Avatar Ignite Participant Spotlight: Luke Heck

About Luke Heck:

I am a born and raised Calgarian. After graduating from Queen's University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, I started my professional career working for Deloitte in their Capital Projects practice. The majority of my work was focused on the energy industry, where I advised clients on the delivery of their large infrastructure projects. After four years with Deloitte, I joined a self-driving truck startup based out of California called Embark Trucks. As part of their Business Operations and Strategy team, I helped the company scale operations through 3X growth, execute an IPO, and support commercialization strategy. Most recently, I have moved back to Calgary, where I am working for Trans Mountain in their Commercial and Project Analytics team.

About the Ignite experience:

The Ignite experience was eye-opening, to say the least. I went into the program looking to learn more about decarbonization technologies and quickly realized that I was only going to be able to scratch the surface in the short 16-week program. That being said, I thought the program did an excellent job at providing useful resources and support that helped steer our group in the right direction. Furthermore, as someone with experience working in Silicon Valley, I thought Ignite provided participants with an understanding of the challenges involved in starting a business in an innovative area, how to overcome problems, and what it takes to be successful. My top two highlights were (1) the incredible speakers that Avatar brought in to speak to us and (2) my awesome group, who were amazing to work with - shout out to CanaDac!

About his team’s pitch:

Our CanaBox product combines both the capture and regeneration phases of the Direct Air Capture process into a singular modular process unit. The product maximizes CO2 capture by utilizing an Amine Grafted Metal Organic Framework, while minimizing energy requirements of the regeneration phase by using available waste heat produced in existing processes.

What’s next:

I will continue to pursue my interest in the energy transition space within my current job as well as initiatives outside of work. As a proud Albertan, I am excited about the energy transition and want to continue to work on problems that will improve the future of our community.