Three Early-Stage Arkansas Firms Get Federal Funding For ‘Ground-breaking’ Research

Three Arkansas companies have won nearly a half million dollars in federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding this spring for ground-breaking product research and development, according to the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center.

GeneCoMe Biotech of Jonesboro and Fauxsee Innovations of Magnolia won SBIR Phase I funding through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). A third company, Fayetteville-based Ozark Integrated Circuits, won two SBIR Phase I grants from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The agencies issued the awards of notices for $444,999 in April and May, officials said.

SBIR, housed in the U.S. Small Business Administration, is an important source of early-stage funding for small companies seeking to get new products or technologies from the lab to the marketplace, officials said. The highly competitive three-phase award system provides $2 billion annually to American small businesses that propose innovative ideas meeting the specific research and development needs of participating federal agencies. Interested firms apply by responding to requests for proposals from 11 federal agencies.

The ASBTDC, headquartered in the University of Arkansas at Little Rock College of Business, specializes in helping Arkansas-based, research-capable companies pursue SBIR funding and navigate the lengthy and tedious application process.

“For first-time applicants, the average success rate is 15 percent,” said Rebecca Norman, the center’s innovation consultant and SBIR specialist. “To prepare a winning SBIR Phase I proposal, a company needs to have a highly detailed work plan, a qualified project team and strong interest from the commercial market. “

Here’s a breakdown of company’s receiving the SBIR awards:

GeneCoMe Biotech – Jonesboro

First-time SBIR winner GeneCoMe Biotech received a $99,999 grant from the USDA Animal Production and Protection SBIR program to develop a plant-based method for treating poultry diseases such as coccidiosis.

“Our long-term goal is to apply our cytokine as an alternative to antibiotics and antimicrobials to prevent diseases that affect the poultry industry,” said GeneCoMe Biotech’s Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Giuliana Medrano. “Currently, there are a lot of efforts to eliminate the use of antibiotics from U.S. broiler chicken flocks. We have developed a rapid and cost-effective method to produce chicken cytokines in tobacco plants.”

According to the USDA SBIR national program leader, the agency funded only 10 of 39 qualified applications for the Animal Production and Protection program this year.

Fauxsee Innovations – Magnolia

Assistive device company Fauxsee Innovations won $100,000 in SBIR funding from the National Science Foundation in 2013. The award allowed the company to develop a working prototype of its “Roboglasses” product, company officials said. The visually impaired can wear Roboglasses just like sunglasses to receive sensory feedback that alerts them to upper-body obstacles.

The USDA funding will allow Fauxsee to expand on the Roboglasses prototype to develop a new product called RoboFind. Fauxsee Innovations will partner with the engineering department at Southern Arkansas University.

“RoboFind will allow the user to more efficiently find places and things in a rural setting, where it is much more difficult for an individual who is sight-impaired,” said Brandon Foshee, Fauxsee’s CEO and president.

Ozark Integrated Circuits – Fayetteville

Semiconductor company Ozark Integrated Circuits has received notice of two separate NASA SBIR Phase I awards totaling approximately $245,000.

Through one project, Ozark IC will develop an ultraviolet array to provide a reliable UV imager for NASA’s earth and planetary science missions. For the UV imager, Ozark IC will utilize its patent-pending UV sensor.

For the other award, the company will address NASA’s need for a micro-controller to provide real-time programmability for extremely high-temperature environments, such as the proposed mobile lander for Venus.

“Ozark IC’s expertise is designing analog and mixed-signal circuits for use in extreme environments at very high and/or very low temperatures and under high-radiation,” said Ozark IC’s CEO Matt Francis.

The projects also have potential commercial uses. Francis noted that a commercial application for the UV imager is in machine vision, where the devices could be used for real-time inspection of printed circuit boards or manufacturing processes.