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A massive congratulations is in order for Dr. Khoa Le for winning the British Council Study UK Business & Innovation Award at an Awards Ceremony in Vietnam!
A Childhood That Sparked a Cooling Revolution
Growing up in a coastal community, Dr. Khoa Le saw first hand how unreliable refrigeration affected livelihoods. Raised by his mother, who worked in local markets, he experienced how power cuts and the high cost of ice caused food to spoil and reduced incomes for families, farmers, and fisherfolk. These experiences inspired a lifelong question: how can affordable cooling help communities build more secure lives?
From Engineering Research to Cooling Innovation
Dr. Le pursued engineering to address this challenge. After completing a fully funded MSc through a Taiwan Government Scholarship, he moved to the UK for further research. In 2015 he began a fully funded PhD at Ulster University, where his work on energy systems earned him the Best PhD Research Paper award and two conference paper prizes. He was also selected among 35 Southeast Asian young professionals for a U.S. State Department–funded Energy Economics and Policy seminar focused on leadership in the net-zero transition.
As a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford, Dr. Le developed the concept of a “cold battery”, a system that stores cooling energy and delivers it as a service, allowing users to pay for reliable cooling rather than costly equipment. In 2023 he secured £500,000 from the Energy Catalyst programme of UK Research and Innovation to pilot the technology in Vietnam. The project created 13 jobs, engaged 90 farmers and fisherfolk, and demonstrated the potential to avoid about 15.4 tonnes of CO₂ emissions per year while providing reliable cold storage.
Dr Khoa Le Speech
Bringing Affordable Cooling to Market
In 2024, Dr. Le founded VOX Cool to scale the technology. Within 18 months, the company has helped hundreds of farmers, fisherfolk, and local businesses access affordable cooling and reduce food loss. VOX Cool has raised over US$200,000 in investment and secured additional grants, including support from Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 (P4G), to expand sustainable cooling solutions across Vietnam.
Everyone here at Ulster University is so proud of your amazing accomplishments!
