UNLV ingenuity is addressing that hazard, with a polymer invented on campus playing an important role in developing battery cases that reduce fire risk. The state’s Battle Born Venture program provided pre-seed funding to Quantum Copper, a Las Vegas startup based in the UNLV Black Fire building that makes use of the battery-safety technology invented by Pradip Bhowmik, a longtime UNLV organic and polymer chemistry professor.

Bhowmik’s 2016 discovery makes polymers more fire resistant without the use of halogenated compounds such as chlorine and bromine, which retard fires but can be harmful to the environment and are difficult to dispose of safely.

Serial entrepreneur Rahul Harkawat, Quantum Copper’s founder and CEO, became aware of Bhowmik’s technology while a participant in UNLV’s Technical Advisory Committee. The committee showcases the latest university intellectual property to interested outsiders, typically business people like Harkawat looking for ideas to bring to market.

“From being introduced to professor Bhowmik’s work, to negotiating a fair agreement to make use of the technology, to the support shown by the Governor’s Office of Economic Development we’ve seen UNLV and the state of Nevada be with us every step of the way,” Harkawat says.

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