As climate change and environmental sustainability become ever-increasing priorities for governments & citizens around the world, a new category of innovation is emerging to offer much-needed solutions. The term clean-tech, also sometimes used interchangeably with green-tech or environmental technology, is the application of environmental science and innovative technology to conserve the natural environment & its resources, while curbing the negative impacts of human activity or involvement.
Since the clean-tech industry emerged into the spotlight over the last two decades, it’s seen considerable investment and rapid innovation — trends that are paving the way for a new crop of startups looking to make an impact.
One of said startups is Clean Oil International, the early-stage Canadian clean-tech firm responsible for inventing one of the world’s first and leading autonomous oil skimming technologies. The ambitious startup, who is eyeing to revolutionize oil-related disaster response, boasts an experienced founding & advisory team which has propelled them to win four international awards and four national grants, prior to even launching in any markets. The Founder & CEO, Babak Khodaparast set out to help governments and industry-stakeholders mitigate the severe economic, environmental and fiscal effects of oil-related disasters through their patented proprietary technology, which benefits from autonomous & nanotechnology. Their oil skimmer units, which are essentially autonomous portable boats, are highly effective in reducing deployment & operation time during oil spill disasters – a feat which significantly reduces the all-around costs of these accidents.
Oil-related disasters have catastrophic costs, some obvious and others not so much — which can exceed billions of dollars in both clean up costs & damage to regional economies. Amongst the various factors involved in oil spill clean up, deployment time, operational time and cost of equipment/labor are the main concerns that Clean Oil is addressing through their solution. Thus far, they’ve seen interest from offshore oil companies, offshore drilling companies, municipalities surrounded by bodies of water, ports, coast-guards and oil tanker companies.
Clean Oil’s commitment to clean-tech innovation recently yielded them the gold medal at the 6th annual Istanbul International Inventions Fair (ISIF ’21).The international competition, which brings together some of the brightest inventors, innovators and investors from around the world, was held in Q3 2021 in conjunction with the world’s largest technology and aviation festival (hosted in Turkey). The competition was hosted by the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office, in conjunction with the International Federation of Inventors Association, Anatolia Inventions and Inventors Association, with support from the World Intellectual Property Organization and the European Patent Office.
“We’re honored and thrilled to have received this prestigious award from the Deputy Minister of Industry and Technology of Turkey, and in one of the biggest innovation events in the world…” said Khodaparast. This award is just one of several Clean Oil has managed to earn as they move towards finalizing R&D and going to market.
This year, off the back of their international awards, Clean Oil International has no plans of slowing down, with several key milestones in their sights, including launching their first pilot and entering into the Middle Eastern market, with the support of various national & international stakeholders.
