JORGE ELIZONDO
Co-Founder and President at Heila Technologies
An MIT Ph.D. student from Mexico, Jorge was the first person offered an internship at Stone Edge Farm. Jorge had 2 months free that summer. He came in and developed the software and hardware to tie all of the distributed energy resources on the Stone Edge Farm microgrid. He created a useful tool for microgrids as well as utility grids. Then he went back to MIT to finish his Ph.D.
Because Mac insisted that all technology created on his grid would be open IP, Jorge could do what he wanted with his work. So he started a company, Heila Technologies. Jorge received numerous grants to further the work he started at Stone Edge Farm. Through Jorge’s story, we connect the dots between good policy and the importance of research funding. Funding that turns ideas that Ph.D. students explore at the universities into products that enter the market. He received money from both ARPA-E and MassCEC. We learn about ARPA-E from its founding Director, Arun Majumdar. We also talk with the team at MassCEC. Jorge is currently working with NREL, one of our national labs.
Mac was his first customer. Now Jorge is working with utilities. He and Catherine Von Burg are collaborating and working on microgrids around the world. EDF, the largest French utility, came out to see the microgrid and learn about his solutions.
Jorge’s story is the ultimate innovation success story -- university research supported by policy (grants and awards to further the work) and then finance to scale it up. He is also a very visible representation of how Mac’s vision and generosity are changing lives. Jorge sold Heila Technologies to Kohler Company.