Economic Development Secretary Alicia J. Keyes announced that five New Mexico companies will receive New Mexico Small Business Innovation Research (NMSBIR) Matching Grants to help their businesses grow.
The NMSBIR Grant Program provides recipients additional resources to commercialize the technology developed using Federal SBIR funding. The NM SBIR Matching Grants are designed to support local science and technology companies in achieving their commercialization goals.
The grant program was revamped in 2019 with a more technical and expert review of the business proposals. The Technology Research Collaborative (TRC) Board is tasked with making the final recommendation to leadership on these awards. The board is a panel of university, national laboratory, government, and business experts brought together by the New Mexico Economic Development Department (EDD) through its Office of Science and Technology (OST) to promote technology commercialization in New Mexico. OST began this process under the leadership of former Director Myrriah Tomar, PhD, and is now being overseen by the current OST Director, Alex Greenberg.
“These five companies represent some of the best technology and science that our state has to offer. The grantees are working on advanced and innovative processes that will move the whole country forward while offering impressive benefits to the quality of all human life,” Secretary Keyes said. “We are so proud to see this level of innovation coming from New Mexico-grown companies and feel honored to be able to support this important work.”
SBIR grants are competitive federal grants supporting small businesses engaged in research and development of high potential technologies. This competitive state grant matches Phase I SBIR awards up to $25,000 and Phase II awardees are eligible for a match up to $100,000.
The following companies were awarded NMSBIR grants. These five companies are brilliant examples of high-wage target industries that help diversify and grow New Mexico’s economy:
- Actoprobe LLC, (Albuquerque), Alexander Ukhanov PhD, $100,000. Actoprobe designs, manufactures, and sells custom optical Spectroscopy/Microscopy Instruments and AFM Probes for conventional AFM to do single molecular spectroscopy of biomedical specimens and compound semiconductor material & devices. Actoprobe is currently developing a needle laser for nano-spectroscopy for fast and accurate virus and DNA identification. With their patented needle laser, customers can do chemical analysis with atomic precision and manipulate live viruses in air or liquid at normal conditions.
- Backyard Farms LLC (Las Cruces), Rachael Ryan, Owner, $25,000. Backyard Farms seeks to improve the food system in the Borderland Region, empowering small fruit and vegetable farmers by using lyophilization (freeze drying) to create a nutritious and delicious healthy food product that can reach vulnerable food insecure populations without the need for refrigeration.
- Emerging Technology Ventures, Inc. (Alamogordo), Eugene Hudson, CEO, $25,000. Emerging Technology Ventures (ETV) develops autonomous air and ground systems with integrated sensing/inspection and artificial intelligence driven predictive analytics for complex environments, such as agriculture, aerospace, renewable energy, critical infrastructure, defense, and public safety. The technology is delivered through KeenAI, ETV’s core technology, which provides end-to-end autonomous workflow services to autonomously sense, understand, decide, and act to provide critical, near real-time intelligence to respond quickly to issues affecting operations.
- Just Health Care LLC (Albuquerque), Andru Zeller, MD, $25,000. Just Health Care has created PainScan, a program aimed at making pain visible in order to provide clarity and actionable steps for patients and doctors. It modernizes pain assessment by replacing the 1-10 scale with a personalized 3D image of the patient's pain. PainScan is an augmented physical exam blending computer vision, a pressure sensitive physician glove, and technology for patients to share their information about their pain. PainScan lets doctors "see" how their patients "feel."
- NeuroGeneces, Inc. (Santa Fe), Karen Crow Co-Founder and CEO, $25,000. NeuroGeneces is a woman-led startup developing a wearable device that is an audio "pacemaker" for the brain. It uses sounds to stimulate memory and other restorative functions while you sleep. The device is the first fitness tracker for the brain, measuring overall brain health and enhancing memory.”
Companies interested in applying for the NMSBIR Grant Program can find more information on our website at edd.newmexico.gov/ost or by contacting Alex M. Greenberg, Office of Science & Technology Director at AlexM.Greenberg@state.nm.us.