After reading this article this morning, there may be some substance to that....We couldn’t be here without him, frankly,” says Chris Burns, a former Dahn student and the co-founder of Novonix, a company in suburban Halifax formed out of Dahn’s lab to develop battery testing equipment.It may not yet be common knowledge across Canada, but Nova Scotia is undergoing a transformation from Canada’s crown jewel for seafood, ships and Alexander Keith’s to a globally recognized battery research and development cluster. Call it the Jeff Dahn effect.
Helping local companies Dahn — who first moved to Nova Scotia at age 13 when his family emigrated from Bridgeport, Conn. — is always looking ahead to what’s around the next curve, both for himself, professionally and the industry. As we reported in our previous article, Dahn says his goal is “to be able to help more local start-ups in Nova Scotia. When I retire that will be my goal: to help more local companies.”
In fact, as the example of Burns and Novonix shows, that work is already well underway. Dahn is committed to building an industry in Nova Scotia that will retain the talent that passes through his lab and the other nine university and 13 college campuses in the province.“
So far Dahn’s lab boasts two direct spin-off companies situated in the Halifax area: Novonix and DPM Solutions, a company that designs custom research equipment.The cluster building up around Dahn’s lab and the labs of other notable Dalhousie researchers — including professors Mark Obrovac and Lukas Swan — have helped lure companies like battery maker Salient Energy to relocate from Ontario to the Atlantic Coast and helped to attract the attention of international power players like Apple, GM and Panasonic.
Novonix, meanwhile, which Burns co-founded with David Stevens, another of Dahn’s former students, now holds contracts with companies in over 15 countries — including Tesla, Samsung and Microsoft. Beyond its founders, the company has an additional five Dahn mentees working in their lab, including Dahn’s son.
In the second of our feature series on the NSERC/Tesla Canada Industrial Research Chair, we focus on the cluster of lithium-ion battery expertise building around Dahn’s lab at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia and his extended impact on the next generation of Canadian researchers and developersLithium-ion batteries are critical to the future of green energy and Nova Scotia is going all in to support and grow its cleantech economy — in significant part by harnessing the power of an industry champion.
“We recognize Jeff Dahn is a significant force in the battery world,” says Suzanne Fraser, investment attraction executive at Nova Scotia Business Inc. (NSBI), a business development agency.“ Everyone in the international space knows who he is.” For 40 years, Jeffrey Dahn, a Dalhousie University physics professor and the NSERC/Tesla Canada Industrial Research Chair, has been immersed in lithium-ion technology.
As detailed in the first article in this series, based on his exclusive interview with Electric Autonomy Canada, Dahn’s reputation as an industry pioneer was a steady build until 2016, when he was catapulted to international name recognition after signing an exclusive five-year R&D contract with Tesla.
Lasting impact in a 2017 TEDx talk, Dahn estimates one in 10 electric cars on the road uses chemistry that comes out of his lab. Much global credit is owed to Dahn for advancing technology and establishing lithium-ion as a viable energy storage option.
But back in Nova Scotia, there are signs — and expectations — that Dahn will have an even greater, lasting impact on his home soil.Through his work at Dalhousie, Dahn is not only developing and testing new methods of energy storage and publishing world-famous papers on his findings, but attracting and mentoring the best and brightest minds from around the world — the next generation of lithium-ion researchers.
Beyond the classroom, spin-off companies, partnerships and contracts with international technology leaders are also taking root.“Everything we’ve done is really only possible because of the opportunities from Jeff…to this day [he] still refers customers to us who come to him with questions.
We couldn’t be here without him, frankly,” says Chris Burns, a former Dahn student and the co-founder of Novonix, a company in suburban Halifax formed out of Dahn’s lab to develop battery testing equipment.It may not yet be common knowledge across Canada, but Nova Scotia is undergoing a transformation from Canada’s crown jewel for seafood, ships and Alexander Keith’s to a globally recognized battery research and development cluster. Call it the Jeff Dahn effect.
Helping local companies Dahn — who first moved to Nova Scotia at age 13 when his family emigrated from Bridgeport, Conn. — is always looking ahead to what’s around the next curve, both for himself, professionally and the industry.
As we reported in our previous article, Dahn says his goal is “to be able to help more local start-ups in Nova Scotia. When I retire that will be my goal: to help more local companies.”
In fact, as the example of Burns and Novonix shows, that work is already well underway. Dahn is committed to building an industry in Nova Scotia that will retain the talent that passes through his lab and the other nine university and 13 college campuses in the province.“
There are some very good labs and researchers across the country,” says Dahn. “I’m proudest of my students who have gone off and done really well. I think that makes me the most happy, to tell you the truth.”
On the Jeff Dahn Research Group lab website there is a list of former students. It’s a wall of fame for graduates of Dahn’s program that tracks their careers. Research scientists, Tesla engineers, CEOs, professors — the possibilities appear limitless.
Thousands of students around the world vie for the opportunity to join the lab. Today there are currently 18 students from six countries — just a snapshot of the international appeal the lab enjoys.
So far Dahn’s lab boasts two direct spin-off companies situated in the Halifax area: Novonix and DPM Solutions, a company that designs custom research equipment.
The cluster building up around Dahn’s lab and the labs of other notable Dalhousie researchers — including professors Mark Obrovac and Lukas Swan — have helped lure companies like battery maker Salient Energy to relocate from Ontario to the Atlantic Coast and helped to attract the attention of international power players like Apple, GM and Panasonic.
Novonix, meanwhile, which Burns co-founded with David Stevens, another of Dahn’s former students, now holds contracts with companies in over 15 countries — including Tesla, Samsung and Microsoft. Beyond its founders, the company has an additional five Dahn mentees working in their lab, including Dahn’s son.
NVX Price at posting:
$1.48 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
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