Principal Investigator: Dr Kenneth Stanton
ENBIO is a world leading, specialised coatings company. The company invented a technology called CoBlast, which offers industry the potential to redefine the performance, function and value of metals across all sectors.
Deep space travel poses many significant environmental challenges to spacecraft. To minimise the risk, protective outer coatings are required. ENBIO had worked with the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop a thermal control coating. When ESA asked the company for a white version, ENBIO contacted Dr Kenneth Stanton from the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering in UCD for help. This was the start of a long-term collaborative research project leading to the development and commercial delivery, in 2017, of SolarWhite, a thermo-optical coating developed to reflect radiation and protect spacecrafts. Rigorously tested for space-flight readiness, it is the only qualified white coating on the €1.7 billion Solar Orbiter mission. In 2017, ENBIO secured additional funding to further develop SolarWhite. It has doubled its workforce, located both in Dublin and Clonmel including locating new laboratories at UCD to maximise the benefits of the research and has benefitted from recruitment of graduates and postgraduates involved in the collaboration over the years. ENBIO CEO John O’Donoghue has stated “Collaborative Research with UCD not only led to a breakthrough technology but enabled us to double our workforce, and was transformative for the company’s business model”. The TTO supported ENBIO in its research collaborations at UCD, filing a patent application and subsequently licensing the patented technology to the company. Additional support has been provided to assist the company to locate at NovaUCD and in the application process for additional research funding.
Underpinning funding sources include: European Space Agency
TTO Support: Relationship Management, Contract Negotiation, Intellectual Property Protection, Licensing, Support for Funding