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Dr Jeffrey Trogolo, Executive Vice-President and Chief Technology Officer, AgION Technologies Inc., USA
 1) Briefly tell us what it is about your company/project that makes it so special?
AgION Technologies has a mission to combat the spread of problematic bacteria and viruses on critical surfaces in healthcare facilities, on medical devices, food and potable water contact and many other applications using natural, environmentally friendly antimicrobial technologies. AgION has pioneered the use of these materials in applications requiring not only long-lasting performance, but a high level of safety and broad spectrum efficacy against bacteria, fungi and viruses.
2) What country best facilitates starting a tech company? What single thing can a government do to encourage Technology Pioneers?
In my experience in the United States, starting a technology company requires a combination of resources and conditions. Perhaps most important is access to capital and a wealth of ideas. However, particularly in the Boston area, we have also benefited from a very high quality, well educated workforce within a culture of entrepreneurship. This attitude of self-determination through a start-up company likely springs from the excellent group of universities in the area that are constantly innovating in both technology and business. The environment is motivating when many of one’s friends and neighbors are in interesting, successful start-up companies – it’s simply an exciting place to be.
One particularly important component that allows a pioneer to start and grow a technology company is property rights. Part of the motivation to follow one’s passion and start a company comes from the belief that one is free to bring the pursuit to fruition. Governments must establish a clear structure of physical and intellectual property rights to secure the commitment of the innovator, lest they go elsewhere.
3) What makes an innovator?
A successful innovator looks at a problem with a fresh perspective, even if they have been familiar with the problem for years. This often requires rejection of existing solution strategies. True innovators refine the problem so that efforts to resolve it don’t run up against the same barriers that keep it a problem. In some cases the solution is invention of new technical capability. However, an innovator can also be inspired by knowledge gained from a variety of experiences that, when applied with a redefined perspective on the problem, leads to an elegant, unique solution. Therefore, I believe that the ability to approach a problem without preconception and to pull ideas from outside the typical scope of the problem are key traits that make an innovator.
4) How does your company directly contribute to improving the state of the world?
Although microorganisms are ubiquitous and critical to fundamental biological processes in essentially all ecosystems, too many of the wrong type in the wrong place at the wrong time can cause problems. In many cases, these harmful microorganisms are not only those floating around in water or air but include organisms that have colonized surfaces. The likelihood of a detrimental effect is even greater when microorganisms have colonized surfaces in large numbers or in high risk areas.
For example, the food processing industry is very focused on hygiene in the factory environment. However, even minute microcracks in a floor can house microorganisms such as
Listeria monocytogenes
that can multiply to unacceptable levels within hours, potentially contaminating the food and causing serious food-borne illness. Bacteria often colonize medical devices such as catheters implanted in the body. Many of those colonized catheters result in infection, risk to the patient and the corresponding added cost to the healthcare system. In water filters, bacterial biofilms can form on the filter media and prevent the filter from allowing enough water flow, or from effectively removing harmful contaminants. Surfaces that are designed to transfer heat in power systems and air conditioners are often fouled by biofilms of microorganisms such as
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
that reduce efficiency and waste energy. And especially lately, new viral strains such as SARS, Norwalk and avian flu have emerged, and have been shown to survive for days on surfaces. Antibiotic resistant strains such as
Vancomycin Resistant Enterococci
(VRE) and
Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus
(MRSA), historically found only in hospitals and also able to survive on surfaces for days, have recently moved out of the hospital and into the environment and the community.
AgION Technologies uses its expertise in surface engineering, manufacturing processes and microbiology to create surfaces that fight back against colonization by microorganisms. Floor coatings containing the AgION antimicrobial are effective against
Listeria,
Salmonella,
E. coli
and other bacteria of concern in food processing. In the medical device field, clinical studies have demonstrated that AgION in a catheter can significantly reduce colonization by bacteria. The body has an immune system, now with AgION, biomaterials can as well. Millions of water filters have been sold containing AgION to prevent colonization by bacteria. In long-term continuously underwater tests AgION has been able to prevent biofilm formation for over a year. Laboratory studies of AgION against the SARS and Norwalk types of viruses and resistant strains VRE and MRSA, have shown that survival times on surfaces can be reduced from days to hours.
AgION Technologies will continue to work with academia, industrial partners, and governments to further develop environmentally responsible technologies and commercialize products that effectively control the microorganisms that are responsible for the serious problems mentioned above, but do not contribute to the proliferation of harmful chemicals in the environment. If our research and products lead to surfaces that prevent only a handful of life-threatening cases, we’ll feel that we have improved the state of the world.
5) What value do you hope to gain from being a Technology Pioneer?
I expect that interaction with the other Technology Pioneers will provide a great value to me and AgION Technologies. The WEF brings together a group of people from diverse backgrounds and fields of technology. I hope the exchange of ideas, experiences and strategies with the other Technology Pioneers will foster a richer perspective on how AgION can remain at the forefront of our industry. In addition, I hope that the exposure and recognition that AgION Technologies gains from the award will help bring attention to the important goal of combating the spread of harmful bacteria and viruses that we share with the entire healthcare industry.
6) What do you think the role of technology should be in society?
From the invention of the wheel and stone tools to the mobile phone, technology has played the role of serving the desires and needs of society. Compelling needs that can benefit from technology include improved medical procedures, alternative energy sources and pollution control technologies. Yet, technology can also fulfill the lighter desires of society by bringing us global positioning systems (GPS) in cars, lighter bicycle frames and the iPOD. All of these provide a type of value to society, but technologies that don’t support a need or desire of society are often shortlived or are employed sparingly with little overall benefit.
7) What is the right balance in society between scientific interest and ethical concerns?
Scientific interests and ethical norms evolve together. Technology that progresses unchecked by ethical questions can lead to trouble. But technology driven by scientific interest has also supported ethically driven initiatives throughout history. The balance lies in maintaining a global dialogue to ensure that as our world society evolves, open communication of those interests and concerns serves to check the dominance of one over the other.
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