�鶹�� Innovation Fund (MIF)

Hydral Energy: A Path Toward Clean Renewable Energy

junji.nishihata@mcgill.ca — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 16:42:34 +0000

With support from the �鶹�� Innovation Fund, �鶹�� startup Hydral Energy is laying the groundwork for a fossil fuel-free future as the world struggles to meet its Paris Agreement climate targets.

The transition to cleaner energy is an urgent global priority, established in the 2015 Paris Agreement, where 195 countries committed to limiting global warming and adapting to its impacts. Despite this, fossil fuels still supply about 80% of the world’s energy while accounting for nearly 90% of all human-generated carbon dioxide emissions, making them the primary drivers of climate change. Researchers, entrepreneurs, and policymakers worldwide are searching for technologies that can reduce emissions while meeting growing energy demands. For the team behind Hydral Energy, a startup launched out of �鶹��, the solution may have been hiding in plain sight. Aluminum, the same metal found in soda cans, can store and release energy.

Human-induced climate change has accelerated the need to pivot to cleaner sources of energy. Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar have proven to be increasingly cost-effective, but because they do not generate electricity on demand, the need for large-scale energy storage remains a major challenge. While batteries and hydrogen are effective at short-term energy storage, they are costly for long-duration and seasonal storage applications.

The Technology behind Hydral Energy

Hydral Energy is developing reactors that generate hydrogen and heat on-demand using only aluminum and water. The produced hydrogen and heat can then be used for electricity generation, heating, or motive power. Unlike current alternative fuels, aluminum offers a compact, safe, and low-cost medium for storing renewable energy over indefinite periods of time.

The idea traces back to years of foundational research at �鶹��’s Alternative Fuels Lab led by Professor Jeff Bergthorson, who has spent over fifteen years researching metal-based energy systems. The lab has already spun out two other startups: Altiro Energy, which has developed an iron-based energy storage system that produces zero emissions, and FeX Energy, which focuses on iron-based thermochemical energy storage. Both startups have successfully raised funding, and are now working on their respective pilot plants. Hydral Energy looks to do the same.

As Hydral Energy co-founder Oliver Fernie explains, “researchers had long known aluminum reacts with water, but it was never really studied for energy purposes.” The breakthrough came when researchers at �鶹�� discovered a catalyst-free method that completely consumes aluminum, releasing all of its energy, revealing aluminum’s potential as a viable energy carrier. “Our predecessors laid the groundwork,” Oliver says, “and now we're expanding on that to really take it forward.”

The Road Towards Decarbonization

For co-founder Médéric Chalifour, the significance of the technology lies in its potential role in decarbonization. “We know that we need to realize the energy transition and reach net zero carbon emissions all across the world across all sectors,” he says. “But current alternatives like the battery lack performance and compactness. For example, if you wanted to have a long-distance cargo ship running on batteries, the whole cargo would be batteries.”

Realizing aluminum’s potential as an energy carrier, however, depends on more than Hydral Energy’s reactor technology alone. When aluminum reacts with water, it releases energy — the hydrogen and heat that Hydral Energy’s reactor captures — and leaves behind aluminum oxide, a fine white powder Oliver describes as spent fuel. Using renewable energy, that oxide can be recycled back into aluminum, creating an energy-storage cycle. That recycling process would remain carbon-intensive, however, if conventional aluminum production methods were used. As Médéric explains, “the idea of using aluminum as energy storage is reliant on if we can produce aluminum in a sustainable clean way,” pointing to emerging carbon-free aluminum technologies currently being developed in Quebec, from companies such as Rio Tinto’s ELYSIS.

For Oliver, these parallel developments are what make the concept behind Hydral Energy viable. “If it wasn’t for that happening, the idea would be dead at the start,” he says. He describes Hydral Energy’s energy-release technology and advances in clean aluminum production as a kind of “yin and yang”: the former unlocks the energy stored in aluminum, while the latter makes it possible to replenish that energy carrier without generating emissions. If realized, this cycle would make aluminum as clean as traditional clean energy carriers such as hydrogen or ammonia.

The challenge, then, is no longer producing renewable electricity itself, but figuring out how to store and transport it efficiently. “Fortunately, we know how to produce renewable energy, like with solar—it’s a solved problem,” Médéric adds. “But to carry it around, that’s what we are trying to understand.”

From Innovation to Commercialization

Support from the �鶹�� Innovation Fund (MIF) has been vital to Hydral Energy’s early development. The program provides both financial support and a valuable opportunity to build the skills needed to grow a company. “If it’s your first time pitching your company to investors and you don’t really have the practice, the MIF gives you the opportunity to practice and really refine it,” Oliver says. Beyond funding, the program has also connected the team with advisors from across industries. “They set us up meetings with business advisors,” Médéric says. "It's basically our unofficial board,” Oliver adds.

For a team of engineering students, that kind of support goes a long way. The hardest part, Oliver admits, has been learning to translate complex research into a compelling pitch. “I want to tell you every single thing I’ve done, every problem I’ve encountered, and then what I did to fix it,” he said, “instead of just: this thing works, and this is what I can do for you. It’s like two different ways of speaking — one to engineers and another to investors and business people. I’m learning that, and I think I’m getting there now.”

Moving forward, the team plans to design, construct, and demonstrate a 500 kW pilot plant, the first critical step towards replacing fossil fuels at scale. “Now we can finally move on to fundraising and scaling this up,” says Oliver. Hydral is already on it, talking to potential partners in Quebec and organizing outreach. It is a promising start for a technology they believe could one day reach megawatt- and gigawatt-scale deployment.

Keywords:

Entrepreneurship

Innovation

MIF Lunch & Learn 30: Pivoting

junji.nishihata@mcgill.ca — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 20:23:11 +0000

Thursday, November 19, 2026 12:00to13:00

One word that comes up a lot in conversations with entrepreneurs is pivot. This refers to the common scenario where a major adjustment to the original plan needs to be made, and often very quickly. Generally these events are impossible to plan for, and typically fraught with risk. But are there ways to smooth the transition to new business models? Are there clear signposts that indicate a pivot needs to be made? And how can you be sure you have pivoted enough? To take us through the ups and downs of these sometimes gut-wrenching occasions, the MIF is presenting two seasoned entrepreneurs who will share their experiences. Note that unlike our other Lunch & Learns, this will be an in-person session:

Paul Kruszewski is a deep tech inventor and serial entrepreneur. Over the last 25+ years, his ground-breaking, award-winning AI products have been used to create numerous broadcasts, films, video games, toys, robots, amusement park rides and health & fitness applications. As Founder/CEO, he is a serial entrepreneur with 3 successful exits of frontier AI start ups, he specializes in developing and selling V1.0 AI Infrastructure for Enterprise. Customers have included Disney, Electronic Arts, Intel, Lockheed Martin, L3, Nikon, NVIDIA & Sony. His 4th start-up QARL is building AI agents to turbocharge human employees.

Tony Falco is a researcher and serial entrepreneur with a specialty in medical imaging. A holder of dozens of international patents, he has worked to obtain regulatory approvals in markets around the world, including in the US and Canada. He is a frequent contributor to the MIF.

Registration is now open.

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Entrepreneurship, Innovation

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Undergraduate Students

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Monday, June 15, 2026 - 16:14

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Frank Dawsom Adams Building (FDA3)

3450 University Street

Montreal, QC H3A 0E8

Canada

MIF Lunch & Learn 29: Go-to-Market Strategy

junji.nishihata@mcgill.ca — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 20:14:25 +0000

Thursday, October 15, 2026 12:00to13:00

Go-to-Market strategy (or GTM as it is often referred) is another key step in the startup journey. You may have created a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and you might already have that essential first customer, but what about reaching the customers who do not know you yet? Where do you find them, and how can they find you? Getting this right can spell the difference between disaster and delight. The MIF has convened two experts to speak on this topic:

Jared Lee is a Faculty Lecturer at the Desautels Faculty of Management, where he teaches design thinking, innovation, and entrepreneurship for graduate and undergraduate learners. He is also a Partner at Juniper, a boutique firm providing consulting and learning solutions at the creative intersection of strategy, innovation, and culture. He has broad experience in the education, transportation, non-profit, and other sectors, including advising clients on strategic planning, innovation, organizational effectiveness, and leadership.

Helen Papachronis is a Director of Project Development for NGEN Canada, Canada’s Global Innovation Cluster for Advanced Manufacturing. She has a track record of achieving topline growth in B2B markets: Cleantech, eMobility, Utility, IoT, Telecommunications, Supply Chain, Automation, Government Sales, Manufacturing, Mining.She has broad experience in the tech sector including Next AI, Telus and GE.

Registration is now open.

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Monday, June 15, 2026 - 16:04

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Canada

Cellterix: A New Future for Type 1 Diabetes Patients

junji.nishihata@mcgill.ca — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 13:08:13 +0000

In 1921, Canadian scientists gave the world insulin and changed medicine forever. A century later, supported by the �鶹�� Innovation Fund, Cellterix, a biotechnology startup, is building on that legacy, and developing a novel vascularized cell encapsulation technology that could revolutionize Type 1 diabetes care for millions of patients worldwide.

Over 100 years ago, insulin was discovered here in Canada, in the labs of the University of Toronto, where Frederick Banting, Charles Best, James Collip and J.J.R. Macleod changed the fate of millions in one of modern medicine’s most storied breakthroughs.

Today, approximately 300,000 Canadians are living with Type 1 diabetes, a number growing by an estimated 4.4% each year. Globally, Type 1 diabetes affects an estimated 9.5 million people. Unlike Type 2 Diabetes, which typically develops when the body becomes resistant to insulin or does not produce enough of it, Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition in which the body attacks the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.

For people living with Type 1 diabetes, managing the disease is both time-consuming and mentally taxing. Type 1 diabetes patients must routinely monitor their blood glucose, administer insulin, and calculate carbohydrates carefully. If blood sugar remains too high for too long, it can gradually damage blood vessels and nerves. If it drops too low, it can trigger a dangerous hypoglycemic episode. Beyond daily monitoring, these patients are also at an increased risk of developing serious long-term complications including neuropathy, coronary heart disease, retinopathy, and kidney disease.

In Canada, transplanting insulin-producing islet cells from donor pancreata is an approved therapy, but it remains available to only a small number of patients (as of 2025, only about 2,500 patients around the world have successfully undergone this treatment). Donor organs are scarce, and more than half of transplanted cells die soon after infusion due to the inflammatory reaction and subsequent oxygen deprivation.

Even when the transplant succeeds, recipients must take lifelong immunosuppressive drugs to prevent rejection. Cellterix, a biotechnology company and winner of the Desjardins Deploy Award in the fifth cohort of the �鶹�� Innovation Fund (MIF), developed its novel vascularized cell encapsulation technology to address these critical limitations.

The Technology behind Cellterix

The central problem in cell transplantation for Type 1 diabetes has always been a stubborn trade-off. Encapsulating donor cells or engineered islets behind a protective barrier shields them from immune attack, but that same barrier cuts off the blood supply needed for the cells to survive and function resulting in less effective therapeutic effect. Without a continuous flow of oxygen and nutrients, up to half of transplanted cells can die shortly after surgery. Previous devices either relied on surface vascularization, which proved insufficient, or waited for the body to slowly generate new vessels around the graft; a process too slow to keep highly metabolically demanding islet cells alive.

Cellterix’s device is designed to surgically connect to existing blood vessels, establishing immediate, active flow the moment it is implanted. Blood moves through it continuously, nourishing the cells and carrying insulin directly into the circulation, while an encapsulating material shields the graft from direct contact with blood components that cause thrombosis and the proinflammatory cells of the immune system, challenging the notion that encapsulation devices acting as immune barriers cannot simultaneously provide efficient blood flow.

“What’s unique about this device is that the blood supply is immediate,” explained Professor Corinne Hoesli, cofounder and CSO of Cellterix. “You create immediate blood flow through the device. But you still don’t have direct contact between the transplanted cells and the immune system.”

The technology behind Cellterix has a long research history. Professor Hoesli received her first Diabète Québec grant in 2014, which funded early experiments with sugar 3D printing and insulin-producing cells. After years refining the fabrication process, testing different coating strategies, and identifying the right transplant-grade polymer, polycarbonate urethane, the same class of material used in dialysis access grafts, was chosen for its durability and compatibility with the body (results of their research were announced earlier this year).

Bridging Science with Commercialization

The support of the �鶹�� Innovation Fund has been vital in shaping Cellterix from a project into a biotech startup. “It’s an excellent opportunity for students to get their first taste of entrepreneurship,” said Demetry Prezelj, CTO of Cellterix. “Students get to learn a lot about things that are glossed over and not really mentioned in laboratories.”

The mentorship and support provided by MIF also helped the team bridge the gap between science and commercialization. “ I think academic research is incredibly strong in theory, science, and discovery,” Prezelj said. “ But one important challenge is making sure that promising ideas are also grounded in real-world feasibility. You have the theory, science, knowledge, but can this realistically be translated beyond the lab? And if so, what steps are needed to make it safe and practical enough to truly help people?”

Hoesli, too, highlights the key role the �鶹�� ecosystem has played in advancing this work. “There’s not many places where they perform islet transplantation in Canada — there are four,” Hoesli noted. “In Quebec, the only place is the �鶹�� Health Centre. Having the support of the �鶹�� ecosystem is crucial — especially the medical part.”

Further adding to the team’s depth was the recent addition of CEO Craig Hasilo. He brings over 21 years of experience spanning clinical islet transplantation, cell manufacturing, medical device development and leadership in national biomanufacturing and cell therapy initiatives. This includes co-founding Sernova Corp (now Sernova Biomedical), which went public in 2008. According to Hasilo, the MIF’s backing has positioned the company to pursue the larger funding rounds needed to bring its technology toward clinical validation.

“Now the challenge is we’re going to have to find a way to raise at least $10 million overall to get to the point where we can start to generate some clinical data,” Hasilo said. “MIF has been the spearhead for it all. It’s the reason that everything happened. Now we need to tap into the ecosystem, tap into the different funding mechanisms, and create a robust company with a lot of viability behind it.”

Hasilo hails from London, Ontario, also the hometown of Frederick Banting who formed part of the duo that identified insulin over a century ago. “We have this undeniable legacy,” he said, “and it feels like we should champion this effort.”

Keywords:

Innovation

Entrepreneurship

MIF Lunch & Learn 27: Sales for Non-salespeople

junji.nishihata@mcgill.ca — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 19:42:01 +0000

Thursday, June 18, 2026 12:00to13:00

The very nature of entrepreneurship means that company founders will often have to do a little bit of everything: product development, financial planning, human resources, and yes - sales. This can be a challenge for some founders, many of whom often believe that good technology sells itself. But the reality is quite different, and all entrepreneurs will need to learn how to sell so that their businesses will survive. But how can people without sales experience or aptitudes become convincing salespeople? The MIF has assembled a panel of experts to help learn how these skills can be developed.

UPDATE: NEW SPEAKER

Jacques Pavlenyi is the Director of Marketing and Communications for GenAIz, and a B2B marketing leader who serves Montreal tech companies. He has decades of experience in product and content marketing for both large and small companies.

John Nikolopoulos is an instructor at the Desautels Faculty of Management, and a senior sales executive with over 30 years experience in B2B and B2C sales, in both the US and Canada.

This event is open to all: registration is now open.

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Entrepreneurship, Innovation

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Undergraduate Students

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Wednesday, April 1, 2026 - 15:01

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Canada

MIF Lunch & Learn 26: Team Building for Startups

junji.nishihata@mcgill.ca — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 15:51:48 +0000

Friday, May 29, 2026 12:00to13:00

DATE CHANGE: This event is now taking place on MAY 29.

Startups present some unique issues when hiring or building teams, and academic startups in particular have unique challenges to face. But how important is company culture when there is only one or two employees? And why should startups worry about building teams when they need to find their first customers? To answer these and other team-related questions, the MIF has assembled a panel of experts:

Mike James Ross is a consultant for Egon Zehnder. A recognized expert on HR matters, he is also the co-author of "Intention: The Surprising Psychology of High Performers” to help people become the best that they want to be.

Chantal Westgate is a professor of Organizational Behaviour in the Desautels Faculty of Management. She is also the President of Quinte Dimension, a coaching consultancy. She has advised clients on leadership, collaboration and teamwork for nearly two decades.

This event is open to all: Registration is now open.

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Entrepreneurship, Innovation

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Undergraduate Students

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Wednesday, April 1, 2026 - 11:38

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Canada

Coopérathon 2026 Information Session

mariesandra.kibisu@mcgill.ca — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 19:35:23 +0000

Thursday, March 26, 2026 11:00to12:00

Unleash your skills!

Join us to learn more about Coopérathon 2026, Canada’s largest open innovation competition powered by Desjardins.

Coopérathon creates innovative, high-impact enterprises by providing a structured journey that includes tools, training, mentorship, and an expansive network of partners.

Whether you are passionate about social innovation, sustainability, or technological advancement, Coopérathon challenges participants to build solutions aligned with the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Registration is now open. For complete details, see the attached program overview below.

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Entrepreneurship, Innovation

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/innovation

Graduate Students

Students

Undergraduate Students

Attachments:

cooperathon-2026_unleash-your-skills_eng_21-01-26_1.pdf

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Tuesday, March 3, 2026 - 12:50

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MIF Pitch Review Round 2

junji.nishihata@mcgill.ca — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 19:16:38 +0000

Thursday, December 4, 2025 12:30to14:00

MIF applicants who have practised their pitch once will get yet another chance to demonstrate their acquired skills. This final session will be optional. It is your last chance to practice a pitch in front of a live audience before the Selection Days which take place the following week.

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Monday, October 27, 2025 - 15:15

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Canada

MIF Pitch Review Round 1

junji.nishihata@mcgill.ca — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 19:15:24 +0000

Thursday, December 4, 2025 09:00to12:00

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Entrepreneurship, Innovation

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Monday, October 27, 2025 - 15:09

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Canada

MIF Pitch Practice Round 2

junji.nishihata@mcgill.ca — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 19:08:11 +0000

Friday, November 28, 2025 08:30to13:00

Think you're ready to make a pitch to the MIF judges? Make sure you practice first! This session will offer MIF applicants an opportunity to practice their pitch in front of a live audience, with feedback provided. This is a valuable chance to perfect your pitching skills and to revise your content.

NOTE: all applicants must choose either Round 1 or Round 2. Specific pitching slots within this 4-hour window will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis (after the MIF application window has closed). This session is also mandatory.

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Entrepreneurship, Innovation

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Monday, October 27, 2025 - 15:06

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Canada

�鶹�� Innovation Fund (MIF)

Hydral Energy: A Path Toward Clean Renewable Energy

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MIF Lunch & Learn 30: Pivoting

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Cellterix: A New Future for Type 1 Diabetes Patients

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Unleash your skills!

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MIF Pitch Practice Round 2