Greg Kushnir.

How are you finding current business conditions?
Challenging. But there’s really only two things one can do about it. Complain (which doesn’t help much) or get busy doing whatever possible to persevere. We have been very busy all through the Covid-19 turmoil and actually hired additional staff during lockdown.

Do you believe that through adversity opportunities exist?
Competition is important and so is having an incentive to those who “win” it. It provides the sense of urgency which is essential for turning a good idea into a great start-up.

This virus is not going to go anywhere soon. Has Covid impacted on your business plans?
It has, unfortunately. It’s rather hard to build things like electronic systems and antennas if you can’t access your lab and test facilities. We have also suffered from delays in supply of components from overseas.

But we have been luckier than most and I’m very grateful to be living in a country that has dealt with Covid so well.

We have colleagues and friends overseas that have been under lockdown for months now. My heart goes to them. I wish we could do more to help those who have been less fortunate in dealing with the pandemic.

Is your company utilising government financial assistance?
We are. We have been utilising an R&D grant from Callahan Innovation. It would have been very hard to get to where we are without the consistent support we have been receiving from Callahan Innovation which extends far beyond the financial support.

What are your short and long term plans for Emrod ?
Develop deep IP in New Zealand and make sure we are providing maximum value to Kiwi employees and investors.

In the short term we will be developing and delivering wireless power systems to electricity distribution companies.

I would love to see it deployed in New Zealand before the rest of the world so we could support the New Zealand brand as an innovation centre and clean energy power house.

In the long run we would love to see our tech implemented in additional verticals such as aerospace, shipping, and aviation.

I’m personally eager to see our tech implemented in places and applications we haven’t yet thought of. Just like with other transformative technologies such as the internet, you start by developing it to address specific challenges but the really interesting applications are the ones that we can’t even imagine now.

What has the feedback been like since you went to market?
We mostly meet naysayers and sceptics. But, that’s actually how you know that you are onto something really significant… if everyone finds it trivial it means that you are too late.

Nevertheless, the feedback from environmental groups, electricity providers and even space agencies has been extremely positive and that keeps us motivated because we know we are creating something of great value to many people.

What was your motivation behind the development of Emrod?

We have an abundance of clean hydro, solar, and wind energy available around the world but there are costly challenges that come with delivering that energy using traditional methods, for example, offshore wind farms or the Cook Strait here in New Zealand requiring underwater cables which are expensive to install and maintain.

I wanted to come up with a solution to move all that clean energy around from where it’s abundant to where it’s needed in a cost-effective, eco-friendly way.

Energy generation and storage methods have progressed tremendously over the last century but energy transmission has remained virtually unchanged for the last 150 years.

By significantly reducing infrastructure costs, Emrod’s technology has the capacity to support remote communities such as in Africa and the Pacific Islands by providing access to cheap, sustainable energy to power schools, hospitals, and economies.

The realisation that WPT can unlock economic prosperity for many communities has been the main motivation for creating Emrod.

What have been some of the challenges you have faced along the way?

We have encountered two main challenges:

Tech R&D in NZ – our larger agenda is to support a shift in NZ towards an IP based economy. As part of that, we insisted in undertaking not only a world-class cutting edge R&D but to also undertaking it in NZ.

So the challenge was doubled by limited access to scientists, engineers, and funding compared to other places in the world.

This is where the support of Callahan Innovation was invaluable. In fact, without Callahan support it would have been impossible to develop this level of technology in NZ.

Winning hearts and minds – just like with any new transformative technology, the first one to introduce it inevitably has the challenge of educating the market and getting people to accept that there is a better way of doing things.

In our case, most of us are still used to the idea that energy comes to us as electricity over copper wires. One of our biggest challenges is to convince people that long range wireless power actually works and show them the potential benefits of using it.

Where has the funding come from to develop this prototype?

The funding came from the founder (Greg), a government R&D grant, and Powerco (our first electricity distribution partner) – so a combination of private, government and industry funding.

How much did it cost to build the prototype and will you need more capital to continue the development? Will you be doing a capital raise?

It cost around $1M so far and we are progressing full steam ahead with building ever larger, and more sophisticated systems so that naturally requires more funding. We are planning to raise capital in a few months time (to fund a commercial pilot).

Tell us about the trials and what your plans are over the short term (6 months)

We are currently building a larger system for Powerco. Next we have planned field trials and commercial pilots.

I think that the main challenges over the next 6 to 12 months would be to attract more talented Kiwi scientists and engineers to join Emrod so we could keep developing in New Zealand.. and also getting more of our electricity distribution companies to participate in testing and implementing WPT on their network.

What are your long term goals and plans?

We wanted to transform the way people think about powering communities, businesses and machines so they can grow and thrive while supporting the uptake of sustainable energy sources – A world where energy transmission is not constrained by wires.