British Columbia Innovation Council

Jennifer Thompson, VP Corporate Development accepting the TSX Top 50 and "Pick of the Street" Awards from John McCoach, President, TSX Stock Exchange

With an impressive number of patents and awards already given to this innovative R&D company, EnWave's entry into BC's industrial technology sector shows no sign of slowing its march. The company was a recipient of a BCIC Commercialization of Agricultural Technology (CAT) Competition $10,000 Expression of Interest voucher in 2009. It has developed what it believes could be a new industry standard for the dehydration of food, live or active bulk liquids and sensitive pharmaceuticals with their three distinct divisions: nutraREV^TM, powderREV^TM and bioREV^TM/ freezeREV^TM.

EnWave's groundbreaking technology, Radiant Energy Vacuum (REV) brings us back to 1996 where the proof-of-concept for dehydrating food and nutraceuticals was born in the UBC lab of founder and Co-CEO Dr. Tim Durance. Since then, this local startup has climbed to the top by offering a flexible, high-speed food dehydration solution that significantly reduces operating and capital expenses for makers of dried fruit, vegetables, meats, herbs and seafood. EnWave sold its first commercial-scale nutraREV^TM machine in 2009 and, in response to overwhelming interest from food processors around the world, plans to open a pilot plant in Delta, BC in Q3/2010 to demonstrate its REV technologies and conduct larger scale sample production for potential customer test markets.

Recognition

2010 has been a great year for Enwave. In June 2010, EnWave picked up the Gordon Royal Maybee Award by the Canadian Institute of Food Science & Technology in recognition of its achievement in commercializing nutraREV^TM, the food dehydration technology that soared from prototype to commercial machine in just three years. First recognized in 2009, this technology was given a US Institute of Food Technologists Food Expo Innovation Award, which honours outstanding innovation in food products, ingredients, applications, instruments, equipment, technology and services. EnWave is also a publicly traded company on the Toronto Venture Exchange and accepted the TSX Top 50 and "Pick of the Street" Awards.

In September 2009, EnWave contended in the BCIC CAT competition and took home a $10,000 Expression of Interest voucher to be put towards developing a business plan for a SME version of the powderREV^TM technology. Through the process, Jennifer Thompson, VP of Corporate Development at EnWave, met Richard Hallman, BCIC's Director of Life Sciences and today, the parties maintain a good relationship, often sharing information and knowledge of the industry.

"EnWave is an excellent example of great research done in BC institutions and persistence in the pursuit of commercialization," said Hallman. "They are setting the bar for other startup companies in BC's life sciences and technology communities."

EnWave is also commercializing its powderREV^TM bulk powder dehydration technology in collaboration with the world's largest producer of food cultures and probiotics, Danisco AS of Copenhagen, Denmark. The next version of this technology, a continuous pilot-scale machine, is planned for delivery to Danisco's testing facility in Madison, Wisconsin in Q4/2010.

bioREV^TM/freezeREV^TM

This July, EnWave announced that it had tested a new multiple-vial version of its prototype bioREV^TM/freezeREV^TM technology for dehydration of pharmaceuticals and non-regulated biological materials in serum vials. For over two years, the company has operated a single-vial version of this technology in its lab where it has successfully dehydrated a variety of bacterial cultures, enzymes, antibodies and one virus. The single-vial technology is also being tested at the Saskatchewan Research Council on two of their proprietary animal vaccines for E.coli bacteria. EnWave has begun high-level discussions with a number of vaccine and biomaterials manufacturers, and hopes to collaborate with one or more of these companies to accelerate the commercialization process.

"I would very much encourage other early-commercial stage companies to make use of the funding resources and staff at BCIC," said Thompson. "BCIC is extremely knowledgeable in BC's startup space and are good at putting people and places together with synergistic ideas. Assisting small companies with a wide range of support is so important, and, in this, the government clearly plays a key role in our collective success."

Learn more at Enwave.net.

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