MaineBusiness.com

GARDINER, Maine - The Maine Technology Institute (MTI) announced that its board of directors approved recommendations for five Development Awards on October 13, 2009. The Development Awards totaled up to $1,260,422 and will be matched by over $1.5 million from other sources.

"These are fully vetted direct investments that help businesses manage the cost and risk of product research and development in Maine. These pipelines of new products are important for Maine businesses to grow and remain competitive", said Joe Migliaccio, MTI's manager of Business Innovation Programs. "It's encouraging to see a breadth of projects, from brand new innovations, to unique configurations of already existing technologies. We also have our first investment under the new category of 'technology transfer' for Maine universities, colleges and laboratories to find commercial partners for their research."

MTI Development Awards of up to $500,000 are offered three times a year on a competitive basis to support early activities for product development, commercialization, technology transfer and business planning and development. Each award requires a 1:1 dollar match consisting of actual cash, salaries, staff time or equipment and in-kind contributions directly attributable to the proposed project. The application deadline for the next round of awards is February 9, 2010. MTI encourages more technology start-ups, existing businesses and institutions to investigate utilization of its investment funds.

Development Award Recipients

Precision Manufacturing Technology

Advance Electronic Concepts, located in Portland, provides world class industrial refrigeration control products to leading case manufacturers and supermarket chains. They are focusing on the design, fabrication, testing and commercialization of an energy-efficient, solid-state lighting system for supermarket refrigeration cases.
Award: $ 124,850 Match: $ 130,850

DM Technologies, LLC, located in Sanford, is an early stage developer and manufacturer of tantalum conformal coated chip capacitors - the only United States manufacturing-based supplier of this type of capacitor commonly used for military and aerospace applications. They are focused on development of a prototype and final product, refining production processes and bringing the finished product to the marketplace.
Award: $ 410,000 Match: $ 568,008


Advanced Technologies for Forestry and Agriculture

University of Maine, in Orono, will focus on the viability of using wood that has previously undergone hemicellulose extraction, in new composite materials. The project will examine the resulting oriented-strand lumber (OSL) product's performance, varying extraction methods, environmental impacts, chemical analysis and an engineering study of the system at an industrial level. The findings will then be used to attract a commercial partner and create a new use for Maine's struggling wood composite mills.
Award: $ 84,808 Match: $ 176,480

Global Protein Products, Inc., operates from Waterville and sells corn-protein (zein) polymer technology that extends the shelf life of fresh fruits and vegetables. This project will fund development and testing of two new potato-targeted products that will lead to retention and creation of new jobs in Maine, facilitate collaboration between the University of Maine in Orono and two companies in Auburn and Waterville. Successful development will help to secure the company's operations base in the state.
Award: $ 170,884 Match: $ 201,160


Information Technology

Fetch Enterprises, based in Portland, will implement an e-commerce solution, managed and marketed as Direct Vet Marketing (DVM) to provide veterinary clinics with the electronic infrastructure to create and manage an online ordering, direct marketing and fulfillment system for veterinary prescriptions. This project would assist in commercialization of data extraction, mapping and standardization of software to automate operations that would give DVM a competitive market advantage.
Award: $ 469,880 Match: $ 472,373



About MTI
MTI is a publicly financed, private, nonprofit organization created by the Legislature in 1999 to stimulate research and development activity leading to the commercialization of new products, processes and services in the state's seven technology-intensive sectors. Programs are either loans, equity investments, or grants designed to enhance the competitive position of those sectors and increase the likelihood that one or more of the sectors will support clusters of industrial activity and create quality jobs across Maine. More about MTI at: www.mainetechnology.org.


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