Christoph Birkl, co-founder and CEO of Brill Power
Christoph is co-founder and CEO of Brill Power, a spin-out company of Oxford University. Brill Power has developed game-changing battery control technology, which can increase the lifetime of lithium-ion batteries by up to 60%. Brill Power is an early-stage, pre-revenue company with four full-time employees. Christoph has a DPhil in Engineering Science (Pembroke College).
As an engineer, I have always been fascinated by the concept of generating energy from renewable sources like solar and wind power. I came to realise that energy storage is really the limiting factor for a truly clean and sustainable energy system, which is why I studied energy storage and conversion technologies like hydrogen fuel cells and lithium ion batteries. The corporate world has never really appealed to me and I always toyed with the thought of turning my own ideas into a business. I was lucky enough to end up in a brilliant research group, led by David Howey, where I met two of my co-founders Adrien Bizeray and Damien Frost. Together we came up with the technology that forms the core of Brill Power’s new battery system solution.
Doing what I love and making an impact on the things that matter to me.
When we presented the idea at the Global Humanitarian Technology Conference in San Jose, USA in 2014 and received lots of interest and requests for our technology.
Perseverance, self-motivation and being willing to work hard. It is going to be tough and there will be times when there doesn’t seem to be much hope for your company. You have to be willing and able to push through these rough times to make your company a success.
Being part of creating an organisation and a technology that can truly make a difference.
Elon Musk. He is able to make people believe in technology that seemed out of reach for commercialization.
Has he ever doubted the success of Tesla or Space X and if so, what made him carry on?
The biggest lesson I have learned, which is particularly important for an engineer, is never assume you know what people want. No matter how inspired you are to create the perfect product, first go out there and find out what your customers think should be the perfect product.
With a mixture of grants, awards and convertible loans.
Innovate UK grants for early stage businesses and with focus on energy and electric transport have been particularly helpful.
We retain close ties to our former research group and have built a network of advisers and potential investors, which has been very useful. Oxford attracts great talent and we expect that to work out to our advantage for our first hires. Disadvantages include high property and rent prices and a limited amount of suitable office and lab space.
To the Entrepreneurship Centre at Saïd Business School. These guys have been super supportive of Brill Power from the very start.
Stay motivated, keep calm and carry on.
