Two years of aerogel-it
In June the aerogel-it team came together in Hamburg to celebrate 2 years since the founding of the company in 2021. Due to different working locations and full schedules it has not been easy to organize physical meetings involving everyone - and the team enjoyed the get-together a lot!
A good opportunity to recap since a lot has been achieved by the team and our partners over that time:
1. We continue to feel that aerogels will play in important role in the future. The megatrends such energy efficiency and decarbonization/ defossilization we saw back in 2021 are steadily moving the markets in our direction.
2. We are actively working on all verticals foreseen in 2021 with our global partner network. We have established the required market access. We are on an excellent path towards becoming a leading aerogel manufacturer and solutions provider.
3. Market feedback on our aerogel products, especially the 100% bio-based lignin aerogel has been overwhelming from all angles - the press, potential customers and potential partners. It shows us that we are on the right track with our aerogel solutions for decarbonization and energyefficiency.
4. We signed multiple MoUs and first supply agreements with our customers and partners and more are in preparation. Unfortunately we have not been able to communicate all of them but that will change. Our world-class legal team is doing an excellent job that we are very thankful for.
5. Sales are picking up and help us to finance our activities. In parallel, attracting investment for our first plant has not been easy. But it has been an exciting learning curve and we are glad that we did not commit too early. We can pursue our strategy unimpeded while going for the best matches.
6. We are super happy about receiving first funding from the DBU (Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt) for our green aerogel work. More public funding is upcoming 2024+.
7. After 1500+ hours of work between us and our partners, the basic engineering of our first multi-purpose aerogel production plant is almost complete. We created a robust concept based on next-generation technology and digital optimization. We are already working on further step-change technology for follow-up plants to make aerogels even more affordable.
8. The collaboration with Prof. Irina Smirnova and her Hamburg University of Technology group has been great (as in the previous 10+ years). Important R&D results have been achieved. The new pilot plant is close to commissioning. New exciting aerogel product lines that we could not have imagined before are coming into existence. Multiple patent applications were filed and more are in preparation.
9. Local business support in our area such as from WIGOS (Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft Osnabrücker Land mbH) and the ICO (InnovationsCentrum Osnabrück) has been stellar.
Thank you very much to Marc, Dirk, Alberto, Raman, Pavel, Dr. Wulf, Marcus and to all our partners!
Two-year anniversary of aerogel-it celebrated in Hamburg.