Letter from sofi's management team
We are excited to join Northwestern University’s Office for Research as founding Members of SOFI, the first global solar fuels translational research consortium. Energized by our successful launch in Telluride this past August, where our fellow participants shared their ideas and challenges, we stand ready to make SOFI a global success. We listened carefully, and this prospectus describes a Membership and IP structure we believe will bring SOFI Members and our solar fuels research to prominence. SOFI’s goal is the development of efficient, cost-effective photocatalytic systems that use the energy of sunlight to produce liquid fuels. Our science is inspired by natural photosynthesis, yet relies on the discovery of a spectrum of earth-abundant, robust materials. Solar fuels technology has enormous potential to furnish carbon-neutral energy to satisfy the expected growth of global energy requirements over the next several decades. It can provide near-term fungible fuels that will enable industry to take full economic advantage of existing infrastructure, while delivering a clear path toward new fuels for the future. Looking back over past industrial revolutions from steam to electricity to information technology, a pattern emerges that underscores the challenge in implementing major technological change. There is a long lead time from scientific discovery to commercial reality. Even the most rational, universally-beneficial transformation meets resistance, as behavioral, institutional, political and commercial barriers align with vested interests in ensuring that change happens glacially, if at all. Over the past 30 years, scientists and engineers have made tremendous strides in pushing the understanding (and control) of light capture, energy and charge transfer, fuel-forming catalysis, electrochemistry, materials, and nanotechnology. However, compartmentalization of these diverse fields has inhibited the smooth progression of fundamental research into translational R&D. SOFI aspires to remove that bottleneck by consortium building, industry engagement, techno-economic analysis, and concerted project management to create a viable solar fuels industry. SOFI will do this by building a global network of diverse professionals, through the development of proprietary web-based tools and the creation of a living Knowledge Map accessible to all SOFI Members. Initially, we will orchestrate Fellows exchanges and once established, we will identify and fund large-scale translational projects to encourage the commercialization of SOFI technology. In addition to the intellectual capital provided by our research lab and industry Members, the founders bring a deep understanding of technology-based entrepreneurship, systems integration, public policy and energy markets to propel SOFI technology from the laboratory to the marketplace. We live in a rapidly changing world of 7 billion people. Nearly 10 billion are expected by mid-century, 3 billion more middle class consumers will join the world economy by 2030, and global urbanization is anticipated to add over 600 million city dwellers by the same year. These changes are putting ever greater demands on our energy infrastructure and indeed our planet. The eventual adoption of solar technology provides a three-fold advantage over its carbon-based competitors by mitigating the effects of climate change, offering a sustainable supply of energy and spurring economic growth and innovation. We believe the widespread use of renewable energy such as solar fuels will deliver a cleaner and more prosperous world. SOFI aims to get us there more rapidly. |
Michael R. Wasielewski
Executive Director |
Dick T. Co
Managing Director |
Jonathan
Schneider
Managing Director |
Kimberly
Williams
Managing Director |