A total of 32 small, technology-oriented companies across 18 North Carolina communities will get $1.9 million to help them grow and provide good jobs, Governor Roy Cooper announced today. These are the latest round of grants from the state’s One North Carolina Small Business program, an important source of capital that helps early-stage technology companies bridge the challenging period between initial development of a new technology and the point where sales revenue from a new product is generated.
“These grants are a critical tool to help spur new products and industries, increase the number of high-paying jobs across the state, and improve quality of life in our communities,” Governor Cooper said.
The One NC Small Business Program, managed by the North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Office of Science, Technology & Innovation, provides state grants that match federal funds awarded through the highly competitive Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. These federal programs help small companies develop new and innovative technologies that have high potential for commercialization. North Carolina’s matching funds help companies hire additional employees, purchase equipment, materials and services and cover some expenses not provided for under the federal programs.
Since 2006, the One North Carolina Small Business program has helped more than 250 companies in 47 cities and 25 counties across the state develop and bring to market hundreds of high-tech products. North Carolina is among a handful of innovative states that have chosen to help bolster their economy this way.
“The One NC Small Business Program is North Carolina’s seed fund for innovative companies creating and bringing to market new technologies,” said Commerce Secretary Anthony M. Copeland.
The timing of the program’s grants is critical, both allowing a technology company to shorten the takeoff time it needs to grow into a large company and bridging the critical period before a promising technology is ready to market and sell. Many past recipients of the One NC Small Business grants have said the state grants were the vital injection of capital they needed to launch their companies on a successful trajectory.
A 2016 analysis by the North Carolina Department of Commerce confirms that the program helps young technology companies survive. Since the program’s creation in 2005, 85 percent of grant recipients are still in business, and 98 percent of the surviving companies are still based in North Carolina. The department’s analyses also show that the small businesses receiving the grants generate a 9-to-1 return on the state dollar by attracting follow-on federal funds and external investment from private sources, such as other companies and venture capital. Each new job created directly from the grant program is expected to indirectly create 1.5 additional new jobs from an increase in demand down the supply chain and a general increase in demand for consumer goods.
FokusLabs Behavioral Solutions, Inc., a current grant recipient, is developing intelligent wearable technology to enhance student attention and on-task behavior through gentle haptic vibration reminders. “We are extremely appreciative for the One NC Small Business matching program, as it has allowed us to further expand our research and development activities to deliver cutting edge products to assist children in the classroom,” said Rich Brancaccio, CEO of FokusLabs. The Wake Forest company currently has eight employees and plans to add others as it continues to improve and grow its product line.
For additional information about the One North Carolina Small Business program, see nccommerce.com/sti/grant-programs/one-nc-small-business-program.
See list of awards below:
One North Carolina Small Business Awards
January 1, 2017 – June 30, 2017
- 0 Base Design, LLC of Raleigh: $49,982 to develop small scale, man-portable seawater reverse osmosis desalination systems for the members of the military. This project is sponsored by the Department of the Army in the Department of Defense.
- Adroit Materials, Inc. of Apex: $49,999.77 to test high-quality and high-purity aluminum nitride-based technology for use in high-energy lasers that will enable high-power laser weapon systems and novel communication systems. This project is sponsored by the Department of the Army in the Department of Defense.
- AI Tracking Solutions, LLC of Carrboro: $65,000 to further optimize and test a particle-tracking platform that has lower time and labor costs versus traditional particle-tracking experiments and can more efficiently describe the specific behaviors of proteins. This project is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health in the Department of Health and Human Services.
- Ambient Logic, LLC of Asheville: $49,910 to create a geospatial sound model that estimates multiple indicators of the background noise across the United States to better understand the effect ambient noise is having on the population. This project is sponsored by the Department of the Army in the Department of Defense.
- Applied LifeSciences & Systems, LLC of Raleigh: $65,000 to develop imaging systems for the screening of healthy animals and the delivery of vaccinations in the poultry industry. This project is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
- Athena's Compass, LLC of Washington: $65,000 to develop a customizable educational video game that covers the entire curriculum of high school chemistry. This project is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
- AxNano, LLC of Greensboro: $62,196 to develop a remediation technology to treat contaminated groundwater sources that will lower risks of exposure during deployment and have higher effectiveness levels during treatment. This project is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health in the Department of Health and Human Services.
- Bennett Advanced Research, LLC of Raleigh: $49,999.85 to develop an additive manufacturing processes to rapidly manufacture and qualify aerospace parts for missile defense systems. This project is sponsored by the Missile Defense Agency in the Department of Defense.
- Blue Ridge Research and Consulting, LLC of Asheville: $49,898 to develop a geospatial data-based ambient sound model to better map biological, geophysical, and anthropogenic ambient sounds in rural and urban environments. This project is sponsored by the Department of the Army in the Department of Defense.
- Cell Microsystems, Inc. of Durham: $65,000 to develop, manufacture, and commercialize products and tools for the isolation, recovery, and analysis of single cells for improvement in genome editing. This project is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health in the Department of Health and Human Services.
- Celldom, Inc. of Durham: $65,000 to develop the first cell biology computer system that tests new treatments on microchips containing tens of thousands of living cells, analyzes and combines their behavior and genome data, and provides clear results on how broadly effective a treatment will be. This project is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health in the Department of Health and Human Services.
- Corvid Technologies, LLC of Mooresville: $49,999 to develop an artificial scene generator for use in missile defense testing. This project is sponsored by the Missile Defense Agency in the Department of Defense.
- Creative Scientist, Inc. of Durham: $65,000 to develop a nitric oxide testing service that can be used to assess the causes of cardiovascular diseases. This project is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health in the Department of Health and Human Services.
- EncepHeal Therapeutics, Inc. of Winston-Salem: $65,000 to develop a medication agent that blocks cocaine’s inhibitors for individuals with cocaine addictions. This project is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health in the Department of Health and Human Services.
- Falcon Therapeutics, Inc. of Chapel Hill: $59,291.50 to develop personalized stem cell therapies to treat cancer. This project is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health in the Department of Health and Human Services.
- FokusLabs Behavioral Solutions, Inc. of Wake Forest: $65,000 to develop intelligent, wearable technology that enhances student attention through personalized monitoring and reinforcement. This project is sponsored by the Department of Education.
- Innovation Research and Training, Inc. of Durham: $65,000 to develop a commercially available, user-friendly educational tool for use by high school students to prevent early and risky sexual behaviors. This project is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health in the Department of Health and Human Services.
- MAA Laboratories, Inc. of Raleigh: $65,000 to create a stable nanoformulation alternative to the common cancer-treatment drug Dasatinib, which will improve solubility and oral bioavailability. This project is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
- Metalytics, LLC of Cary: $65,000 to develop software tools and procedures that helps investigators fully integrate specific metabolic experimental techniques into their design strategies to more quickly engineer cells for biomanufacturing. This project is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
- Microgrid Labs, Inc. of Cary: $60,000 to develop a solar irradiance micro-forecasting system to better predict radiant energy from the sun, which will increase the use of solar electricity and help reduce dependency on fossil fuel-based electricity. This project is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
- Multi3D, LLC of Cary: $65,000 to develop a more conductive filament that is stable at high temperatures and can be used in a broad of applications in 3D printing. This project is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
- Nanodiagnostic Technology, LLC of Concord: $50,000 to develop a paper/nanotechnology-based bioanalytical system for rapid detection of pesticides in food and water. This project is sponsored by the Department of Agriculture.
- NCO Technologies, LLC of Concord: $65,000 to develop a new generation of low-cost, large-area, defect-free membranes for improved efficiency in carbon capture. This project is sponsored by the Department of Energy.
- Qatch Technologies, LLC of Burlington: $65,000 to develop a sensor technology that can measure blood coagulation times at point-of-care (POC). This project is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
- Redbud Labs, Inc. of Chapel Hill: $65,000 to improve the existing processes on understanding genetic differences by using less complex instruments, fewer delicate biological samples, and simpler timely protocols. This project is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health in the Department of Health and Human Services.
- ScitoVation, LLC of Durham: $65,000 to develop an in vitro analysis to detect DNA damage caused by chemical exposure. This project is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health in the Department of Health and Human Services.
- SeaTox Research, Inc. of Wilmington: $59,975 to develop a sensor for the detection of paralytic shellfish toxins acquired through human consumption. This project is sponsored by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration in the Department of Commerce.
- TriboFilm Research, Inc. of Raleigh: $65,000 to create an advanced coating system for plastic pharmaceutical containers that provides oxygen-barrier properties to extend the shelf life of oxygen-sensitive pharmaceutical products. This project is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health in the Department of Health and Human Services.
- United Protective Technologies, LLC of Locust: $65,000 to develop carbon-based nanocomposite coatings for use on high-performance bearing, sliding, and rotating surfaces used in unmanned aerial vehicles. This project is sponsored by the United States Special Operations Command in the Department of Defense.
- Vadum, Inc. of Raleigh: $49,991 to develop and simulate a new communications protocol technology to improve communication capabilities over longer ranges and utilize less power. This project is sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in the Department of Defense.
- Video Collaboratory, LLC of Charlotte: $65,000.00 to develop a commercial-ready video collaboratory platform for team-based learning and collaboration using video documents. This project is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
- Vigilant Cyber Systems, Inc. of Mount Airy: $65,000 to develop an algorithm that automatically calculates the quality and cost of care for military service members. This project is sponsored by the Defense Health Program in the Department of Defense.