Ilika plc (LON:IKA) Chief Financial Officer Steve Boydell caught up with DirectorsTalk for an exclusive interview to discuss their new partnership with Chinese manufacturers Titan Wind
Q1: Today we saw the announcement of a collaboration with Titan Wind, using Ilika’s batteries for conditional monitoring of wind turbines. Why is it that these blades cannot be monitored using existing widely available batteries?
A1: Well, this deployment is a great example of where Ilika’s Stereax solid-state battery are strong differentiated from existing battery technologies and there are four key requirements for batteries for this collaboration that other batteries are unable to address.
First, wind turbine blades present a hostile environment requiring robust batteries able to cope with an extended temperature range and second, the batteries need to be able to handle the low currents generated by the vibration energy harvester. Third, they need to have a compact design so they can be integrated into a composite blade and finally, they need to have a long life, matched to that of the blade.
Q2: Today’s announcement included the appointment of a Business Development Director with responsibility for China, is this a new region of focus for the company?
A2: China is an important for the Internet of Things which we believe is a good fit with our solid-state batteries, significantly, the Industrial Internet of Things market is growing there at a faster rate than the consumer Internet of Things. Lou Ming’s appointment will enable us to better address these emerging opportunities.
Q3: So, does this mean that we can expect more collaborations of this type for Ilika?
A3: Well, this development project is a good example of the collaborations that should be viewed as the precursors to the broader licencing model that the company’s pursuing.
