When it comes to how technology company Oceanit Laboratories has expanded its scope over the years, CEO Patrick Sullivan said a key facet has been annual meetings where employees discuss what they want to focus on for the year ahead.
“It’s almost a philosophic conversation — what are we doing with our time on the planet, and what are we going to do to make a difference,” he said. “It starts with the question of what is interesting and important, but then it really becomes the beginning of a journey to a technology.”
Sullivan founded Oceanit in 1985, after earning a Ph.D. in engineering at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. It’s what he describes as a “mind-to-market company” — one that generates innovative solutions and drives them to market. Oceanit’s team of about 200 — which includes engineers, scientists and researchers — works across sectors such as energy, healthcare, aerospace, cybersecurity, manufacturing and more. Inventions in recent years have included a rapid Covid-19 test and cooling garments for workers in high-heat environments.
The mission statement that Sullivan wrote when he founded the company includes a line about how work and play should be indistinguishable. Nearly 40 years later, he said his work still often feels like play.
“For me, the science and technology has always been fun. … But I’ve got to say, working with people is very rewarding, too,” he said. “I enjoy it a lot — seeing people grow and operate at bigger levels is very exciting.”
What recent or emerging Oceanit inventions are you most excited about right now? As for things that are in the market now, there’s HeatX [a nanotechnology surface treatment designed to increase efficiency for heat transfer equipment], an exciting opportunity since it reduces global carbon and climate impact for all thermal power generation, immediately reducing carbon emissions. ... HeatX is deploying around the world right now. … There is a bunch of other stuff that is bumping up to the market but not quite there yet, like Kertex, which is a fabric made from chicken feathers. That looks interesting because it’s a waste product that can be used for a variety of things. Now we are talking to consumer integrators that can put that into [different products]. And then we’ve got stuff that is emerging. We have a couple of potential therapies for cancer, so those look real exciting.
What is currently your biggest priority for the company? Building the future team. We’ve got a lot of young folks who are doing really well, and we’re trying to get them ready to take on more. You can’t do anything without a good team, so one of the things I do is try to figure out how to empower people and give them confidence to grow and operate at new levels.
Tell me more about your leadership strategy. I try to create the opportunity for people to become successful. But a lot of that is informed by how people are built and what they like to do … and so the goal is to give people the opportunity to become very good at what they do, but not to try to change them. … I create the space to do things, and a safe place to sometimes make mistakes. … Generally, what we do is difficult. And when you ask somebody to do something difficult, you don’t just beat them up because they didn’t hit the mark. You try to teach people to get up off the ground and roll with it.
For example, we produced this material called neutrally buoyant proppant — a proppant is a particle that props open a geological formation. We did tests and it did the opposite — it plugged everything. But then, we discovered you could use it for exactly that — to plug water and gas coming into wells. So, it didn’t quite hit the mark, but we learned something and pivoted into a new application … called SWARMS [Smart Well Assessment and Reservoir Management System] that uses that material to plug wells so they stop leaking methane, a massive problem for old and abandoned wells. ... Getting people to learn to pivot like that is important.
What do you think Hawaii needs to diversify its economy? I think to change Hawaii’s future will take the whole community. It requires elected officials, it requires businesses and educators — we all have to work together to make things change. …The biggest challenge we have as a community is the community’s lack of confidence in itself. … It’s not because we don’t have great people or there are not abundant opportunities — it’s because we convince ourselves that we can’t do it, and that is just not true, especially now because there is so much going on in the world. It’s a great time — it’s exciting and it’s full of opportunity.
Patrick Sullivan
Founder and CEO, Oceanit Laboratories Inc.
Address: 828 Fort Street Mall, Suite 600
Honolulu, HI 96813
Phone: 808-531-3017
Website: oceanit.com
