The Mackinac Technology Company

The Mackinac Technology Company was established in 2009 by founder and current CEO John Slagter. Soon after its founding, Mackinac began to develop an innovative, thin-film coating technology that is highly transparent to visible light, but highly reflective to infrared heat energy. The work was significant enough that by 2011, Mackinac had already won first place in the Advanced Materials Category of the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition. Mackinac’s proprietary coating, when applied to polymer sheets, is the heart of a Window Energy Management System (WEMS) being developed, a system that aims to improve the energy efficiency of windows such that they have the same R-value as a wall (R-value is a term that describes the ability of an insulating material to resist heat flow with a higher number being better than a lower number). Patented in 2019, Mackinac’s low emissivity (low-e) polymer film technology uses amorphous diamond-like carbon materials, reflects infrared heat energy, and is highly transparent to visible light. It’s tough, durable, and can be produced at much lower costs than conventional low-e technologies. In addition to the 2011 first-place award in the Advanced Materials Category of the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition, Mackinac also was a finalist in the 2016 Michigan’s Governor’s Energy Excellence Awards in the innovator of the year category. Funding includes a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy or ARPA-E which funds innovative technologies that display promise for both technical and commercial impact but are too early for private-sector investment. Mackinac was one of 41 projects to receive funding — out of more than 4,000 applicants across the country.

Industry

Nanotechnology Research

Company size

11-50 employees

Headquarters

Kentwood, MI

Type

Privately Held

Founded

2009