Published on the 20th August 2019 by ANSTO Staff
A recent addition to the nandin Innovation Centre, Tomonori Hu, Founder and CEO of Miriad, reflects on the journey that brought him to Australia’s Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation.
Tomonori Hu - CEO Miriad
Hailing from the Shire and completing his early education in Woolooware, he attended the University of Sydney where he completed his Undergraduate degree, Masters as well as his PhD in Physics. It was during his PhD that Dr Hu worked on developing his innovative spectrometer, balancing his passion to positively impact people’s lives with fundamental research. When visiting professors started taking interest in his technology, Tomonori realised he was sitting on something that could grow and become more than a PhD project. He took his device and excelled through numerous accelerator and start-up growth programs such as the University of Sydney’s Incubate program which focused on specific skills such as customer development, user experience and interaction. Thus Miriad was born.
Tomonori noticed an unmet need in Australia as more and more of his fellow researchers were forced to pursue overseas opportunities to continue working in highly technical research and development roles. Therefore he is actively involved in the discussion to create, grow and develop Australian technology whilst continuing to grow his own passion for fundamental research whilst being a bridge between research, government and industry.
Tomonori came to nandin in pursuit of more space to continue the small-scale manufacturing of Miriad Spectrometers. ‘I looked briefly at other spaces however this was close to home and provided a large lab space which you couldn’t get from other spaces.’ In addition to this, Tomonori stated that being exposed to and working beside like-minded individuals has also proven to be very valuable.
Since being at nandin, Tomonori has celebrated a number of milestones and achievements, from being a finalist at St. George Bank’s Kick Start Pitching competition, where he pitched at a TEDTalk in Sydney, to securing a new manufacturer as well as further developing defence applications, Miriad continues to grow and expand.
Miriad has just released Version 4 (S4) – smaller, better, faster – of the device with the first unit being sold in Canada, growing the global impact of this little Aussie startup!