Eight regional companies among 18 finalists for FuzeHub’s commercialization competition in Albany

ALBANY, N.Y. — Eight regional companies are among the finalists for FuzeHub’s upcoming commercialization competition in which seven companies will win a total of $350,000.

Of the 18 finalists, six are from the Southern Tier, one is from the Mohawk Valley, and one is from the North Country, FuzeHub announced.

FuzeHub, a not-for-profit organization responsible for assisting small to medium-sized manufacturing companies in New York state

FuzeHub will hold its second New York State Commercialization Competition on Nov. 7-8 at the Albany Capital Center.

The 18 companies will pitch their ideas before a live audience. Companies will demonstrate the “commercialization potential” of their product or technology for the opportunity to win up to $50,000.

Recipients must use the award funds to “produce, or improve upon, a working prototype or beta phase” to enable the applicant to pursue additional investment and customers, leading to the commercialization of their product concept.

The New York State Commercialization Competition is part of the Jeff Lawrence Manufacturing Innovation Fund, FuzeHub said.

Lawrence, who died in 2015, was a top executive at the Albany–based Center for Economic Growth, the manufacturing extension partnership (MEP) center for the Capital Region, and a supporter of New York manufacturing and entrepreneurial communities.

The manufacturing-innovation fund, which was established with $1 million annually for five years, supports activities designed to “spur technology development and commercialization” across New York state.

A description of the eight regional finalists, as provided in a FuzeHub news release, are listed below the region where they operate.

Southern Tier

Capro-X is a startup located in Ithaca developing a “natural and sustainable” product for converting dairy-industry wastes into “valuable” platform chemicals, FuzeHub said. Focused initially on Greek yogurt’s acid whey-waste problem through funding from a National Science Foundation SBIR (small business innovation research) grant, Capro-X is also participating in the NEXUS-NY and Cleantech Open accelerators.

Dynamic Boundaries of Ithaca is developing a new lubricant to treat osteoarthritic joints. Invented by a team of researchers at Cornell University, the material binds to the cartilage or underlying bone providing “significantly more” lubrication when the joint is under pressure unlike current hyaluronic acid-based products. The substance is chemically simple and uses only GRAS (generally recognized as safe) materials, giving them a “significant advantage” over anything in development, per the release.

FlexSurface, Inc. of Vestal is focused on development of “low-cost, high-durability and high-performance” catalysts for commercialization in fuel cell and emission-control systems

Íko Systems of Ithaca is working on a smart tabletop micro-greenhouse for the “sustainably minded foodie,” the release stated.

Light Green Machines, LLC of Ithaca is providing sustainable transportation products. The initial focus will be on design, development, and manufacture of lightweight, composite chassis hybrid and electric buses in New York.

VitaMe Technologies, Inc. of Ithaca is focused on nutrition deficiencies that lead to “major” health issues and are “hard to test.” VitaScan provides nutrition-deficiency testing.

Mohawk Valley

Go Figure, Inc. of Utica allows contractors to take measurements of houses with just photos and to create estimates and proposals for roofing, siding, and trim. The work is “all onsite in minutes instead of hours and days … using an iPhone, so that contractors radically increase their sales conversions,” per the FuzeHub release.

North Country

RemWell LLC of Potsdam is addressing public health and energy issues associated with groundwater contaminated by an emerging class of chemical contaminants, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), with a “novel” treatment reactor.

RemWell’s InSRT reactor operates on site and underground directly where the contamination occurs, which “avoids expensive” pumping of water out of the subsurface and use of carbon or other media to remove PFAS from water, “which later must be incinerated,” per the release.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com