Discovery to Product (D2P) has awarded funds to ten campus startups through their new Piloting Research Innovation & Market Exploration (PRIME) grant program. The PRIME funding will allow UW–Madison faculty, academic staff and students with an innovative commercial opportunity to undertake research designed to overcome critical market risk milestones, validate customer acceptance, and/or generate private and public funding.
“I’m pleased we are able to offer new grant assistance in addition to D2P’s SEED and Draper-TIF grants,” said D2P Director Andy Richards. “The extra funding will help support these campus innovators’ technologies by improving their market readiness and advancing their commercialization prospects, while providing a positive impact on the economy of the state of Wisconsin.”
Awardee Dawei Feng, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, UW–Madison commented: “We’re excited to move Flux XII out of the lab with this funding for device components and chemicals, advancing our long-duration energy storage technology right here in Wisconsin.” The company has participated in WARF’s Accelerator program and D2P’s Innovation to Market and Igniter cohorts.
The UW–Madison projects selected for funding by the PRIME program for FY2023 are:
Joseph Andrews (Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering) will develop and test an affordable, non-invasive wearable device for real-time glucose monitoring.
Brad Bolling (Associate Professor, Department of Food Science) and Rich Hartel (Professor, Department of Food Science) are using an innovative method for isolating high-value plant compounds to develop new cranberry-based products to support oral and gut health.
Dawei Feng (Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering) with Flux XII will develop a grid-tied demo with regional partners to showcase the value of their safe, sustainable, efficient, and affordable long-duration grid energy storage technology.
Nancy Keller (Professor, Medical Microbiology, Immunology & Bacteriology) in collaboration with Terra Bioworks, will develop new low-toxicity antifungal drugs for use in preventing and/or treating life-threatening fungal infections.
Shinye Kim (Assistant Professor, Counseling Psychology) will develop a digital diagnostic tool aimed at providing multilingual, multimodal, and multidimensional pain assessment for patients from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
Ben Lindley (Assistant Professor, Nuclear Engineering, Engineering Physics), together with Realta Fusion, will develop a fusion-based integration with energy-intensive heat used during industrial manufacturing.
Joshua E. Medow (Professor, Neurosurgery) will develop an automated, customizable system allowing for temporary drainage of cerebral spinal fluid.
Bilge Mutlu (Professor, Computer Science, Psychology & Industrial Engineering) will develop their CoFrame web-based software system to facilitate the integration of collaborative robots into manual manufacturing processes.
Robert G. Radwin (Professor, Industrial & Systems Engineering) will work with Güd Medical LLC to test their novel syringe attachment device to provide a more ergonomic, accurate, precise, and sterile product for pharmacists and clinicians.
Shannon Stahl (Professor, Chemistry) will develop a unique chemical reactor system for electrical synthesis of chemicals to be used in the pharmaceutical industry.
Learn more about the PRIME grant: https://d2p.wisc.edu/funding/prime/
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About Discovery to Product (D2P)
Discovery to Product (D2P) is the front door to UW–Madison’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, coordinating the Innovate Network to connect faculty, staff, and students with the right resources at the right time. D2P provides mentorship, education, funding, and guidance to support UW–Madison’s growing community of entrepreneurs and inventors. For more information, visit d2p.wisc.edu and innovate.wisc.edu.