Vincent Allen - 2026 UNSW Alumni Award Winner for Innovation & Entrepreneurship

"We are the first generation to feel the impacts of climate change, but we may also be the last generation to do something about it."

Meet the winner of the 2026 UNSW Alumni Award for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Vincent Allen.

Vincent Allen is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of SunDrive, a solar technology company launched while completing his PhD at UNSW. He helped develop breakthrough copper-based solar cells and has led their progression from university research to pilot-scale manufacturing.

SunDrive replaces silver in solar panels with abundant, lower-cost copper, enabling more scalable production. Under Vince’s leadership, the company set a world record for commercial-size silicon solar-cell efficiency in 2021 and built the world’s first fully automated direct-copper-plating HJT pilot line in 2024.

Experience Vincent's story here: https://www.unsw.edu.au/alumni/our-impact/alumni-awards


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