Technology entrepreneurs/executives Karim Salehmohammed of U.S. Green Energy, David Nackashi of Protochips Inc., Greg Bowers of Advaero Technologies, and Ed Calt of Integrated Biochem engage with N.C. A&T faculty, students and staff during a panel discussion of the university's role in innovation and applied research as part of the kickoff of Research Week 2012.
This week’s edition of The Business Journal features a front-age article on N.C. A&T spinoff company Advaero Technologies and its role in the production of a new super-strength carbon fiber material:
“Imagine a strip of material one inch wide and one-tenth of an inch thick. Now imagine a stack of six cars. Finally, imagine lifting that 30,000-pound stack off the ground with that ribbon of material. And the material doesn’t break.
“Aerospace manufacturers, defense contractors and others have only been able to imagine a lightweight composite material with that strength, but a new partnership involving N.C. A&T State University spin-off Advaero technologies may help make just such a material available in the near future.”
The article details the role of Advaero’s H-VARTM manufacturing technology in producing a new carbon fiber material designed at Stanford University. Chomarat, a French textile firm, will manufacture the material. The company has a facility in Anderson, S.C., but could choose to produce the material in the Triad. Advaero is located at the Gateway University Research Park’s south campus.
The H-VARTM (Heated Vacuum-Assisted Resin Transfer Molding) process was developed at N.C. A&T by Dr. Ajit Kelkar and Dr. Ronnie Bolick. Advaero licenses the technology from the university.
The article appears in the July 15 edition of The Business Journal. It’s also available to subscribers on the newspaper’s website.
Researchers who have created innovations with commercial potential — and those who will in the future — have an opportunity next week to learn all about funding and other assistance available to help them commercialize their work and get it into the marketplace.
The Office of Technology Transfer will hold a workshop titled, “SBIR/STTR: Funding your Innovation,” on the federal SBIR/STTR program on Thursday, October 7, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., in the Fort IRC, Room 410. Speakers will include two SBIR/STTR specialists from the Small Business and Technology Development Center. Registration is online at www.sbtdc.org/events/sbir/workshops2010/index.html#register. Details are in the PDF below.
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program are competitive programs created to ensure that small, high-tech, innovative businesses are a significant part of federal research and development efforts. Eleven federal departments participate in the SBIR program; five departments participate in the STTR program awarding $2.5 billion to small high-tech businesses. The programs are run by the Small Business Administration. The NSF administers the SBIR.GOV site on behalf of the federal government.
Posted in Technology Transfer
How do you take a discovery with commercial potential from the lab to the marketplace? N.C. A&T will co-sponsor a half-day event to provide academic researchers with an introduction to technology commercialization. Researchers will learn the fundamentals of assessing the market opportunity, roles for the researcher, details about intellectual property (including patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets ), and university technology transfer resources.
The event will be held Wednesday September 15 at the Elliott University Center at UNCG. It will be presented by the Small Business Technology Development Center. For more information, click below to see the attached flyer and agenda (both are PDF files).
Posted in Faculty, Technology Transfer
