Natural Resources >> CEO Interviews >> October 20, 2003
JOHN SHEN is President & CEO of Palcan Fuel Cells Ltd., immigrated to
Canada in 1988 from Shanghai, China and formed Palcan Fuel Cells in 1998
with a view towards revolutionizing power source generation issues. The
vision behind his fuel cell powered bicycle is to provide an efficient
mode of transportation to societies having a lack of infrastructure,
such as his homeland of China which has very few automobiles on a per
capita basis with the mainstream populous commuting using traditional
bicycles. Mr. Shen fused traditional technology with state of the art
fuel cell developments and managed to attract the eye of some willing
venture capitalists and now after taking Palcan public on the Toronto
Venture Exchange, plans to have the company positioned as one of the
world's first commercial fuel cell stack manufacturers. Mr. Shen has
been actively involved in fuel cell research and development for well
over 15 years with his extensive chemical engineering background in
catalysis and fuel cell technology. Dr. Shen is acknowledged as one of
the world's leading experts on fuel cell technologies, and is published
in the 25th edition of Dictionary of International Biography and in the
13th and 18th edition of Who's Who in the World. Presently he sits on
the National Research Council fuel cell program advisory board. Palcan
has a full time staff complement of 15 at its Burnaby Research Facility,
recognizing intellectual property as a significant building block. Mr.
Shen has added several PhDs for advising corporate development. Mr. Shen
recently signed a deal with China to supply its government with five of
Palcan's proton exchange membrane fuel cell stacks. He has also been
named for '2,000 Outstanding Scientists of 21st Century' and awarded a
Decree of Merit by the International Biographical Center of England.
Within the last four years at the company, Dr. Shen has maintained his
role as Palcan's Head of Research and Development, where he designed and
assembled various PEM Fuel Cell units ranging from 0.1 to 5.0 kW and
launched the ambient pressure, air cooled fuel cell program. Between the
period starting from April 2000 to the present, the company has gained
momentum in the industry and has captured various contracts for fuel
cell stack purchases and fuel cell stack diagnostics. On February 12,
2002, Palcan Fuel Cells Ltd. finished the process of completing a
reverse take-over by Cosworth Minerals Ltd.
Daniel Gallagher, Director of Corporate
Communications of Palcan Fuel Cells Ltd. Profile
products and services that you have?
Mr. Gallagher: Palcan is a manufacturer and developer of 100 watt to 5
kilowatt proton
