SM: I am assuming that you are doing your manufacturing in Toledo because of your ties with the university? XD: It is where our company has grown up. We have had the governor and lieutenant governor over at our facilities. We have also had our senators and congresswoman come visit.
SM: What happened when you came out to Silicon Valley to raise money? XD: We were successful because we showed the venture capitalists that the company, for free, built a production line for the university using grant money. In essence, we had already proven our ability to succeed once, and I had the same team
SM: A $2.9 million grant sounds like real money. What was the project? XD: It was to build a hydrogen generation system using solar. At that time fuel cells were very hot. Of course, a fuel cell needs fuel, which happens to be hydrogen.
SM: Awareness of alternative and renewable energy before 2003 was much lower than it is today. It started picking up on a global scale in 2003-2004. Getting grants instead of venture funding seems like a good route to have gone in that particular timeframe. XD: It was good, although it was pretty tough to get
SM: When you went to the university, you essentially went to carry on type of work you had been doing at ECD? XD: I learned business and operations savvy at ECD. As soon as I arrived at the university I quickly built my team and developed the ability to make high efficiency solar cells.
SM: Tell me where your journey begins. Where are you from and how did you end up at the University of Toledo? XD: I was born in Nanchang, China in 1963. I grew up there and went to college at the University of Science and Technology of China. In China we have a nationwide college