Technology Commercialization Speaker Series
"The Path to Commercialization: From 'Beaker' to 'Batteries'"
Speaker:
Mil Ovan
Senior VP & Co-founder
Firefly Energy Inc.
Firefly Energy Inc. is battery technology company developing a portfolio of lead-acid battery technologies and products to enhance performance within major portions of the $30 billion worldwide battery marketplace. The company's first applied technology is a microcell foam-based battery technology, which can deliver a unique combination of high performance, low weight and low cost, all within a battery that unleashes the full power potential of lead acid chemistry while overcoming its performance drawbacks. Firefly is backed by multi-billion-dollar product companies such as Caterpillar, BAE Systems and Husqvarna. Additional investors include Chicago-area Venture Capital firm KB Partners, Quercus Trust, Khosla Ventures, Infield Capital, and the Illinois Finance Authority.
Mil Ovan is a Kellogg '82 grad and Senior VP of Firefly Energy, a company he co-founded in May 2003 based on battery technology incubated at Caterpillar's vast R&D facility. Mil will discuss the curving path taken to bring this technology out of the labs and transition to a commercial battery product, and will conclude with some entrepreneur's "lessons learned".
