Building Ontario’s Economy Through Green Technology

$4 million from Ontario is helping EcoVu bring new water purification technology to the global market

Transcript

Dr. Bryan Hollebone
Chief Science Officer
EcoVu

Dr. Bryan Hollebone loves a challenge.

In fact, it was a challenge put to him by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment in the late 1980s that led to his discovery of a new and less expensive way to identify contaminants and purify water.

Hollebone is Chief Science Officer at EcoVu, an Ottawa-based cleantech firm that is making international waves with its water purification system.

“The environment ministry was having problems analysing drinking and lake waters. We had to do a lot of sampling in many areas, and there were insufficient laboratory facilities to do that. So they asked me to design an instrument that could be taken into the field to collect the pollutants from the water and leave the water behind. I went one step further and said, ‘Let’s analyse the pollutants on the collection site as well,’ and the next 15 years were spent developing that instrumentation.”

Armed with his water purification technology, Hollebone teamed up with EcoVu president and CEO Ray Novokowsky a few years ago.

Today, EcoVu is poised to move its water purification system one step closer to the international marketplace thanks to a $4-million investment from Ontario’s Innovation Demonstration Fund. The fund helps innovative Ontario companies commercialize promising new clean technologies by supporting them at the pilot or demonstration project stage. The pilot projects help the companies attract the lead customers and investors they need to move their technology to the global marketplace.

Hollebone is glad to be back in his hometown, Ottawa, after many years away. He took his PhD in London, England, and worked in Toronto and at the University of Alberta in Edmonton before he returned to his family’s hometown a few years ago. He describes his own children as “seventh generation Ottawa” who can trace their roots to 1850s Welsh stonecutters who came to the city to carve out Canada’s Parliament Buildings.

Bryan’s equally at home with his colleagues at EcoVu. “These individuals are all committed to the cleantech initiative,” he says. “There has been a realization over the past 20 years that the world is up against its limits of growth and cleanliness, and people are coming to the realization that we have to be the curators of our own environment, to be responsible for how it is used.”

That’s a philosophy he shares with young people considering a career in cleantech.  “Careers emerge from knowing yourself,” he says. “If you know who you are and what you can do, you end up in a profession that fits your personality. That’s what happened to me. I decided that I was very good at some things and not very good at others. Chemistry became obvious.”

And Ontario is grateful that he’s very good at it.

Brenda Smith
Director of Strategic Business Intelligence
EcoVu

It took a shoulder injury to convince Brenda Smith that perhaps it was time to change careers after 12 years as a psychogeriatric nurse; it took a company like EcoVu to inspire her to make the move.

Brenda works in EcoVu’s Business Strategies department, helping build EcoVu from the ground up. That means finding the right people with the right skills to move the company to the top of its field.

“It seems like a stretch,” she says of her new responsibilities, “But it’s not that much. I have a lot of interest in science, but here I use my ability to read people and to think forward.”  Brenda is in charge of charting EcoVu’s focus and direction. “I spend a lot of time on the computer, researching our competition, and I attend a lot of meetings. I tend to be a year in advance of where the company is.”

It’s that kind of eye to the future that will move EcoVu’s water purification technology to the global marketplace, and Brenda intends to make sure that EcoVu is at the front of the pack.

EcoVu is poised to move its water purification system one step closer to the international marketplace thanks to a $4-million investment from Ontario’s Innovation Demonstration Fund. The fund helps innovative Ontario companies commercialize promising new clean technologies by supporting them at the pilot or demonstration project stage. The pilot projects help the companies attract the lead customers and investors they need move their technology to the global marketplace.

Ottawa is Brenda’s home now, a big move from a childhood spent in a southern Ontario town of 250 people. “Ottawa has a small town feel. This was a big change for me. I was lost for a time, but I have come to realize that Ottawa is a small community, not nearly as big as it seemed coming from the country.”

EcoVu has come to feel like home too. “I love the whole idea of EcoVu and where we are headed,” she says. “I enjoy being involved in the technology – one that is good for the environment – and I like the possibility of bringing more green jobs to the Ottawa area.”

Doug Turner
Commercialization Management
EcoVu

Doug Turner is new to the cleantech industry, but he’s an old hand at driving business.

And it will take that kind of know-how to bring EcoVu’s water purification process to the world.

Turner left a 21-year career with telecommunications giant Nortel to join the Ottawa-based cleantech firm in charge of commercialization management. It wasn’t a difficult decision.

“I believe cleantech is going to see a lot of investment and growth in the coming years,” he says. “Coming to EcoVu was a good skills match for me. In this industry, you need good business skills and the ability to analyse complex factors if you are going to drive the product to commercialization.”

Turner also made his move to cleantech because he also sees the growing need for solutions to the world’s environmental problems. “Cleantech is a major opportunity for Ontario because we have such a highly educated workforce, good technical capabilities and a legacy of discovery. It is clear that the environment and global warming are going to pose a lot of challenges and we need to develop solutions to address those challenges.”

EcoVu is poised to move its water purification system one step closer to the international marketplace thanks to a $4-million investment from Ontario’s Innovation Demonstration Fund. The fund helps innovative Ontario companies commercialize promising new clean technologies by supporting them at the pilot or demonstration project stage. The pilot projects help the companies attract the lead customers and investors they need to move their technology to the global marketplace.

Turner is pumped about his new role with EcoVu. “We are seeing global warming, clean water and pollution as key issues. These are really survival issues for mankind. The ability to use my skills to find solutions to real world problems is very exciting to me.”

His enthusiasm is a hallmark of EcoVu staff. “EcoVu can really change the game in Ontario for clean water. A lot of the historical methods of purifying water are crude and complex. Our purification process can change the whole paradigm about purifying water.”

Ray Novokowsky
President and CEO
EcoVu

Ray Novokowsky intends to leave a legacy, for his own grandchildren and for the generations that follow: clean water.

“The greatest reward about working in the cleantech industry is knowing you have made a difference, knowing that you can bounce your grandchildren on your knee and say, ‘Grandpa helped make the water on this planet cleaner for you, your children and the children to come.’ That is the most rewarding comfort every day, knowing I can put my head on the pillow and know that I am helping make a difference.”

Ray’s company, EcoVu, is going to make a real difference in our ability to trap pollutants in water and make it pure again. “Our technology will help the entire world. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, water is involved in some fashion, whether that water is used for industrial purposes or for human consumption. Our system will enable all users of water to have clean water at their disposal.”

EcoVu is poised to move its water purification system one step closer to the international marketplace thanks to a $4-million investment from Ontario’s Innovation Demonstration Fund. The fund helps innovative Ontario companies commercialize promising new clean technologies by supporting them at the pilot or demonstration project stage. The pilot projects help the companies attract the lead customers and investors they need to move their technology to the global marketplace.

Novokowsky describes EcoVu’s technology as ‘chemical Velcro.’

“We use a chemical trap to remove contaminants in water. Most other processes use screens or physical membranes.” He credits EcoVu’s success to the work of chief scientist Bryan Hollebone. “The original concept of EcoVu derived from Bryan’s work. He dedicated himself to looking at and anticipating where the problems were going to be. He looked at the increase in pollution and determined that new methods would be required for cleaning up water.”

Novokowsky uses a hockey analogy to illustrate his point: “Bryan went to where the puck is going to be. As an entrepreneur, I could see that we could capitalize on his work. It’s a winning team. That’s what innovation is: anticipating, knowing what the trends are going to be and keeping ahead of them. You have to do that as a visionary.”

He’s convinced that he’s backed a winner with EcoVu and says a good part of the success has been in finding the right people.

“When you surround yourself with competent, intelligent, caring people who all share the desire to make a difference, it’s a very rewarding feeling. It’s fun and it’s serious, but it’s rewarding because the people make it so. We choose this environment because we are all part of the same school of fish. We move in the same way, sometimes without communication. We just naturally do it.”

Always with an eye to the future, Novokowsky spends a lot of time talking to students. “Young people can truly act as stewards of the planet, and water is such an important commodity. If I can inspire them to be aware of the challenges, their thoughts, creativity and their applications of the knowledge we leave behind can only improve upon the mess we created with pollution. Students hold the promise of helping to clean up the planet.” As a prophetic piece of advice, he adds:

”And keep it clean.”

Dr. Michael Donkers
Director of Innovation
EcoVu

Dr. Michael Donkers has some sage advice for those considering the cleantech field: Don’t limit yourself to what you think you know.

It’s a piece of wisdom he picked up as “the physics guy in a chemistry company.”
He says, “My background is physics. I came to EcoVu, a chemistry company, thinking that my role would be limited and defined. When I removed myself from that thought and looked at the bigger picture, I found there is always something I could learn. Don’t limit yourself. Expand the role that you find yourself in.”

It’s an outlook that serves him well as Director of Innovation at the Ottawa-based water purification company. “I like to learn new things every day. At EcoVu, I never know what I’m going to find every day and that motivates me.”

Donkers’ background is in particle physics: undergraduate work at the University of Guelph and a PhD from Carleton.  “After a short term as a post-doctoral fellow at Carleton, I knew I wanted to do something different.”

He didn’t have to look much further than his own doorstep.  “After six months talking to different companies in Ottawa, I came across EcoVu. This is a place where you can make a lot of discoveries. You’re given free rein to look at things, explore different avenues and then communicate that with everyone around you. If you want to pursue it further, there is lots of support here.”

More important, Donkers wanted to make an environmental impact through his work. “Water is a very important resource for all of us – not just the water we drink, but the water in the lakes and the streams. Those are all very important things for us to be concerned about. That’s what I see this company contributing to.”

EcoVu is poised to move its water purification system one step closer to the global marketplace thanks to a $4-million investment from Ontario’s Innovation Demonstration Fund. The fund helps innovative Ontario companies commercialize promising new clean technologies by supporting them at the pilot or demonstration project stage. The pilot projects help the companies attract the lead customers and investors they need to move their technology to the global marketplace.

Donkers is pleased that he’s been able to follow his career at home, in Ontario. “Everything I have done has been focussed in Ontario. It’s where I grew up. It was always my intent to stay close. I was open to travelling, but Carleton University was one of the best places to pursue my academic career. It was a natural fit. I have come to love the Ottawa community. There are lots of opportunities here to do what I want to do.”

And what he wants to do is promote innovation. “There is always something new to learn and discover. It’s very exciting. EcoVu is offering a new way of purifying water, making it more cost effective and safe for people as well as for industries that are dependent on water, which is just about every company in the world.”