, Africa and Asia, as well as some of the largest corporate entities on the UK, French, US, Singapore, Malaysian, and Indian exchanges. His current areas of activity include biochemistry, waste-to-energy and nanotechnology, and he has gained an international reputation for developing technology start-ups into highly valued commercial entities.
Dr Robert Edwards
Commercialisation Director
Robert holds a PhD from Imperial College, researching the optimisation of a unique wave energy device. He holds a first-class honours degree in Engineering Product Design and a Master’s degree in IT for Product Realisation. Robert has worked for Solar Century Ltd, where he played a key role in developing their award-winning solar thermal/ photovoltaic roof tile system. He served a six-month secondment at the architectural practice of “Green Guru” Bill McDonough in the USA, where he learned the “Cradle to Cradle” design philosophy and has worked at DECC as part of the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser’s Science and Innovation team.
Prof. Felix (Phil) Castellano
Technology Development
Phil is a Ph.D. graduate in Chemistry from Johns Hopkins University, and winner of the BGSU Olscamp Research Award, and the BGSU Outstanding Young Scholar Award. Phil heads up the OLED research division, and his areas of expertise include photochemical upconversion; solar fuels photochemistry; photoinitiated electron and energy transfer processes; excited state molecular engineering and chromophore design; ultrafast and supra-nanosecond spectroscopy of inorganic and organometallic compounds; chemical sensors; and semiconductor nanomaterials.
Duncan Clark
Director of Operations
Duncan has more than 9 years’ experience in technology transfer, operational management and long-term value creation within the clean energy industry. Specialising in technology commercialisation and management team building, he has worked with Texas A&M, University of South Florida and North Carolina State, seeking to expand their technology from the lab into new markets, and to secure research and development funding. Duncan ensures the smooth running of companies from their start-up phase through to commercial contracts. He specialises in team recruitment, marketing and publicity, grant applications, communication with relevant state and semi-state departments, and identifying and engaging end users. His current areas of activity include waste-to-drop-in fuels, biopolymers, water purification and nanotechnology.
Dr Carr Ho
Head Research Scientist
Carr currently works as a postdoctoral research scholar in North Carolina State University. His research interests include in-depth electrical and optical properties of organic/hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite semi-conductors, and optimisation of photovoltaic devices. Carr’s notable publications to date include: “A readily accessible, random perylene diimide copolymer acceptor for all-polymer solar cells”, Jun 2017; “Naphthalene diimide-difluorobenzenebased, polymer acceptors for all-polymer solar cells”, February 2017; and “Using ultralow dosages of electron acceptor to reveal the early stage donor-acceptor electronic interactions in bulk heterojunction blends”, Feb 2017. Carr has been a trainer in the Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education, and has coached the Asian Physics Olympiad Hong Kong team, which won 3 gold medals, 1 silver medal, 2 bronze medals, and 2 honourable mentions in the Asian Physics Olympiad 2015.