Date: Aug 05, 2013 Source: (
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Rocky Hill, Conn., August 5, 2013 -- Connecticut Innovations (CI), the state's quasi-public authority responsible for growing Connecticut businesses through innovative financing and strategic assistance, today announced that it has awarded grants and loans to 30 small, high-tech Connecticut companies to help them win federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II grants and commercialize SBIR-supported technologies. CI awarded the funding through its Connecticut SBIR Acceleration and Commercialization Program, launched approximately 17 months ago. There are two funding initiatives under the Connecticut SBIR Acceleration and Commercialization Program: the SBIR Phase I Matching Grant initiative and the Commercialization Loans initiative.
"We are extremely pleased to support the game-changing technologies of these 30 companies through our Connecticut SBIR Acceleration and Commercialization Program," said Claire Leonardi, chief executive officer of CI. "Our funding is enabling the companies to sustain important research and take initial steps toward technology commercialization. Additionally, the $1 million we've provided thus far is leveraging close to $4 million in federal grants, federal and private sector contracts, and company matching funds. The Malloy administration encourages this type of support for innovative companies, as it promises to accelerate job and revenue growth for the state."
The SBIR Phase I Matching Grant initiative is designed to help recent federal SBIR Phase I winners from Connecticut advance their Phase I feasibility studies and enhance their chances of winning a coveted Phase II research award of $1 million. It encourages collaborations, especially with Connecticut universities. The CI grants, of up to $40,000 apiece, may be spent on generating additional data, protecting intellectual property, conducting market research, licensing and more. Qualifying companies may apply for up to two grants per year.
"The Connecticut SBIR Acceleration and Commercialization Program played a key role in helping us seek patent protection on our newly discovered medical technologies and was instrumental in making our Phase II proposal's commercialization section competitive," said Joseph Bango, president and principal investigator, Connecticut Analytical Corporation of Bethany, winner of 11 Phase I awards and 4 Phase II awards. "The net result is that our firm was awarded the largest Phase II SBIR contract we've ever received. The award, from DARPA, is for $1.75 million over four years. The thrust of our effort is to develop and fabricate an FDA-approved device for extracting clinical analytes for medical diagnostics from dried blood, tear and urine samples."
The Commercialization Loans initiative is designed to help companies move toward revenue generation. Any Connecticut-based small business that has received an SBIR Phase II award is eligible to apply for CI's loans of up to $150,000. The loans require a 50 percent match, which may come from a variety of sources. In addition, there are provisions for companies to convert these loans into grants when they leverage additional federal SBIR funding. The funding helps to advance technologies from an SBIR Phase II prototype to commercialization.
"There is no question that the funding we've received under the Connecticut SBIR Acceleration and Commercialization Program has given us at least a 12-month edge in being able to release a production-ready version of our iQ3® cloud-based software platform," said David Cook, president and co-founder of Queralt Inc., which has received SBIR Phase I, II and III grants totaling over $1.5 million from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's cyber security division. "iQ3® is a platform as a service for the emerging Internet of Things that enables developers to rapidly bring to market sensor-based and context-aware applications in security, healthcare and industrial sectors."
Leonardi added, "Because federal SBIR Phase I and II grants do not cover all costs associated with developing and launching technologies, our support is a critical tool. Only a handful of states offer their SBIR companies funding support. We are delighted to be one of them."
SBIR projects supported by CI through the Connecticut SBIR Acceleration and Commercialization Program are wide-ranging and have included using LED and hydroponic technologies to develop methods and equipment for growing high-nutrient salad greens in urban, high-density indoor farms, as well as developing targeted imaging tracers for early evaluation of the effectiveness of anti-angiogenic cancer therapy. Such projects not only help meet the needs of the federal agencies that allocate funding for the SBIR program but also, in most cases, have private sector, nongovernmental applications. About half of the SBIR projects CI has supported through the Connecticut SBIR Acceleration and Commercialization Program have involved the participation of Connecticut universities, including the University of Connecticut, Yale University and the University of Hartford.
CI has provided Connecticut SBIR Acceleration and Commercialization Program funding to:
1. Abbott Ball Company Inc. (West Hartford)
2. Advanced Fuel Research Inc. (East Hartford)
3. Applied Behavioral Research LLC (New Haven)
4. Applied Mathematics Inc. (Gales Ferry)
5. Artificial Cell Technologies Inc. (New Haven)
6. Biodel Inc. (Danbury)
7. Biomedsyn Corporation (Woodbridge)
8. BIORASIS Inc. (Storrs)
9. Cell and Molecular Tissue Engineering LLC (Avon)
10. Connecticut Analytical Corporation (Bethany)
11. Interface Technologies LLC (Simsbury)
12. LifePharms Inc. (New London)
13. Materials Technologies Corporation (Monroe)
14. MetroCrops LLC (Norwalk)
15. Myometrics LLC (New London)
16. MZ Diagnostics Inc. (New Haven)
17. Nalas Engineering Services Inc. (Centerbrook)
18. Omega-P Inc. (New Haven)
19. Precision Combustion Inc. (North Haven)
20. Proton OnSite (Wallingford)
21. PsquaredT LLC (Wilton)
22. Qualtech Systems Inc. (Wethersfield)
23. Queralt Inc. (North Haven)
24. Real-Time Analyzers Inc. (Middletown)
25. Recombinant Technologies LLC (Cheshire)
26. Remote Reality Corporation (Putnam)
27. RSL Fiber Systems LLC (East Hartford)
28. SibTech Inc. (Brookfield)
29. Sustainability A to Z LLC (Guilford)
30. Sustainable Innovations LLC (Glastonbury)
Details about the Connecticut SBIR Acceleration and Commercialization Program can be found at: https://sbir-state-program.myreviewroom.com/.
About Connecticut Innovations Inc.
Connecticut Innovations (CI) is the leading source of financing and ongoing support for Connecticut's innovative, growing companies. To maximize each business's growth potential, CI tailors its solutions and often combines its funds with resources from other financial leaders to provide venture capital and strategic support for early-stage technology companies; flexible loans for established companies with new innovations; grants that support innovation and collaboration; and connections to its well-established network of partners and professionals. Through all these initiatives, CI has helped bring $4 billion in financing to Connecticut companies. The state's most active early-stage investor, CI has created more than 26,000 jobs. For more information on CI, please visit www.ctinnovations.com.
About the Federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program
The federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program is a highly competitive program that encourages domestic small businesses to engage in federal research/research and development (R/R&D) that has the potential for commercialization. Through a competitive awards-based program, SBIR enables small businesses to explore their technological potential and provides the incentive to profit from the commercialization of the technologies developed. The 11 federal agencies that fund innovations through this program are: Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security and Transportation, NASA, Environmental Protection Agency and National Science Foundation. For more information on the federal SBIR Program, visit www.sbir.gov.
