News
Technology Incubation grants announced
By Governor Rell's office
Aug 16, 2008 - 5:32:07 PM

Governor M. Jodi Rell today announced that eight start-up companies enrolled in the University of Connecticut's Technology Incubation Program have received a financial boost through the Connecticut Small Business Incubator Program.

The Small Business Incubator Program (SBIP) was developed in 2007 to further the work of small, technology-based firms operating in business incubators. These start-ups have the potential to create new jobs and new economic opportunity for the state.

"We are very glad to provide this support to these eight firms in UConn's incubator program," said Governor Rell. "This is an investment that will leverage federal and private research dollars by creating new technology products and companies. Technology-based small businesses are vital to the growth of Connecticut's economy, both now and in the future. They offer high wage, high value opportunities to our workers and communities."

The UConn program provides space and services to enhance the success of early stage firms that have a technology link to the university. The SBIP recognizes that incubator companies have a strong likelihood of success. According to National Business Incubation Association, 87 percent of incubator companies remain in business and 84 percent remain in the community. The synergistic relationship between firms in the UConn program and university researchers and their ability to locate on campus allows access to resources that would be otherwise unattainable and reduces risks during the critical start-up stage.

The grants are offered by the Department of Economic and Community Development and administered by the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology, Inc.

The grant winners:

New Ortho Polymers of Farmington designs and develops novel polymer orthodontic appliances based on patented, proprietary materials. The $50,000 in SBIP funds will be used in a very critical step in evaluating the archwire in laboratory clinical trials. Completion of these clinical simulations will support the success of the company's planned clinical trials.

LifePharms is a natural product drug discovery company at Avery Point that has three distinct natural product libraries derived from 18,000 field collected basidiomycetes and ascomycetes (mushrooms). The company will use the $50,000 in SBIP funds to patent and market their technology.

Evergen is a biotech company at Storrs that has expertise in animal cloning, transgensis, in vitro fertilization, embryo cryopreservation and embryo transfer. The company will use the $50,000 in SBIP funds to purchase new equipment for nuclear transfer, which is essential to further their animal cloning technology and intellectual property portofolio.

Biorasis of Storrs is developing implantable wireless glucose sensors that are 100 times smaller than current sensors for continuous monitoring. They will use the $45,000 in SBIP funds to prototype their sensor unit.

MakScientific, a Connecticut-based drug research, design and development company, was established in 2004 by using intellectual property licensed from the University of Connecticut. The company is dedicated to developing medications for therapeutic indications, primarily in the areas of pain and obesity control. MakScientific intends to use its $50,000 SBIP grant to file new U.S. and international patents.

Agrivida is developing improved corn varieties that are used to produce environmentally-friendly fuels and chemicals such as ethanol. This corn can dramatically increase yields of ethanol per acre of farmland and cut production costs for ethanol users, increasing ethanol's competitiveness with gasoline. The $34,000 SBIP grant will be used to purchase specialized equipment that is needed to further their research and growth.

Conversion Energy Enterprises of Farmington designs and develops innovative laser products and biomaterials for medical applications. Their tissue welding products are based on proprietary technology that joins large vasculature, skeletal, and gastrointestinal tissue. The company will use its $50,000 SBIP grant to defray costs associated with obtaining FDA approval for one of their products.

A grant to MysticMD was previously announced by the company. MysticMD is working at Avery Point to reduce the weight and cost of materials in lithium-ion batteries. The company will use the $50,000 in SBIP funds to acquire and install battery fabrication and test equipment to demonstrate the feasibility of this new technology to customers for their specific devices and applications.

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