Startup Talk: Jonesboro firm receives $100,000 USDA grant to conduct corn-to-fuel research

Editor’s note: Each Thursday, Talk Business & Politics provides “Startup Talk,” a round-up of startup, technology and entrepreneurial news.

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JONESBORO FIRM RECEIVES $100,000 USDA GRANT TO CONDUCT CORN-TO-FUEL RESEARCH
Infinite Energy LLC of Jonesboro was among the 76 small businesses around the country that will receive part of $7.4 million in grants to conduct research related to food security, natural resources, and agricultural issues.

The grants are made through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, a competitive funding source that is coordinated by the Small Business Administration and administered by 11 federal agencies including the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), to encourage domestic small businesses to engage in high-growth research and development that has the potential for commercialization and could lead to significant public benefit.

Infinite Energy will receive a $100,000 grant to research the manufacturing of large volumes of inexpensive biological tools (enzymes) for the production of biodiesel from corn and other plant sources.

RIDESHARING ECONOMY NEEDS REALITY CHECK AS ROBOTIC TAXIS THREATEN INDUSTRY’S $300 BILLION FORECAST
The new ridesharing economy continues to beat expectations as ABI Research forecasts global bookings to exceed $100 billion by 2020 and $300 billion by 2030 at an average growth rate of 18%. But the transportation industry may be in need of a reality check.

Many car OEMs are now aiming to gain back control of the future automotive landscape through advancements in driverless car technology. This will enable driverless taxis to overpower ridesharing in the long-term, ABI says in a news report.

Big brands and niche startups like Opel’s CarUnity and carpooling operations like BlaBlaCar and Scoop Technologies, in which BMW iVentures recently invested, are currently thriving. But ABI Research finds ridesharing growth will slow as it becomes more challenging to recruit users. Its business model of aggressive marketing and subsidized driver recruitment resulting in huge losses, as well as fundamental cost structure limitations, will prevent ridesharing from scaling into a mainstream use case and, as a result, fail to lead to a significant decline in car ownership. These findings are from ABI Research’s ITS Market Data.

NASA TO LAUNCH SPACECRAFT TO TRAVEL TO NEAR-EARTH ASTEROID, BRING BACK SAMPLES
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is scheduled to launch the Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security – Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-Rex) spacecraft Thursday (Sept. 8) to travel to a near-Earth asteroid, called Bennu (formerly 1999 RQ36), and bring at least a 2.1-ounce sample back to Earth for study. The mission will help scientists investigate how planets formed and how life began, as well as improve our understanding of asteroids that could impact Earth. Under the NASA plan, the spacecraft will reach its asteroid target in 2018 and return a sample to Earth in 2023.