A delegation will depart for the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi this week as The University of Toledo works to strengthen and establish new relationships with researchers, companies and countries at the premier alternative energy conference.

UT will be one of some 600 exhibitors and one of the only universities represented by the United States.

“I know we impressed people last year and it is important to highlight that our alternative energy knowledge, expertise and efforts are continuing to expand,” said Dr. Frank Calzonetti, vice president for research development.

“Last year was about introducing The University of Toledo to key global players in alternative energy. It will be through continued development of those relationships that UT will find opportunities for research and commercialization partnerships that we hope eventually can translate into alternative energy industry jobs in northwest Ohio.”

Calzonetti will give a presentation on UT’s Clean and Alternative Energy Incubator and Toledo’s solar energy industry cluster.

This year’s delegation also will include Chuck Lehnert, vice president for facilities and construction, Dr. Dan Kory, associate vice president for technology transfer, Megan Reichert-Kral, director of incubation, and Diane Miller, assistant director of incubation.

As it did last year, UT’s exhibit will include materials from the Ohio Department of Development, emphasizing the value the state sees in possible investment from the companies or countries at the summit, Calzonetti said.

Meanwhile, Kory will converse with exhibitors UT met with last year and work to create new partnerships.

Because UT has dramatically increased its external research funding and its number of patents over the past several years, Calzonetti said, “We want to see who we can partner with on our current research efforts and who might be interested in licensing patent technology and moving toward commercialization.”

Additionally, UT officials pointed to the progress the University has made in the last year alone.

“Our Scott Park Campus has been transformed in the last year and serves to emphasize the commitment UT has toward alternative energy,” Lehnert said.

Lehnert has led that transformation that includes connecting a wind-powered turbine and a 1.12-megawatt solar field to the UT grid.

“Many of these companies have already completed the type of alternative energy projects we are still planning for Scott Park,” Lehnert said. “Also, the summit will provide invaluable insight into what alternative energy technologies are on the horizon.”

A key part of the mission for the new Scott Park Campus of Energy and Innovation is to provide a working alternative energy laboratory for students and an essential part of the effort is to ensure students are working with those technologies they will see once they graduate from UT and enter the job market, Lehnert said.

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