Initial 6 startups selected for Clean Tech R&D Voucher Program - ROI-NJ.com

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An initial six startups have been selected for the Clean Tech R&D Voucher Program, a $435,000 state program aimed at helping early-stage New Jersey clean technology companies more easily access resources such as specialized equipment at one of the state’s many universities or federal laboratory facilities.

The program, sponsored by the Commission on Science, Innovation and Technology, is looking for more companies to assist. Applications, which are accepted on a rolling basis, can be found here.

Ten companies, in fact, are currently under review, CSIT Chairman Gunjan Doshi said.

The program was developed in coordination with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

To be eligible, applicants must:

Be registered to conduct business in New Jersey;
Have no more than 50 full-time employees at the time of application;
Have 100% of the project work for which the voucher is being sought conducted in N.J.

Full eligibility requirements can be found here.

“Through the Clean Tech R&D Voucher Program, we are able to support the cultivation of innovative technologies in our state’s earliest stage companies and showcase the breadth of amenities that our world-class universities offer to the innovation community,” Doshi said. “We encourage all emerging companies to explore how this program can further their growth.”

Eligible applicants will receive vouchers to subsidize the costs associated with using equipment at a New Jersey university or federal laboratory for product testing and development. Each eligible applicant can apply for multiple vouchers up to a cap of $15,000 within any 12-month period. An approved voucher is valid for a period of three months.

The program specifically funds work on projects that are developing clean technologies that recapture or avoid emissions of greenhouse gases and/or criteria pollutants. The following technology areas are eligible under the program: chemicals/advance materials, energy distribution/storage, energy efficiency, energy generation, green buildings, transportation, waste processing, and water and agriculture. A New Jersey clean tech asset map listing university and federal laboratory resources in the state is available on the CSIT website.

“The Clean Tech R&D Voucher Program is making it easier for startups around the state to leverage one of New Jersey’s greatest assets — its globally-recognized higher education network — as they work toward commercialization and beyond,” EDA CEO Tim Sullivan said.

“This will have the dual benefit of supporting both technological advances and job creation as these young companies grow, a priority for Gov. Phil Murphy and his entire administration.”

The following startups were each approved for vouchers totaling $15,000, unless otherwise noted:

BRISEA Group Inc., based in Parsippany, has provided environmental and energy professional services, technology and know-how transfer from the U.S. to the developing nations for over two decades. With support from the Clean Tech R&D Voucher Program, the company is using equipment at the New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Otto York Center to develop technology that enables massive disinfection of personnel and medical equipment, material surfaces and waters that humans come in contact.
Eion NJ Corp., located in Princeton, is developing a specialty fine-grained mineral product that rapidly captures and stores CO2 when applied to agricultural soils. Funding through the Clean Tech R&D Voucher Program will support Eion’s use of equipment at Rutgers University’s School of Environmental and Biological Science’s greenhouses to further its efforts. Eion NJ Corp. previously received funding through CSIT’s Clean Tech Seed Grant Program.
HiT Nano Inc., based in Bordentown, develops next-generation, low-cost and high-performance lithium ion (Li-ion) battery materials and energy storage systems by using novel high temperature nanotechnologies. The company will use equipment at Princeton University’s Princeton Institute of Materials (Imaging and Analysis Center and Micro and Nano Fabrication Center) to further the R&D of its technologies. (HiT Nano Inc. has been approved for $11,250 in vouchers through the program.)
Michrinik Technologies LLC, located in Cedar Knolls, is a green technology company focused on creating new materials for energy storage application. Support from the Clean Tech R&D Voucher Program will help the company offset the cost of using equipment at NJIT’s Maker Space and Otto York Centers as it works toward commercialization of its products.
Nanosepex Inc., based in Newark, is an environmental research company that is developing what it considers to be the next-generation desalination and water treatment technology. The company plans to use equipment at NJIT’s Laboratory for Analytical Chemistry and Nanotechnology to further its development of technologies to treat industrial wastewater (such as power plants and fracking water) and ultimately reduce greenhouse gas emission.
RRTC Inc., located in Belle Mead, is developing advanced composite materials for a myriad of uses based on Low Temperature Solidification (LTS) technology originally developed at Rutgers University. The company is using vouchers from the Clean Tech R&D Voucher Program to offset the costs of equipment at Rutgers University’s Materials Science and Engineering core facility as it produces materials for such applications as wind turbine blades, wood substitutes and capture media for a new solid-state carbon capture system.