Utah Tech Labs and Ekstera Advance Clean-Energy Innovation by Turning Industrial Waste Heat Into Power

Toronto, Canada - August 2026 - Every day, enormous amounts of energy used by industrial operations leave those facilities as waste heat.

For Ekstera, that lost heat represents something more valuable: an opportunity to generate clean electricity.

Ekstera is developing advanced Stirling engine technology designed to capture heat that would otherwise be wasted and convert it into reliable, low-cost electricity. Utah Tech Labs has been working alongside Ekstera as its technology partner, helping build the connected digital infrastructure needed to monitor, control and support these systems as they move from engineering development toward real-world deployment.

For Utah Tech Labs, the partnership represents more than another IoT or software engineering project.

It reflects a shared belief that technology should solve problems that extend beyond an individual product or company — and that engineering can play a meaningful role in creating a cleaner and more efficient industrial future.

Turning Wasted Energy Into Something Valuable

Industries such as steel manufacturing, cement, oil and gas, biomass processing and other energy-intensive operations generate significant amounts of heat as part of their normal processes.

Much of that energy ultimately goes unused.

Ekstera's technology is designed to change that equation.

Its modular Stirling engine generators are being developed to convert industrial waste heat and other available heat sources into electricity — creating the possibility of producing additional energy without requiring the same level of new fuel consumption.

It is an engineering challenge with implications far beyond a single installation.

If technologies like this can be deployed at scale, energy that is currently treated as a byproduct of industrial activity can become another source of usable power.

That is the larger mission Utah Tech Labs wanted to help support.

Building the Digital Infrastructure Around the Clean-Energy Technology

Transforming a mechanical clean-energy innovation into technology that can operate in real industrial environments requires more than the physical machine.

Once equipment is deployed in the field, teams need to understand how it is operating.

They need data.

They need remote visibility.

They need to identify abnormal behavior.

And as deployments expand, they need the ability to monitor and control systems without requiring a technician to physically stand beside every machine.

Utah Tech Labs partnered with Ekstera to help build this connected layer around its technology.

UTL's work included the backend and communication infrastructure supporting remote monitoring and control of Ekstera's equipment.

The architecture was designed with an important principle in mind:

the software should be able to evolve as the physical technology evolves.

That became especially relevant when Ekstera transitioned portions of its electronics architecture from an MCU-based implementation toward PLC-based industrial controls.

Because device communication had been separated from the core backend using MQTT, changes at the equipment level did not require the digital platform to be rebuilt from the ground up.

The physical technology could evolve while the connected infrastructure evolved with it.

For UTL, that is what engineering for innovation should look like — not building software around one version of a prototype, but creating a foundation capable of supporting what that technology may become.

From Engineering Innovation to Real-World Impact

The partnership has continued as Ekstera moves closer to real industrial deployment.

Ekstera has been progressing its patented Stirling engine technology toward field testing and commercialization, including work associated with steel-industry applications. The company says its objective is to make waste-heat conversion possible in environments where it was previously impractical.

Each successful deployment represents more than a technology milestone.

It represents another opportunity to recover energy that would otherwise disappear into the environment.

And that is where the potential impact becomes much larger.

Cleaner industrial systems will not be created through software alone, mechanical engineering alone, or energy innovation alone.

They will increasingly require these disciplines to work together.

Ekstera brings deep innovation in energy conversion and mechanical systems.

Utah Tech Labs contributes the software, connectivity and digital infrastructure needed to help those systems operate intelligently in the field.

The common objective is bigger than either technology: helping build a future where more of the energy we already produce is used instead of wasted.

$1 Million in Funding Adds Momentum to the Mission

Ekstera's progress has also received significant external validation.

The company secured $1 million in non-dilutive Phase 2 funding through Innovative Solutions Canada, providing additional resources to advance scale-up, testing and commercialization of its technology.

Ekstera also reports having secured more than $1 million toward research, development and commercialization and having filed key patents around its Stirling engine technology.

For Utah Tech Labs, the funding is an important milestone — but the larger achievement is what it enables next.

More testing.

More engineering.

More industrial deployments.

And ultimately, a greater opportunity for clean-energy technology to move from innovation into practical use.

Technology Partnerships Can Contribute to Something Bigger

At Utah Tech Labs, we have always believed the most valuable technology is technology that creates meaningful change beyond the screen.

That can mean using AI to eliminate repetitive work.

It can mean making critical systems safer.

And in the case of Ekstera, it means helping an engineering company develop the digital foundation around technology that could allow industries to recover energy they are already producing and losing every day.

Our role is not to claim Ekstera's clean-energy innovation as our own.

Our role is to bring what we do best — software engineering, IoT, cloud infrastructure and connected systems — to a partner whose engineering can make a positive difference in the world.

Ekstera is turning waste heat into clean electricity.

Utah Tech Labs is proud to help build the technology infrastructure that can support that mission as it grows.

And as Ekstera moves from development toward larger-scale commercialization, we are proud that this partnership is not only helping build a new technology company.

It is helping build toward a cleaner, more energy-efficient future.

About Ekstera

Ekstera is a Canadian clean-energy technology company developing patented Stirling engine systems designed to convert industrial waste heat and other heat sources into clean, reliable and affordable electricity.

Its technology is being developed for applications across energy-intensive industries where large quantities of recoverable heat are currently lost during normal operations.

About Utah Tech Labs

Utah Tech Labs is an AI, software, IoT and connected-product engineering company headquartered in Utah, USA.

UTL partners with organizations using technology to solve meaningful real-world problems, helping transform ambitious engineering concepts into reliable systems capable of operating, evolving and scaling in production.

Across AI, cloud infrastructure, mobile and web applications, IoT and connected systems, UTL's focus is not technology for technology's sake.

It is using technology to help build things that matter.