How J-WAFS Solutions grants bring research to market

For the Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Solutions Laboratory (J-WAFS), 2025 marks a years of converting groundbreaking research study right into substantial options for international obstacles. Couple of instances show that goal far better thanNONA Technologies With assistance from a J-WAFS Solutions give, MIT electric design and organic design Teacher Jongyoon Han and his group created a mobile desalination gadget that changes salt water right into tidy alcohol consumption water without filters or high-pressure pumps.

The gadget differs from typical systems due to the fact that standard desalination modern technologies, like reverse osmosis, are energy-intensive, vulnerable to fouling, and normally released at huge, central plants. On the other hand, the gadget created in Han’s laboratory uses ion focus polarization innovation to get rid of salts and bits from salt water, creating drinkable water that goes beyond Globe Health and wellness Company requirements. It is portable, solar-powered, and operable at the press of a switch– making it a suitable option for off-grid and disaster-stricken locations.

This research study laid the structure for drawing out NONA Technologies in addition to founders Junghyo Yoon, a previous postdoc in Han’s laboratory, and Bruce Crawford MBA ’23, to advertise the innovation and address pushing water-scarcity concerns worldwide. “This is actually the conclusion of a 10-year trip that I and my team have actually gotten on,” claimed Han in an earlier MIT News article. ” We helped years on the physics behind private desalination procedures, however pressing all those developments right into a box, developing a system, and showing it in the sea … that was a truly significant and satisfying experience for me.” You can see this video showcasing the gadget at work.

Relocating development research study out of the laboratory and right into the globe is a popular difficulty. While typical “seed” gives normally sustain early-stage research study at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 1-2, couple of financing resources exist to assist scholastic groups browse to the following stage of innovation advancement. The J-WAFS Solutions Program is purposefully developed to resolve this important space by sustaining modern technologies in the risky, early-commercialization stage that is typically overlooked by typical research study, business, and endeavor financing. By sustaining modern technologies at TRLs 3-5, the program raises the chance that encouraging developments will certainly make it through past the college setup, progressing completely to draw in follow-on financing.

Just as crucial, the program offers scholastic scientists the moment, sources, and versatility to de-risk their innovation, check out client demand and possible real-world applications, and figure out whether and just how they intend to seek commercialization. For faculty-led groups like Han’s, the J-WAFS Solutions Program supplied the important economic path and business support required to improve the innovation, examination presumptions concerning market fit, and lay the structure for a start-up group. While still in the MIT technology community, Nona protected over $200,000 in non-dilutive financing via competitors and accelerators, consisting of the distinguishedMIT delta v Educational Accelerator These very early victories prepared for more financial investment and technological development.

Considering that drawing out of MIT, NONA has actually made significant strides in both innovation advancement and service feasibility. What began as a tool with the ability of creating simply over half-a-liter of tidy alcohol consumption water per hour has actually progressed right into a system that currently provides 10 times that ability, at 5 litres per hour. The business effectively increased a $3.5 million seed round to progress its mobile desalination gadget, and became part of a partnership with the united state Military Natick Soldier Equipment Facility, where it co-developed very early models and started producing profits while verifying the innovation. Most lately, NONA was granted 2 SBIR Stage I gives completing $575,000, one from the National Scientific Research Structure and an additional from the National Institute of Environmental Health And Wellness Sciences.

Currently running out of Greentown Labs in Somerville, Massachusetts, NONA has actually expanded to a devoted group of 5 and is preparing to introduce its nona5 item later on this year, with a delay checklist of over 1,000 consumers. It is additionally starting its very first commercial pilot, noting a crucial action towards industrial scale-up. “Beginning a company as a postdoc was difficult, specifically with minimal financing and market expertise,” states Yoon, that presently works as CTO of NONA. “J-WAFS provided me the economic liberty to seek my endeavor, and the mentorship pressed me to strike crucial landmarks. Many thanks to J-WAFS, I effectively transitioned from a scholastic scientist to a business owner in the water market.”

NONA is just one of a number of J-WAFS-funded modern technologies that have actually relocated from the laboratory to market, component of a growing portfolio of water and food options progressing via MIT’s technology pipe. As J-WAFS notes a years of militarizing technology in water and food, NONA exhibits what is feasible when mission-driven research study is coupled with targeted early-stage assistance and mentorship.

To get more information or obtain associated with sustaining start-ups via the J-WAFS Solutions Program, please get in touch with jwafs@mit.edu