Next: Kay Aikin, energy innovator and entrepreneur, is transforming the power grid
Photo / Tim Greenway
Kay Aikin is CEO of Introspective Systems LLC, a Portland-based developer of artificial intelligence-powered energy management solutions for the electrical grid under the Dynamic Grid brand.
Kay Aikin is CEO of Introspective Systems LLC, a Portland-based developer of artificial intelligence-powered energy management solutions for the electrical grid under the Dynamic Grid brand.
Mainebiz: What led you from engineering to energy and entrepreneurship?
Kay Aikin: My college degree is actually in energy engineering but closer to what today would be called sustainability engineering, so I have always been in this area. I actually started my first company with my father building and designing hyper-energy-efficient homes when I was 20. This is now my third entrepreneurial effort but the first in the software realm mostly due to my brilliant former partner, Dr. Caryl Johnson, who died last year from cancer.
MB: What is Introspective Systems currently working on?
KA: Our current work is focused on optimized energy management systems utilizing an unique economic-based system that is implemented using various artificial intelligence algorithms. We do this work under our Dynamic Grid brand name. We are currently working here in Maine on the very innovative Isle au Haut microgrid that is a model for how we can transform our electrical grid in the future into a more consumer-focused grid. We also are working on projects in West Africa and Israel and are getting inquiries from multiple countries in Europe.
MB: What are some obstacles you’ve had to overcome in your career and what lessons have you learned from them?
KA: Entrepreneurship is a hard and a long journey, and certainly for someone in the LGBT community. Investment funding for this community is almost nonexistent. The only real money is federal grants and contracts that are blind to who you are. For us (and I include my partner Caryl in this), this is especially true when you are “Beyond the Edge of Envelopes,” the subtitle of a book about Caryl’s life as a scientist and innovator I am currently writing. The idea is to do something really meaningful, you have to create ideas and solutions that are beyond the envelope. But when you do that, the “masses” don’t get it, so it becomes very hard and a long journey. Burt Rutan, the famous aerospace inventor, says that “you are not doing research unless half the experts say what you are doing is impossible.” This is hard, and the only way to get it done is to be persistent and that is what I would suggest to others. Focus on your idea and don’t let anything stop you.
MB: How are you moving the company forward after the death last year of co-founder Caryl Johnson?
KA: The team and I are moving forward as best we can. Caryl was also my spouse, so it is even harder, but you put one foot in front of the other. The first few months were very hard, but now that I am writing the book, I am reintegrating what Caryl meant to me. Additionally, by focusing on the energy sector that is my lifelong career, I can honor Caryl’s legacy of innovation and science and move the company forward.
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