BOSTON — The Baker-Polito Administration on Tuesday announced $280,000 in funding for seven researchers and companies developing innovative clean energy and water technologies across the Commonwealth.
Among the grant recipients $40,000 to Grafton based Battery Resourcers, LLC for developing a recycling process using materials from spent batteries in new lithium-ion batteries.
The funding, which comes from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center’s Catalyst program, will also support clean energy and water research in Amherst, Boston, Cambridge, Medford, Somerville and Waltham.
“The Commonwealth’s entrepreneurs and researchers are developing groundbreaking solutions to address the energy and water resource challenges before us,” said Gov. Charlie Baker in a news release. “Supporting these innovators creates jobs, strengthens our growing cleantech sector and will help the Commonwealth meet our ambitious clean energy and environmental goals.”
Rep. David Muadian, the Republican from Grafton, agreed. “It is great to know that researchers and companies within our community are helping Massachusetts move towards a clean energy environment,” he said. “I am proud of Battery Resourcers from Grafton and will continue to support their efforts towards a green initiative in our Commonwealth.”
The Catalyst program, which is funded by MassCEC and managed by the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center, provides funding to early-stage researchers and companies as they work towards bringing promising products and technologies to market.
“Supporting researchers and early-stage entrepreneurs drives the innovation the Commonwealth needs to meet our greenhouse gas emissions reduction requirements,” said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew Beaton. “This funding will support technological breakthroughs to protect our environment, while fueling local business growth and creating local jobs.”
“These grants will help promising early-stage companies and university technologies bridge early-stage funding ‘valleys of death,’ increase business opportunities and attract private investment to Massachusetts businesses,” said MassCEC Interim CEO Stephen Pike. “The Catalyst program is one more tool we are using to cultivate innovation in this thriving sector.”
The other awardees that each received a $40,000 grant included The University of Massachusetts, Amherst for developing a biological wastewater treatment process that will dramatically reduce operational energy costs at wastewater treatment plants, while also allowing plant operators to recover and use otherwise-wasted energy; Wright Electric Airplanes in Boston for developing electric-powered passenger aircraft, with funding supporting data acquisition and in-air experimental flights; Massachusetts Institute of Technology for developing an energy-saving water purification system focused on the removal of contaminants and heavy metals; Tufts University in Medford for developing a technology to lower the amount of energy needed to cool computing data centers, large consumers of energy; NewGrid in Somerville for developing software to help electric transmission operators re-route electricity on the grid in times of system congestion, potentially saving billions of dollars in congestion costs and allowing for uninterrupted transmission of renewable power; and CoolComposites, Inc. in Waltham for developing an additive for foam insulation that would absorb heat, lowering the amount of energy needed to cool a building.
Since the program’s launch in 2010, the Catalyst program has provided $2.73 million in grants to 69 companies and research teams across the Commonwealth. Past awardees have gone on to raise more than $100 million in follow-on financing from various sources, including angel investors, venture capitalists and grants from federal programs including the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy , the National Science Foundation and the Small Business Innovation Research program, the news release said.
In addition, the release said, Catalyst awardees have hired over 140 new employees, received or filed patents for 104 new pieces of intellectual property and issued 58 research publications.
“As prior awardees have shown, this funding can be truly catalytic in helping to build entrepreneurial ventures in Massachusetts,” said MTTC Founding Director Abigail Barrow. “These grants, while very small, enable inventors to take technologies from idea to early prototype to demonstrate that the technology works. The results of these grants then enable the inventors to raise additional commercialization funding.”
The Catalyst program will open for applications again this fall, with grants of up to $65,000 available for researchers and entrepreneurs looking to further advance their technologies.
Catalyst is funded through MassCEC’s Renewable Energy Trust, which was created by the Massachusetts Legislature in 1997. The trust is funded by municipal electric departments that have opted to participate in the program, along with a systems benefit charge paid by electric customers of investor-owned utilities in the state.
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