2008 Winners
1st Place ($100,000) - Cellulosix (UA/UAH)
In 2009, the management team of Cellulosix left the company to pursue other options. The company is no longer in operation.
Cellulosix was developing a catalog of cellulose-based chemical reagents for use in drug delivery, functional foods, smart clothing, functional bandages, and several other potential markets.
The company's advantage was a proprietary technology to dissolve raw cellulose in more mild conditions than current technologies allow. This gave the group the ability to modify it chemically and physically in ways that were previously not possible.
2nd Place ($50,000) - SEA Desalination Corp. (UA)
SEA Desalination is developing the SEA Panel, a sun-powered desalination technology that removes salt from seawater or high mineral concentrations from ground water. It has a low-environmental impact and is made from remanufactured plastic bottles and aluminum cans. The company is led by Mr. Mike Wofsey, a PhD candidate at The University of Alabama.
Since the competition, SEA Desalination received a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency and was a featured company at the "World's Best Technologies Showcase" event in Dallas, TX. As of July 2010, the company has three products available. For more information and to order products, please visit the company's website.
3rd Place ($25,000) - SSS Optical Technologies (Alabama A&M University)
SSS Optical Technologies (SSSOT) has developed a new, patented sensor to detect ammonia in animal feeding operations. The system is easier to install, easier to maintain, and provides long-term cost savings versus current systems.
Since the competition, SSSOT has presented to the Huntsville Angel Network for equity investment and has received a Phase I SBIR grant from the USDA. The company is currently pursuing a Phase II SBIR grant. The company is completing field test of the ammonia sensors in poultry facilities in Arab, AL and Athens, GA. The latter test is conducted in collaboration with the University of Georgia.
Other Finalists
ATBioscience (UAH)
AT Bioscience, LLC (ATB) has globally identified lung squamous cancer genes using its novel bio-marker gene discovery technology. Lung cancer is a popular cancer type with a high mortality and difficult early detection. Using these genetic biomarkers, ATB is developing both lung cancer research kits and first blood diagnostic kit for early lung squamous cancer diagnosis.
dlservices.net (UA)
dlservices.net is an early stage startup company that solves online knowledge resource integration problems for health libraries, a suite of solutions that enable better access to structured information for health providers at the point of patient care. We market a software as a service (SaaS) platform in various health library contexts, including hospitals, ambulatory clinics, and academic health science centers. Our SaaS platform allows a “single point of service” functionality for libraries to offer to their clients. The resulting integration of a library’s online knowledge resources can be integrated into electronic health record systems through the exploitation of existing industry standard communication protocols. The data generated from library usage can be warehoused and analyzed across platform clients to support real time user guidance and an advertising service.
Intellectrode, LLC (UAB)
Intellectrode is engaged in the development, manufacture and sale of Neurotechnology, first to the research market for neuroscience and pharmaceutical R & D and hopes to expand its products into other markets and applications. The company will first manufacture and sell complete systems (equipment and software) for researchers which need no FDA approval, but there are many other potential applications of this technology, some of which do require FDA approval. The fields of knowledge initially include electrophysiology, electronics and software.
Lambert Technologies (UA)
Lambert Technologies, LLC has developed a patented luminescent epoxy coating used for testing material stress levels - Strain Sensitive Skin (S3). When the coating is placed on an object and is then tested under different load conditions, the coating emits a light. This light allows for the formation of a strain map across the object’s surface. The strain map can then be used to predict the object’s failure mode location and more accurately determine its service life.
ProVentix (UA)
Our company will offer the more than 44 million family caregivers in the United States access to web-based tools and resources designed to reduce the financial and health related burdens associated with caregiving. Employing a proprietary, patent-pending assessment process, we will create a tailored intervention program that targets the specific circumstances of the caregiver and the patient, and provide the caregiver with access to continually updated information and counsel regarding the caregiving process, information regarding elder care resources in the caregiver’s locality; member recommendations, and mobile access to critical data.
