Graphite Innovation & Technologies: Smoother sailing means healthier oceans
Monday, October 18, 2021
Graphite Innovation & Technologies (GIT) has developed an environmentally-friendly marine hull coating that will save on fuel, reduce corrosion and increase a vessel’s lifespan — without the toxic effects of traditional marine coatings. It will also reduce underwater vessel noise for vulnerable marine species and reduce greenhouse gases.
President and CEO, Mo AlGermozi, and his co-founder, Marciel Gaier, PhD, are materials experts and inventors of this patented technology — AlGermozi is an engineer, and Gaier, who is the company’s Chief Technical Officer, is a scientist.
Founded in 2017, GIT is driven by the sustainable development goals established by the United Nations in Rio de Janeiro in 2012. Being a diversified workplace is part of the company’s sustainability vision, AlGermozi says.
GIT’s graphene coating is being evaluated in different parts of the world including Canada and the USA. “Its real sustainable impact is that it does not contain or release toxins in the water,” he says. “Industrial coatings contain toxins that kill marine organisms to prevent them from attaching to the hull. Our nontoxic coating is hydrophobic — it repels a water drop in the same way a coated rain jacket repels rain — so marine animals can’t easily attach to the hull.”
Transport Canada has awarded GIT a contract to work on a $2.4 million project to help reduce the underwater noise and greenhouse gas emissions produced by marine vessels. As part of this work, GIT is working with First Nations organizations to test the coating on Indigenous owned and operated vessels.
“Also with our partners Horizon Maritime, we’re working with First Nations communities here in Atlantic Canada,” AlGermozi says. “We’ve always been active with First Nations communities because of their respect for the natural world; we understand that connection to the environment.”
Their help has always been great, not only in terms of programs and funding, but also the team within NSBI. They can connect you with businesses, technologies, and people that will lead to something.
Mo AlGermozi
Graphite Innovation & Technologies
Managing through the pandemic has changed how GIT works and communicates within the team. “We’ve discovered that the team is a lot more efficient than we thought we were,” he says. “Last year was our best year so far — we got almost $8 million worth of projects during 2020.”
NSBI has been with GIT from the start, he adds. “Their help has always been great, not only in terms of their programs and funding, but also the team within NSBI. They can connect you with businesses, technologies, and people that will lead to something you never thought you could use so quickly. We’ve used the Productivity and Innovation Voucher Program to access post-secondary research and resources. We’ve also used the Export Growth Program. We conducted market research via the Business Development Program, and we used the Digital Marketing Asset Development Program to create a YouTube video — Graphite Innovation & Technologies — Best-in-class Marine Coatings.”
On June 10, 2021, Marciel Gaier won the Mitacs Environmental Entrepreneur Award, which is awarded to an applicant whose start-up has a positive impact on the environment or addresses a challenge related to climate change.
GIT’s strategic vision is for every vessel in the world to use its technology. “We want our innovative technology to be licensed globally, and we want to be state-of-the-art coatings technology manufacturers in Canada,” AlGermozi says. “We also want to make a real, valuable impact, not just economically but also environmentally — because there’s so much in the ocean we don’t know. It’s still a world to be discovered.”
Want to learn more about the companies doing business in Nova Scotia? Read the 2020-2021 NSBI Annual report.