Canatu wins the 2019 CTO of the Year award
Helsinki, Finland - Canatu’s Ilkka Varjos is the winner of “The CTO of the Year 2019” award in the category of small and medium sized companies. The award has been given since 2010 in two categories: large companies and SMEs.
The CTO of the Year award is given to a technology leader, who has through his work added significant value to the company’s performance and growth through technology, is an inspiring team builder and team leader, and is active in societal networking.
“Ilkka is one of the first employees at Canatu. His innovativeness and strong technological knowledge, despite his rather young age, have been in significant role in the development of the technologies at Canatu. Our R&D team, consisting of highly skilled professionals, has developed not only the product but also the manufacturing equipment and processes,” tells Canatu’s CEO Juha Kokkonen. “Ilkka has strong relationships to both research communities and material suppliers & converters. Due to this collaboration, we have been able to develop the nanocarbon products and commercialize them to mass production,” continues Kokkonen.
Carbon nanobuds were found in the Nanomaterials Group at the Aalto University in the beginning of the 21st century. The company Canatu was established based on this innovation and Canatu has brought the disruptive technology to markets in 2015, when the mass production of 3D-formable touch films and sensors started.
“I am very grateful of this valuable award as a technology leader. Without the hard work of our development team throughout the years, we would have not been able to take the journey from the University world to manufacturing and commercialization,” says Ilkka Varjos delighted.
Recently Canatu announced a licensing deal with the world’s 2nd largest automotive supplier, DENSO, to develop especially new type of heater products for autonomous cars. Canatu has debuted in automotive industry, but the company aims also to other branches – there are numerous application areas, where nanotechnology can be utilized. In order to utilize the nanotechnology widely in different industries, a partner network combining science, research and development is crucial.
“In the long term, we could build a knowledge cluster in Finland, so called “Nanocarbon valley”, where nanocarbons would be used as a platform technology to meet the needs of different industries,” envisions Varjos.
Find the original article here: http://www.ctoforum.fi/news-media/2019/3/13/finlands-ctos-of-the-year-2019-saul-eloranta-of-rolls-royce-marine-and-ilkka-varjos-of-canatu