$2.48M in state research grants awarded to tech firms, universities

Grants will be used to commercialize projects ranging from cybersecurity to life sciences

Published June 17, 2020 by Sydney Lake

Gov. Ralph Northam announced Wednesday that $2.48 million in grant funding from the Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund (CRCF) will be dispersed among small technology businesses and universities to be used to commercialize research in sectors including clean energy, cybersecurity, data analytics, life sciences and unmanned systems.

“These entrepreneurs and innovators are on the front lines of bringing new products and technologies to market, while driving job creation and supporting Virginia’s economic recovery efforts,” Northam said in a statement. 

CRCF grants are administered by Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) in Herndon. Since the CRCF’s 2011 inception, more than $30 million in grant awards have been distributed among 380 early-stage technology projects. 

“Investing in research today is important for the future of Virginia’s technology economy, and these awards pave the way for continued innovation leadership,” CIT President and CEO Ed Albrigo said in a statement. “These award recipients are advancing a number of new technologies … [and] we are very proud of our role in helping to bring these innovative solutions to market.”

The following projects will be awarded funding through the commercialization program:

• Commonwealth Trading Partners Inc. | Tom Fergus, Cloud Search Tool for Export Commodity Classification (data analytics) $74,705, Alexandria
• Cowden Technologies LLC | Mickey Cowden, A Smart Docking Station for Drones (unmanned systems) $75,000, Blacksburg  
• Eksdyne Inc. | Joshua Eckstein, A Magnetohydrodynamic Actuator System for Robotics (unmanned systems) $74,915, Blacksburg
• Gataca LLC | Johanna Craig, GAT for NGS: A Bioinformatics Tool for Hepatitis B Virus Quasispecies – Incorporating Machine Learning (data analytics) $75,000, Newport
• Lumin | Michael Hibshman, Promoting Residential Solar PV Development Through Curtailment of Excess Production Off-Grid (clean energy), $64,917, Charlottesville
• Meru Biotechnologies LLC | Daniel Rodenhaver, Development of the Minimum Viable Product for a Free Solution Biomolecular Characterization Device (life sciences), $75,000, Richmond
• Onclave Networks Inc. | James Taylor, Secure IoT: A Zero-Trust Platform for Elimination of OT Attack Surface (cybersecurity) $75,000, McLean
• Organizing4Innovation | Floor Blindenbach, Using Team-Learning and Teamwork-Quality Indicators as Objective Performance Assessments to Vet Early-Stage Innovation Teams (data analytics), $50,450, Data Analytics, Vienna  
• SCOUT Inc. | Sergio Gallucci, Demonstrating Small Satellite Technology to Enable Satellite Health Inspections in Geostationary Orbit (unmanned systems), $74,816, Alexandria    
• Sentinel Robotic Solutions LLC | John Robinson, Sentinel Aerium: American-Made Class I UAS with Disruptive Flight Endurance Technology (unmanned systems), $75,000, Wallops Island
• Service Robotics & Technologies | Gregory Scott, A Software Command Center for Scheduling and Optimizing Robots and Humans in Smart Buildings (unmanned systems) $75,000, Springfield
• Techulon Inc. | Nrusingh Mohapatra, PPNA-Based Antimicrobial Therapeutics Against Multi-Drug-Resistant Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter (life sciences), $75,000, Blacksburg

The four university projects receiving matching funding include: 

• Old Dominion University Research Foundation |  Sachin Shetty, Blockchain-Empowered Cyber-Resilient Internet of Things Security Solution (cybersecurity), $150,000, Norfolk
• University of Virginia | Leon Farhi, Machine Learning Technology for Prediction of Future Glucose Fluctuations to Enable a New Generation of Adaptive Glucose Control in Diabetes (life sciences), $137,453, Charlottesville
• U.Va. | Xi Yang, Novel Automated System to Measure Plant Health (unmanned systems), $150,000, Charlottesville
• Virginia Commonwealth University | Frank Gupton, Development of Novel Heterogeneous Cross-Coupling Catalysts for Pharmaceutical Applications (life sciences), $150,000, Richmond

The remaining projects will be funded through the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) matching funds programs. More information about award recipients can be found through CIT.

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