Imagine IM - Graphene Solutions

Imagine ​

Here is a little about the company that MRL Corporation have signed a Heads of Agreement (HOA) with. At first glance it looks very impressive. Looks like a strong business plan backed up by a strong team. Here is a link to their website.

"Imagine IM started its life as NanoCarbon in 2014 with a vision to be a leader in the emergent graphene industry. Now, like many start ups, the company has pivoted. We met with real customers, who have already developed an understanding that graphene can be the solution to a current unmet need. As a result we gained insights that made us rethink our business model. We became extremely focused on solutions for mass manufacturing supply chains and realised that industrial scale manufacturing of intelligent materials would require us to develop new ways to make graphene composite materials and simultaneously enable customers to de-risk the use of a totally new material – graphene.
It was a transformational moment for us."

We are proud to announce that our company name has changed to Imagine Intelligent Materials – or Imagine IM for short. Our new brand identity aims to capture the principles and persona of turning bleeding edge research into 2D materials and deliver disruptive scalable products for our customers. We intend that “imgne™” will become synonymous with intelligent materials in industry and with consumers. We hope that our customers will be inspired, like us, to imagine the possibilities… of using graphene to create materials that can be mass manufactured and are incredibly strong, conductive, hydrophobic, impermeable to gases and will also act as self reporting sensors. We don’t know where the journey will take us yet. But we aspire to imgne the possibilities…

Notable people involved with IMAGINE IM
I was going to pick them one by one and write a description with a link to more info, but there is so many well experienced and connected people involved with this company. Warwick Grigor and Chris Gilbey are the most notable but there is a wealth of knowledge, experience and vision within this company.

Products and Focus
Water - We develop materials that can purify, attract, move, repel and detect water. Our solutions are designed to manage water in civil engineering, mining, urban landscapes, agriculture, sports, and medical environments. Our proprietary formulations for novel fibres and textiles are available under license to licensees.
Our solutions provide a wide range of benefits for products and technologies in water related applications including: ​

• Water desalination
• Leak detection in liquid containment systems e.g. tailing dams
• Water management in geosynthetic materials
• Sensing moisture
• Water management in agriculture
• Sports and performance apparel

Defense and Aerospace - We design materials that can be manufactured at scale to be stronger, lighter and harder, and have the ability to report on their condition and environment. Our materials are optimized for use in personal protection, light-weighting vehicles and structures, and in the collection of data on performance and for risk analysis.
Our solutions for graphene-based materials in defense and aerospace have potential applications in: ​

• Aircraft
• Automotive
• Mining
• Infrastructure
• Wearables
• Advanced Composites
• Protection
• Sensors

Construction - Graphene enhanced materials can be stronger, lighter and harder, control water and report their condition and environment. We have designed materials for testing leaks in liquid containment systems, in light-weighting and strengthening structural materials, as well as in the collection of data on performance and for risk analysis .
Our solutions can provide a wide range of benefits for products and technologies in construction related applications including: ​

• Leak detection in liquid containment systems
• Stronger carbon fiber composites
• Lighter construction materials
• Stronger piping materials
• Moisture management in construction textiles
• Infrastructure
• Moisture management
• Sensors
• Mining

IMGNE CERTIFIED™

The emerging graphene industry has many complexities and uncertainties. Which graphene is optimum for which application? How to find a trusted manufacturer with the relevant capabilities? We will find the right graphene solutions and supply chain for the application, enabling lower risk manufacturing scale up.

Both graphene manufacturers and end-users want to exploit graphene functionality, but the difficulty of replicability of graphene’s functionality creates supply chain risk. This is exacerbated by the small-scale of current graphene manufacture. By understanding the need of the end user we can specify the right quality and specific functionalities of graphene to ensure that supply can be delivered. We understand supply chain needs and relationships, technical processes and can define specifications for cost efficient scalable solution.
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• The imgne Certified™ quality assurance system addresses the complexities and uncertainties at every step of a supply chain for products made with graphene increasing speed to market and reducing manufacturing risk.
• The imgne Certified™ gives manufacturers access to certified suppliers and products with graphene functionalized for a given solution.

This HOA with "Imagine IM" is a very good move and may be the catalyst to propel the company right into the midst of the emerging graphene industry. I can see future offtake agreements with Imagine IM which would provide a great platform to build from. Their expertise and experience will be invaluable and I would find it difficult to put a price on that at this stage. The rest of this year will be a pivotal point for MRL Corporation as they go into production, and perform more testing on the one step graphene. ​