The Global Business Development division of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) announced that 25 Colorado companies and seven researchers have been awarded Proof of Concept and Early-Stage Capital and Retention grants through OEDIT’s Advanced Industries Accelerator Program. These grants help promote the growth and sustainability of advanced industries in Colorado by driving innovation, commercialization, and public-private partnerships that move this vital aspect of Colorado’s economy forward in communities across the state.
“The grant recipients announced today have a demonstrated potential to grow Colorado’s economy and change lives. From simulating the sensation of touch from extended reality content to novel wound care and disease diagnosis, these Colorado companies are developing the technologies of tomorrow in tech and life sciences, as well as industries like aerospace, ag tech and energy,” said Rama Haris, OEDIT’s Advanced Industries Senior Manager.
The Proof of Concept grant is intended to help Colorado research institutions speed up applied research in the advanced industries as well as commercialize products and services in partnership with the private sector. The Early-Stage Capital and Retention grant supports businesses commercializing innovative and disruptive technologies in the advanced industries that will be created or manufactured in Colorado. Since 2013, these grants have helped create or retain 10,259 jobs in Colorado.
The Advanced Industries Accelerator Program received 105 applications this grant cycle, which were reviewed in a multi-stage process by committees of business, technical and financial experts in the seven advanced industries. Final recommendations were approved by the Economic Development Commission on November 16, 2023, and the awards announced today represent a total of $7,772,600 in funding.
The next application cycle for Proof-of-Concept and Early Stage Capital and Retention Grants will open on January 1, 2024 and applications will be due March 1, 2024.
Proof-of-Concept Grants:
- Colorado School of Mines, PI Lawrence Cho – Golden, CO $150,000: Developing a mineral carbonation technology that uses steel slag from industrial waste to produce construction materials that act as carbon capture utilization and storage.
- Colorado School of Mines, PI Matthew Crane – Golden, CO $150,000: Developing a drop-in power boost technology for existing silicon solar panels.
- Colorado School of Mines, PI Ahmadreza Hedayat – Golden, CO $150,000: Developing a light-weight aggregate production technique from mine tailings.
- National Renewable Energy Lab, PI Kerry Rippy and Colorado School of Mines, PI Jaeheon Lee – Golden, CO $300,000: Developing a geopolymer insulation material from mine tailings and air-captured CO2.
- National Renewable Energy Lab, PI Katrina Knauer – Golden, CO $150,000: Developing a novel dye removal and recovery technology for textile waste.
- University of Denver, PI David Gao – Denver, CO $150,000: Developing a pricing-oriented reactive power management technology to increase electric vehicle charging station capacity.
- University of Colorado Denver, PI Anne Adema – Denver, CO $150,000: Developing a modular intraosseous needle placement procedural training device.
Early-Stage Capital and Retention Grants:
- Afference, Inc. – Boulder, CO $250,000: Afference has developed a fingerless glove to stream data from extended reality content to create the sensations of touch.
- Agile Space Industries, Inc. – Durango, CO $250,000: Agile Space Industries has developed an innovative, high-performance rocket engine.
- Boulder Sterilization – Boulder, CO $250,000: Boulder Sterilization has developed kits to convert ethylene oxide sterilizers to chlorine dioxide.
- Canopy Aerospace Inc. – Littleton, CO $250,000: Canopy Aerospace has developed a 3D-printed ceramic aluminum nitride to support the advanced manufacturing of propulsion hardware.
- Cobio Diagnostics Inc. – Aurora, CO $249,250: Cobio Diagnostics has developed a diagnostic platform for fast and direct testing of multidrug resistant pathogens.
- Commense Bio, Inc. – Boulder, CO $250,000: Commense Bio has developed a live biotherapeutic to treat patients suffering from invasive infections.
- Durable, Inc. – Louisville, CO $250,000: Durable has developed a neurosymbolic artificial intelligence platform to enable anyone to create and maintain deploy-ready, custom, and reliable software.
- Element One, Inc. – Boulder, CO $250,000: Element One has developed a cost-effective, easily deployable tape detection system for hydrogen gas leaks.
- EnteroTrack LLC – Aurora, CO $250,000: EnteroTrack has developed a simple at-home screening test for esophageal adenocarcinoma.
- Farmshare, Co. – Denver, CO $250,000: Farmshare has developed a comprehensive operating system to enable direct-to-market opportunities for independent farms.
- GelSana Therapeutics, Inc. – Aurora, CO $250,000: GelSana Therapeutics has developed a superior hydrogel wound dressing technology for chronic wounds.
- HYPRSKN Inc. – Boulder, CO $250,000: HYPRSKN developed a disruptive tattoo ink for patients undergoing radiation therapy.
- Mente – Woodland Park, CO $250,000: Mente has developed a data stream system to eliminate unused surgical equipment in operating rooms.
- NAVSYS Corporation – Colorado Springs, CO $250,000: NAVSYS has developed a positioning, navigation, and timing as a service solution to address the loss of GPS position and timing.
- Origin Healthcare, Inc. – Fort Collins, CO $250,000: Origin Healthcare has developed a tech-enabled platform that provides advanced medical care at home.
- PhotonPharma, Inc. – Fort Collins, CO $248,350: PhotonPharma has developed an autologous cell immunotherapy to mitigate the progression and prevent relapse of primary cancer, as well as treat metastatic cancer.
- Quindar Inc. – Lafayette, CO $250,000: Quindar has developed a SaaS platform for security incident and event management of satellites, antennas, and network events.
- RapiCure Solutions, Inc. – Loveland, CO $500,000: RapiCure Solutions is commercializing a rapid thermoset resin system for the fabrication of durable, lightweight, and sustainable plastic and composite products.
- RheumaGen, Inc. – Denver, CO $250,000: RheumaGen has developed an outpatient therapeutic for treatment-resistant rheumatoid arthritis.
- Sarus Inc. – Denver, CO $250,000: Sarus has developed a SaaS platform that provides safe and efficient solutions for crane planning and optimization.
- Seedling Biosystems LLC – Boulder, CO $250,000: Seedling Biosystems is bioengineering soybean plants to produce cost effective and cruelty-free squalene oil.
- SimpleSUB Water Inc. – Wheat Ridge, CO $200,000: SimpleSUB Water has developed a water metering solution that enables remote monitoring and usage-based billing.
- Table to Farm Compost LLC – Durango, CO $500,000: Table to Farm Compost recycles food waste into a biocomplete agriculture product for agricultural production in rural Colorado.
- Tracer Inc. – Golden, CO $250,000: Tracer supplies printed circuit board assembly using a niche prototyping and quick-turnaround assembly process.
- Vortex Biotechnology Corporation – Westminster, CO $125,000: Vortex Biotechnology has developed a first-in-class molecule to treat metastatic prostate cancer.
About the Advanced Industries Accelerator Program
The Advanced Industries Accelerator Program was created in 2013 to promote growth and sustainability in Colorado’s advanced industries by driving innovation, accelerating commercialization, encouraging public-private partnerships, increasing access to early stage capital and creating a strong infrastructure that increases the state’s capacity to be globally competitive. AIA encompasses five distinct grant programs: Proof of Concept, Early-Stage Capital and Retention, Collaborative Infrastructure, Export Accelerator, and Global Consultant Network.