Balky Nair
Dr. Nair is the founder of HiFunda and is passionate about building great technology-based start-ups from the ground up and is familiar with all the details and challenges associated with the process. On the technical side, he enjoys driving technology evolution from the concept stage to commercial products and is experienced in leading multi-site interdisciplinary teams to accomplish challenging product development goals.
His experience in energy, electrochemistry and materials related projects include leading or participating in projects related to novel ceramics, energy generation systems, mixed ion electron conducting membranes, solid oxide fuel cells, solid state electrochemical sensors, plasma spray coatings powder processing, electrode/electrolye development, materials processing and device characterization. He was awarded the Stoel Rives Utah Innovation Award in 2005. He has 25+ approved patents and 25+ publications. He was awarded the Utah Innovation Award in 2004 for the development of a novel nanoceramic material that has application as a catalyst support. Innovations at HiFunda have led to the spin-offs of two entities, Oscilla Power Inc and Solution Spray Technologies Inc., technology leaders in the fields of ocean wave energy and plasma spray coatings/ membranes processing respectively.
Dr. Nair received his Ph.D. in Materials Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1998, and a Professional MBA, from the University of Utah in 2006). Prior to founding HiFunda, he led Emisense Inc., an emissions sensor developer that was acquired by Coorstek in 2008. He worked as a Business Development Manager at Ceramatec Inc. prior to that.
