Industrial machines and devices generate a large amount of heat and energy that is usually wasted. AEInnova (Alternative Energy Innovations) was born with the objective of harnessing this heat generated by machines and transforming it into energy. "In a chimney, most of the heat from the wood is not used, because it escapes through the chimney. Why don't we place a device in the chimney and recover this heat to convert it into electricity?" reflects David Comellas, CEO of the company. After a decade of research and testing, the company is now preparing for the commercialization of these sensors "unique and sustainable that allow dispensing with polluting cables and batteries."
Thermoelectric energy (generated from heat), in fact, was not unknown and has been used in space since the late 70s to power vehicles and probes. "On Earth, we had been unable to apply it in a real and practical way." A group of four researchers from the Microelectronics Department of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), led by researcher Raúl Aragonès, decided in 2014 to make viable a mechanism that reused this energy to be applied to large industrial processes. "Industrial processes are very heat-intensive, but this heat ends up being lost and, consequently, there are many carbon dioxide emissions that have no utility," explains the CEO.
AEInnova offers with these sensors an alternative to lithium batteries, an increasingly scarce and highly polluting material. "From AEInnova we are competing with big brands, such as Siemens or Emerson, but these companies have a problem, and that is that they use lithium batteries as a power source; we are the only ones who have been able to completely eliminate the battery from the equation," assures Comellas.
This commitment to sustainability has led the startup to be recognized by institutions such as the United Nations or the European Commission, which has invested in the company and included it in its list of the top 30 European deep tech companies. Currently, the Terrassa-based company has accumulated more than thirty awards and recognitions, the latest of which is for best Deep Tech Start-up 2024, within the Smart City Expo fair. "In the current context, it is impossible to separate investment from social responsibility; economic investment must, by force, be socially responsible," says Comellas, who began investing in the company practically from the beginning after being "captivated" by a conference given by Raúl Aragonès. Comellas' involvement gradually increased, and he went from being an investor to being appointed CEO in 2017.
Over time, AEInnova's technology went a step further and adapted to the digitalization of industrial processes. "We had very powerful technology, which was giving us awards and recognitions, but we didn't have a business, because the industry was not willing to invest," says Comellas. Thus, they refocused their product and not only created self-powered sensors ---called Waste Heat Recovery Unit--- with an unlimited lifespan thanks to the transformation of heat into energy, but also made them capable of collecting data and creating predictions, through artificial intelligence algorithms. "We have managed not only to create the physical sensors, but also to incorporate software that allows us to collect data and analyze it to predict, for example, when a machine will break down, and get ahead of it."
Coinciding with its tenth anniversary, and after a total investment of eight million euros, certifications and patent tests in some thirty companies, the company faces a "decisive year" for the international commercialization of its sensors. With this objective, AEInnova has opened a 10 million financing round, the most ambitious to date, since the startup had been financed until now with small private investors (70% of the investment) and with subsidies for technological development. "2025 will be the year to achieve the first sales and set in motion the machinery that will allow us to go from a company that had been purely dedicated to research and certification, to a commercial company that manages to sell sensors in Europe, but also in countries like Japan, Singapore or the United States," defends Comellas.
The objective of raising this financing round is to double the workforce, currently made up of 22 employees, mainly engineers, and increase turnover. AEInnova closed 2024 with 300,000 euros in turnover, with the arrival of the first customers for these sensors, and expects this year to increase to 500,000 euros or one million euros, although they point to 2026 as the year of economic growth.
Although the company acknowledges having been in contact with North American investors who have offered them up to 20 million euros, they assure that their goal is to stay in Catalonia and have mainly Catalan investors. "We are a Catalan company and we want to remain so," says Comellas. "We have made a great effort to do everything from Catalonia; we do not manufacture in China, which would be the easiest, because there you send them a plan and they do everything for you, but we do everything here: we have looked for suppliers, manufacturers, local talent... Although we know that Catalan investors are still conservative and are afraid to invest in this type of technology, now we would like to be able to close this circle and commercialize it also with Catalan capital."