Co-founder Samuel Cochran presented SMIT and Solar Ivy to the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s Chair, Nancy Sutley, last week.  Her visit to the Brooklyn Navy Yard was meant to highlight manufacturing companies that are setting standards for the U.S. renewable energy industry.  Council Chair Sutley grabbed onto the Navy Yard and its cleantech tenants as examples of a new urban model for innovation that could drive growth and job creation in other urban settings around the country.

The forthcoming issue of Organic Spa Magazine will feature an article about Solar Ivy by journalist Rima Suqi.  Rima interviewed SMIT co-founder Samuel Cochran for the piece in order to delve deeper into the inspiration behind Solar Ivy.

www.randyduchaine.com

SMIT’s CEO Samuel Cochran offered a view into the evolution of Solar Ivy and SMIT’s business approach at TEDx Brooklyn on Saturday, November 13.  TEDx, independently organized events that mirror the theme and mission of the annual TED conferences in California, came to Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute, where SMIT co–founders Samuel Cochran and Ben Howes met and laid the groundwork for a nascent partnership.

Sam’s presentation discussed the theoretical and designed ancestry of Solar Ivy, from inspiration through the hybrid wind and solar device, GROW.  Emerging out of the powerful response to that prototype, Sam, sister Sita and Ben distilled their work into foundational beliefs in sustainability, technology and design and set out to develop a business model that ultimately led to the currently commercialized Solar Ivy and SMIT’s innovative business model.

This Friday, December 4th, SMIT continues its TEDx tour with an appearance at the TEDxPrincetonU event alongside One Laptop Per Child founder, Nicholas Negroponte.  Check back in next week to read all about it!

In the days heading into Sam’s presentation at TEDx Brooklyn, SMIT was happy to welcome Tze Chun to the studio last week.  Interviewing Sam and Ben for the New York Times’ Fort Greene Local Blog Artist Spotlight feature, Tze explored the evolution of Solar Ivy, SMIT’s design process and the relationships that grow out of working in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Be sure to check out her piece on the New York Times.

Co-founder Sam Cochran directed design for an award-winning diagnostic tool for use by doctors in underdeveloped regions where access to laboratory facilities is inconsistent or nonexistent.  The device, designed under Prof. Samuel Sia of Columbia University, uses microfluidics to test for an array of diseases, including sexually-transmitted infections and was field-tested in cooperation with the Rwandan Government.

(image via MIT Technology Review)

FOX Business News visited to SMIT’s studio in Brooklyn to talk to co-founders Sam and Sita during their Start-Up Summeron August 4, 2009.

Sam Cochran and GROW were mentioned in this year’s New York Times Magazine 9th Annual Year in Ideas issue.

The section is called ‘Man Made Greenery’, and can be found at this link.  Thanks to the Times for the mention!