BFTP/NEP is an award-winning, state-funded economic development organization that links early-stage technology firms and established companies with experts, universities, funding, and other resources to help them prosper through innovation.
BETHLEHEM, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/NEP) board approved the investment of $915,141 in regional companies. BFTP/NEP is an award-winning, state-funded economic development organization that links early-stage technology firms and established companies with experts, universities, funding, and other resources to help them prosper through innovation.
Since beginning operation, BFTP/NEP has helped to create 14,301 new jobs and retain 21,236 existing jobs, to start 408 new companies, and to develop 948 new products and processes. Ben Franklin has returned $3.50 to Pennsylvania for every $1.00 invested in the program.
BFTP/NEP announces early-stage company investments:
Discovery
Machine, Inc., Williamsport - $75,000
Develop
collateral materials for entering new markets, attracting partners, and
promoting software sales. Discovery Machine (DMI) developed a suite of
novel, patented software tools that enable companies to capture, manage,
automate, optimize, embed, and network the knowledge found in the
experience of their key employees. Companies’ needs to retain the
expertise of staff will grow as the Baby Boomer generation continues to
move into retirement. DMI’s technology also helps protect a company’s
human capital if it experiences a merger, acquisition, or staff
recruiting by competition.
EBL
International, Bethlehem - $100,000
Accomplish key
system development tasks and secure important operational partnerships
to support EBL’s efforts to deploy its product in China. EBL is
pioneering an innovative employment-based lending model for providing
credit cards to working-class people in countries where credit rating
systems do not exist. EBL’s custom application will be developed to
efficiently facilitate the interactions among employers, workers, banks,
and merchants to provide a new approach to employment-based lending.
EthosGen,
LLC, Dallas - $125,000
Develop and beta test on-site
renewable biomass-based energy production systems. The systems use new
Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) greenhouses to grow
high-energy- value crops. These highly efficient, non-edible grasses are
harvested and converted into fuels to produce electricity on-site.
Current competitive open-field biomass systems cannot be located where
the energy is needed, nor can they produce a continuous supply of fuels.
eVendor
Check, Hawley - $100,000
Further enhance the current
software for the company’s web-based customer feedback system for
procurement professionals. eVendor Check’s clients reduce risks
associated with vendor selection by using patent-pending survey tools
and a supporting database, rather than the conventional, less-effective
telephone-based method of vendor investigation. eVendor Check will
develop automated product features, establish on-line tutorials, and
mobile applications to enhance the user experience and increase sales.
Snake
Creek Lasers, Hallstead - $100,000
Experimentally
verify a new opto-thermal laser-resonator theory and advance current
laser designs to improve output-power tunability and reproducibility
over large ranges. Snake Creek Lasers is a premier supplier of
miniaturized lasers, laser modules, and high-power cryogenic lasers for
defense and commercial applications. This investment will also help the
company to identify secondary sources for critical components.
SuccessTSM,
Tobyhanna - $50,000
Create a graphical user interface for the
company’s product that addresses Disaster Recovery Management (DRM) in a
cost-effective and affordable manner. SuccessTSM has created a platform
that works with IBM’s widely used Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) system to
make the DRM process easier, faster, and more reliable through an
easy-to-navigate graphical user interface.
Taylored
Building Solutions, LLC, Taylor - $100,000
Develop a
distribution channel strategy for marketing construction components to
the site-built industry in residential housing. Taylored Building
Solutions (TBS) custom manufactures housing components for builders in
whatever configuration or degree of completeness they require. TBS will
also continue to supply modular home builders with complete homes.
XiGo
Nanotools, Bethlehem - $100,000
Train partners in
high-growth markets in the Asia/Pacific region in the use and marketing
of the Acorn Area™ product to enhance sales. XiGo manufactures
this patented, shoebox-size device that rapidly measures the wetted
surface area of nano-particles using magnetic resonance. The surface
area directly relates to product performance in many industrial
applications including energy, electronics, ceramics, and
pharmaceuticals. Currently there are no efficient methods to measure
this.
Ben Franklin announces established manufacturer company investments:
Crispin
Valve, Berwick - $11,600
Determine fluid-flow
characteristics for all valve sizes up to a 96” diameter. Crispin Valve
manufactures butterfly valves for the municipal water industry, and has
designed a new product line which will allow the company to expand its
market.
East
Penn Manufacturing Company, Lyon Station - $25,000
With
help from the Emerging Technologies Application Center at Northampton
Community College, develop process-optimization strategies in support of
the company’s new advanced battery products. East Penn Manufacturing,
the largest manufacturing employer in Berks County, produces thousands
of different sizes and types of lead-acid batteries, battery
accessories, and wire and cable products. East Penn seeks to reduce the
product drying time while minimizing substrate heat to maximize product
through-put.
Electro
Chemical & Manufacturing Company, Emmaus - $15,000
With
help from Lehigh University, develop an adhesive that will allow lined
vessels used in production to be implemented in applications requiring a
greater range of temperature and pressure conditions than the company’s
current product line. The company produces thermoplastic- and
fluoropolymer-lined steel vessels used to manufacture, distribute, and
store corrosive chemicals.
Noble
Biomaterials, Inc., Scranton - $13,650
With the
Emerging Technologies Application Center at Northampton Community
College, conduct a mine pool geothermal feasibility study at the
company’s facility site. Geothermal processes may be utilized to control
the temperature of water used in production and to provide environmental
humidity and temperature control in the plant. Noble develops,
manufactures, and markets advanced antimicrobial technologies designed
to manage bacterial contamination for medical, defense, industrial, and
consumer markets. Noble’s core technology, X-STATIC®, is a proprietary
silver-based antimicrobial solution used for mission-critical
applications including advanced wound care, infection control, and odor
elimination.
Strong
Industries, Inc., Northumberland - $49,891
With
Lehigh University’s Enterprise Systems Center, identify and implement
operational improvement opportunities that developed during the
company’s recent business transformation and growth. Originally a molder
of various consumer goods, Strong has grown significantly and now
focuses on the pool and spa market.
Ward
Manufacturing, Blossburg - $50,000
Design, build,
and implement a demonstration-scale core making machine at Penn State
University, and a full-scale version at Ward Manufacturing Company. Ward
produces malleable and cast iron fittings. The demo machine will be
designed to process low-volatile organic compound (VOC) binders as those
binders are optimized. The equipment at Ward will immediately facilitate
a 29% reduction in the energy needed to make cores using conventional
binders, and energy savings will continue to grow.
