When Farzad Hashemi came to Canada in 2014 and bought his first car, the dealership’s offer of corrosion protection got him thinking about the possibilities of advanced preventative coatings.
The Iranian metallurgical engineer eventually met someone associated with the Advanced Corrosion Laboratory at Dalhousie University in Halifax and began tinkering around with the idea he had been germinating.
In 2019, he met Mike Maguire, an engineer with a background in innovation who worked in the offshore oil and gas and marine transportation industries and had been getting more involved in ocean technology.
When Hashemi told Maguire about his idea, the gears inside Maguire’s innovative brain began spinning, too.
“I could see right away the applications,” Maguire said in an interview with Postmedia.
By the spring of 2020, the duo had formed Copsys Technologies Inc., a company with bases in Halifax and St. John’s that has developed a smart paint that can protect vessels from both corrosion and biofouling.
For centuries, shipbuilders have been cladding hulls with copper to deter unwanted organisms from building up. Anti-fouling paints in more modern times are not new either.
While those approaches proved effective, Maguire said they can also be toxic to the environment and have been phased out over time.
More recently, ships are protected with coatings that slow the growth of unwelcome substances on ships.
Maguire compared those coatings to a non-stick frying pan that, with use over time, loses its effectiveness.
What Copsys Technologies has created, said Maguire, is a sort of smart coating that can not only detect and prevent biofouling and corrosive conditions, but can even be turned on and off as needed.
“We actually call it an intelligent digital skin,” explained Maguire. “It’s literally a paint that has feelings.”
‘EFFECTIVE BIOFOULING MANAGEMENT’
Looking at the current geopolitical situation in the Strait of Hormuz where many ships are being forced to hold up before being permitted to proceed on their journeys around the world, Maguire said two environmental issues come to mind.
Firstly, the longer a ship remains in one spot, the more likely it is to develop marine growth or be exposed to conditions conducive to corrosion. Ships forced to stay put may also run the risk of delaying maintenance that could prevent corrosion or biofouling from developing or worsening.
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Secondly, when a fouled ship travels to another region, it runs the risk of bringing unwanted organisms to non-native habitats in foreign ports.
“Without effective biofouling management, these vessels risk introducing invasive marine species that can disrupt native ecosystems and damage fisheries, potentially turning a regional shipping disruption into a lasting global environmental threat,” stated a release by Copsys, referencing the Strait of Hormuz situation directly.
The eco-friendly smart paint developed by Copsys reacts on demand with seawater to stop marine growth before it starts. If the metal beneath has been exposed to a corrosive environment, the system detects the breach, pinpoints its location and deploys an electrochemical barrier to prevent corrosion.
The condition of the ship can be remotely monitored in real time on a digital twin model.
ON SOME BIG STAGES
The frequency and duration for which the technology will need to be deployed is part of the innovation work yet to come, but Copsys has been doing some work with the Canada’s Naval Engineering Test Establishment, the principal test and evaluation center for the Department of National Defence and the Royal Canadian Navy.
“The anti-fouling side is not commercial yet,” noted Maguire. “We’re advancing that capability towards the market, but we can literally turn it on and turn it off to react with seawater to create a surface that is inhospitable to things growing on it.
“So, if we were in the Strait of Hormuz now with that technology, each ship operator would be cycling it on and off a few times a day to prevent things from growing.”
Maguire said the technology is also garnering some interest from other NATO navies. In December 2025, Copsys Technologies was among 150 pioneering companies selected to be part of NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) 2026 challenge program.
According to NATO, the DIANA program “connects companies with military end-users, mentors and investors, accelerating the development, validation and adoption of their innovations to help NATO tackle urgent operational challenges and maintain a decisive edge in defence technology.”
The companies were chosen from a field of more than 3,600 applicants across 10 challenge areas. Copsys Technologies was one of the 15 companies selected in the critical infrastructure and logistics category.
Copsys is also currently part of the PortXL program, which is a maritime start-up and scale-up accelerator based in Rotterdam.
Closer to home, Copsys Technologies was the recipient of the Innovation Leadership Award at the Turning the Tide Marine Industry Awards, recognizing excellence in Newfoundland and Labrador’s marine sector, held in St. John’s in September.
PILOT PROJECTS IN MOTION
The digital skin product has been tested on pressurized piping systems in the offshore oil and gas industry, with Copsys having completed two of three pilot demonstrations in the North Sea and another expected to take place in the coming months.
The company has also done a pilot at a liquified natural gas plant and terminal in Norway and has been invited to do a more scaled-up pilot on an oil and gas platform in the Orkney Islands that Maguire hopes will be done before the end of 2026.
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada uses a technology readiness level, which has nine levels, with Level 1 being the least ready and Level 9 being already used in real-life conditions.
Copsys Technologies has declared its digital skin to be at Level 8 on that scale in terms of its corrosion under insulation application. That refers to corrosion of metal beneath thermal insulation systems that occurs when water and oxygen become trapped.
“As soon as the coating has been damaged, even in an area that you can’t see visually, we’ll be able to detect and locate where that’s failed and then provide this ongoing electrochemical force field that stops the rust from happening and we can monitor that remotely,” said Maguire.
STUDENT PARTNERSHIPS
Copsys hasn’t developed the product all on its own.
The company has availed of the Mitacs internship program at both Dalhousie and Memorial University to tap into the skills of post-secondary and graduate students who have helped advance the technology.
Mitacs is a national non-profit organization that connects businesses with access to highly skilled talent, financial support and partnerships needed to turn ideas into practical innovations.
Kousha Kashani, who completed his master of engineering degree under a Mitacs internship with Copsys last year, is now pursuing his PhD in mechanical engineering at Dalhousie University under the company’s sponsorship.
His work with Copsys included mechanical and electrochemical performance testing of the digital skin and validating numerical models to verify the accuracy of the technology.
“Through Mitacs internships, I’ve had the opportunity to work with Copsys and see my research used directly in production — something I’ve always hoped to experience,” said Kashani. “I’m grateful for that opportunity and for the wonderful people who have shared their knowledge along the way. What I’m learning from them continues to shape both my work and the direction I want to take.”
Maguire expects this will position him as a valuable recruit for the company
“Small technology startups like ours don’t have huge research facilities of our own, so if we can leverage collaboration with Canadian universities to assist with innovation, particularly when it comes to validating our technology, it helps everybody … We’ve flown very much below the radar for a number of years because we’ve really been focused on building academic and scientific credibility,” said Maguire.
Dr. Stephen Lucas, chief executive officer of Mitacs, said the organization is proud to be a part of the Copsys story.
“It’s a great example of how research-driven innovation can strengthen local economies and contribute to Canada’s long-term growth and competitiveness, and defence and security,” said Lucas.
‘A GAME CHANGER’
According to Maguire, five tonnes of steel are lost to rust every single second, costing the global economy about US$2.5 trillion each year.
While that’s a major concern for those involved in marine-based sectors, Maguire said the digital skin developed by Copsys could eventually have applications on dry land too.
“The original idea was around a car and we might get back there, but trying to work from Atlantic Canada and find your way into the automotive industry is a tall order,” he said. “We’ve focused on problems that are closer at hand, so we’re looking at offshore, looking at the marine world. They’re big markets, big problems.”
Maguire noted that the systems under development by Copsys have low power requirements and, among the many future possibilities, it could be used to protect critical infrastructure that might be off-grid.
“It’s a good distraction to have, but one that we try to resist,” he said of the many questions he and Hashemi get about the product’s potential applications beyond marine industries.
“We have to start somewhere to get it in the market … but this will be a game changer.”
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