Evelyn Allen was selected as a finalist in the Women in Cleantech Challenge following a live pitch of the top 10 semi-finalists. Funded by Natural Resources Canada and MaRS Discovery District, the challenge provides an opportunity for Canadian women entrepreneurs to develop world-class cleantech solutions and launch innovative cleantech startups.
As Evercloak’s Chief Executive Officer, she will work with Michael Pope, Chief Technology Officer, Evercloak, and assistant professor, chemical engineering, who discovered the new technology with his team in 2015. Allen, who is currently a corporate research partnerships manager in the Office of Research, will lead commercialization of the manufacturing platform that produces large-area nanofilms made of graphene and other 2D wonder materials. The films are increasingly used in cleantech applications such as water purification, energy storage, corrosion prevention, sensing, and smart packaging.
Her application was supported by the Waterloo Commercialization Office (WatCo) which helps researchers and partners further develop opportunities for commercialization. In the next phase of the challenge, she will receive $800,000 worth of support and participate in an intensive 30-month business accelerator program before competing for the $1-million prize.