Innovation Grants Total Nearly $545,000 for 11 North Carolina Businesses

, N.C.— Innovation grants will assist 11 North Carolina companies in bringing cutting-edge products to the marketplace. Governor Pat McCrory and North Carolina Commerce Secretary John E. Skvarla III announced the latest round of One North Carolina Small Business Fund recipients today along with awards totaling $544,967.


“North Carolina faces tremendous competition from other states who want our budding high-growth, high-wage companies,” said Governor McCrory. “These grants help keep North Carolina in the race for our next home-grown success story.”


Recipients of One North Carolina Small Business Fund grants must first have been awarded a highly competitive federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) or a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) award. Funders of these awards for this round of grantees include the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Special Operations Command (Department of Defense) and the U.S. Army. The state matches up to half the federal money, with a $50,000 maximum per grant. The budget for this program is $2.5 million for Fiscal Year 2015.


 “North Carolina is a great place to grow technology companies," said Secretary Skvarla. “These small businesses will advance the technology in the fields of health care, defense and agriculture. These small businesses will someday become big businesses employing many people.”


Grant recipients include:


?Affinergy, LLC of Durham: $50,000 for a test measuring the hormone hepcidin responsible for regulating iron concentration levels in blood, thereby helping to diagnose renal disease, cancer, inflammatory diseases, and heart disease.


?Akoustis, Inc. of Cornelius: $50,000 for the development of more efficient and effective components for mobile devices.


?Camras Vision, Inc. of Durham: $50,000 for development of an adjustable pressure control device that is inserted in the eye to reduce harmful eye pressure of glaucoma patients.


?Corvid Technologies, LLC of Mooresville: $50,000 for new military vehicle armor that is stronger, cheaper, less conspicuous and lighter.


?Edison Agrosciences of Durham: $45,000 to develop a new DNA transfer method for easier, cheaper gene manipulation of plants.


? Kepley Biosystems, Inc. of Greensboro: $50,000 for a commercial non-fish crab and lobster lure, thereby saving fish stocks, the source of existing lures.


?Keranetics, LLC of Winston Salem: $49,967 to create local application of pain medicine to combat burns, freeing soldiers from current oral, addicting pain killers.


?TriboFilm Research, Inc. of Raleigh: $50,000 for an improved silicone lubrication system for pre-filled syringes, reducing silicone contamination during medicine delivery.


?Xintek Inc. of Durham: $50,000 for a high-resolution three-dimensional dental X-ray imaging system with low ray dose and cost.


?Zen-Bio, Inc. of Durham: $50,000 to use adult “brown fat” (Brown Adipoxyte Tissue) to manipulate metabolism to fight obesity and related diseases.


?Roundtable Analytics, LLC of Durham: $50,000 to develop decision-support software that improves emergency department performance.


Dr. Thomas Bohrmann, co-founder of Roundtable Analytics, exemplifies the entrepreneurs benefiting from the program. After receiving his PhD from the University of Florida, he became a consulting statistician for private industry. Dr. Bohrmann then moved to Research Triangle Park because of its density of data analytical companies and university programs.


“One NC matching funds have enabled our team to remain focused on innovation,” said Dr. Bohrmann. “These funds have allowed us to tackle high-risk, high-reward challenges that, once solved, will improve emergency departments nationwide.”


For more information about the One North Carolina Small Business Fund and how to apply and qualify for the grants, visit the N.C. Board of Science and Technology’s website at http://www.nccommerce.com/sti/