Nexeon wins award for Best Technological Breakthrough and Oxford Capital Partners wins Investor of the Year.
Nexeon has won another award – the prestigious Climate Week Award in the Best Technological Breakthrough category, for their lithium ion battery technology that uses silicon in place of carbon.
Finalists in 14 categories along with eminent individuals attended the Climate Week reception at Lancaster House, London. The Climate Week Awards recognise the very best of what Britain has to offer in combating climate change, including outstanding achievements by individuals, businesses and communities.
Judges included activist Bianca Jagger, the Bishop of London Richard Chartres, the Prince of Wales’ environmental advisor Tony Juniper and the government’s chief climate scientist Sir Robert Watson.
Climate Week is Britain’s biggest climate change campaign and Nexeon was joint winner in its category alongside the Department for International Development.
Nexeon has created a new type of silicon which is structured at the microscopic level like the spines of a hedgehog, and enables a battery to store more power. Most modern devices, such as mobile phones and laptops, use batteries which store electricity using carbon anodes. Silicon can store ten times as much energy as carbon but until now has been unsuitable for batteries because of physical degradation during battery charge and discharge. Nexeon’s innovation uses silicon anodes, based on research from Imperial College, London, that allow batteries to last longer and store more energy. This technology could be crucial in improving the performance of renewable energy from wind and solar sources, allowing more energy to be stored during peak generation periods for use later. It would also mean that anything using batteries, from laptops to electric cars, would run for longer on a single charge.
Dr Scott Brown, CEO of Nexeon said: “We are delighted to have won this important award. So many quality companies are working hard on environmental initiatives, and we are especially proud to have had our progress recognised.”
The Prime Minister, David Cameron said: “I am extremely pleased to support Britain’s second Climate Week. When I gave my backing to the first Climate Week in 2011, we did not know what the level of participation would be and whether there would be appetite for joint action to help prevent and adapt to climate change. The response was huge. Half a million people attended over 3,000 events, making it Britain’s biggest ever environmental occasion and the country’s largest climate change campaign. Climate Week 2012 is expected to have even more impact.
This award follows a chain of success this year. Nexeon has been given two major accolades at the 2012 Rushlight Awards, including the overall Clean Energy Award. This award recognises the progress made by Nexeon in developing silicon-based anodes for next generation lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries.
Nexeon also won the Powered Transport Award – given for the most significant advancement leading to commercial development of cleaner transport and a significantly improved embedded environmental footprint.
Nexeon was also shortlisted for the The New Energy Awards this year as a university spin-outs that has produced particularly exciting or ground-breaking new energy research that has been catapulted into the world of business.
We are also proud of another client, Oxford Capital Partners who won Investor of the Year being the best amongst investing institutions, private equity firms, venture capitalists, business angels, and serial investors that has done the most to help renewable energy businesses prosper and progress.
David Mott, Investment Director, Oxford Capital said:
“Investment in renewable energy works on many levels. It provides capital to support the development of fast-growing innovative business which will create jobs and deliver economic growth. It offers the potential for long-term capital growth to investors, who can access these businesses through tax efficient Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) investments. It also makes a major contribution to combating man-made global warming through support for the development of new renewable energy sources.”