McGill spin-off wins Mobile World Scholar Challenge Gold Prize

Nanomaterials startup, ORA Sound, recognized for its groundbreaking work bringing graphene to the audio industry

ORA Sound, a McGill University spin-off, has been named a Mobile World Scholar in recognition for its work with advanced nanomaterials. The company created previously unattainable levels of sound quality and speaker efficiency by bringing the “wonder material,” graphene, to the audio industry.

ORA Sound is one of five Gold Prize winners in the inaugural Mobile World Scholar Challenge, highlighting new and impactful ideas from the academic and research communities across the globe. In recognition for their work, ORA Sound will receive £2,000 (roughly $2,800) and an expenses-paid trip to the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona, held from February 26 to March 1.

The McGill-born technology, GrapheneQ™, ORA’s proprietary material and now the name of their first consumer headphone product, was developed in the engineering lab of McGill University Professor Thomas Szkopek. ORA co-founder and co-inventor of GrapheneQ™, Dr. Robert-Eric Gaskell and his brother, Dr. Peter Gaskell, led research into how the properties of graphene oxide could be tuned to create the ideal conditions for professional, high-quality sound. Northwestern chemistry professor SonBinh Nguyen, who is a member of ORA Sound’s technical advisory board, developed a manufacturing process for GrapheneQ™ that can be easily scaled to an industrial setting.

ORA’s patented graphene-based material has caught the attention of the biggest consumer electronics brands, interested in applying it to small-factor loudspeakers inside phones, tablets and laptops. With a simple drop-in replacement of the speaker membrane, GrapheneQ™ can enable the design of smaller, more energy efficient loudspeakers that can be made up to 4 times louder, all while significantly improving sound quality.

Widely considered the mobile industry’s “must-attend” annual event, the GSMA Mobile World Congress attracts executives from the world’s most influential mobile operators, device makers, infrastructure providers, software companies, internet companies and organisations across a wide range of vertical industry sectors, as well as government delegations from across the globe.

About ORA Graphene Audio Inc.

ORA’s team consists of chemists, material scientists and audio engineers who have come together to bring better listening experiences. The company is currently working with major OEMs, seeking to include ORA’s GrapheneQ™ technology inside the next generation of: TVs, home audio, hearing aids, cellphones, laptops, tablets, automobiles and other consumer electronics. ORA also ran a Kickstarter/Indiegogo campaign last June that generated over $900k in pre-sales.

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