Development, Scaling, and Transition of Novel Chemicals & Materials

Improved materials are required for progress in fields including printed electronics, semiconductors, aerospace & defense, energy, and life sciences/medical care.  Developing such materials and chemicals involves considerations of performance, cost, manufacturability, safety, and stability.  Scaling production of new materials is a very different challenge than making 50 grams in a laboratory.  Transitioning/commercializing new materials is a separate effort where intellectual property, regulation, quality control, system documentation, supply chain development, and business relationships become key.  This talk will address these aspects of introducing a new material into our enterprise.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Larry Takiff, PhD

Larry Takiff is co-Founder and President of Akita Innovations LLC, a small business in Massachusetts that develops and produces novel chemicals and materials for government and commercial customers.  He founded Akita in 2012 with Lawrence Hancock after working at Polaroid Corporation, Aprilis Inc., and Nomadics/ICx/FLIR Systems.  He is a chemist by training and a businessman by necessity.  At Akita, he has initiated and led projects in materials R&D and pilot production for a variety of government agencies/DoD components and for commercial partners.  Currently he is leading an effort to scale production of a decontamination fluid for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), and a FlexTech project to advance the TRL/MRL of a dielectric ink for printed electronics, as well as several Phase II SBIR development projects.