The two co-founders of Graphite Innovation & Technologies Inc. are set to fly off to international events this week — two different events on two different continents. It’s another step forward for two guys who a year ago were Dalhousie University students with no idea they were about to found a business.

Mo AlGermozi is scheduled to fly to Qingdao, China, for the finals of the 2017 Global Marine Technology Entrepreneurship Competition. Graphite Innovation won the regional competition in Halifax last month, which gave the company the right to fly to China and compete for the US$70,000 first prize.

“It means access to the Chinese market,” said AlGermozi during an interview on Friday. “China has one-third of the graphite in the world and graphite is our raw material.”

Meanwhile, co-founder Marciel Gaier is on a flight to San Diego to attend BlueTech Week, a conference for marine innovation. Graphite Innovation was invited to attend by the Canadian Trade Commission, which heard about the company from Iain Archibald, the CEO of Halifax-based Swell Advantage, which is working in San Diego.

The accolades have come quickly to the founders who last winter discovered a revolutionary way to produce graphene and spun it into a company in Dal’s entrepreneurship program. Graphene is an unusual pattern of carbon atoms aligned in hexagonal hives to produce a light, durable material. It is 200 times stronger than steel and efficiently conducts heat and electricity. It was only identified and isolated in the past decade or so, so the commercial applications of graphene are in their infancy.

Since discovering an economical way to produce the substance, AlGermozi and Gaier have found their first application for graphene, which explains why they are now part of the oceans cluster.

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The duo has devised a product called GrapheneCoat, a graphene-based mixture that coats the underside of marine vessels to improve performance. The coating material simplifies the process of coating hulls, reduces the amount of copper in the ocean and prevents corrosion. What’s more, it’s effective in an “antifouling” material, which means it impedes the growth of barnacles, algae and marine organisms on ships’ hulls.

That’s important because the buildup of these organisms increases friction as a ship moves through the water. Huge ships use so much fuel that a reduction in friction can make ships more fuel efficient, saving the shipowners money and reducing CO2 emissions.

“The product is almost ready,” said AlGermozi, adding that the company is collaborating with the Dalhousie Centre of Water Sources Studies, the National Research Council and others on developing the product. Graphite Innovationis also working with The Boat Shop in St. Margaret’s Bay, which is helping them test GrapheneCoat on a boat in live conditions.

AlGermozi and Gaier expect to be ready to go to market next year, and are looking at licensing models to bring revenue into the company quickly and without a big manufacturing investment. Under this plan, they believe they will need about $600,000 to $700,000 in equity capital to reach the market. Then they want to begin to work on other graphene-based products.

Meanwhile, they intend to spend this week learning about potential markets in China and Southern California.

“We’re going to pitch for investment,” said Gaier when asked what he hopes to get out of the trip to San Diego. “We are most interested in piloting our product down there, so I’m hoping some of our meetings will be with key people so we can showcase the product and make connections.”