The Maryland Technology Development Corp. (TEDCO) and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced that four companies were awarded a total of $448,000 through the NIST Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Program (N-STEP). Each company was awarded $112,000 to develop its NIST-licensed technology for commercial market applications and to grow its business.
N-STEP is a collaborative effort between TEDCO and NIST, focused on the commercialization of NIST research. It provides opportunities for researchers previously employed by NIST or who are nearing the end of term employment, who may be interested in forming companies to independently pursue technologies that can be commercialized as products or services to benefit the public. The program makes grants to these companies to move technologies further along the commercialization pathway, increase the company’s value, and lead to follow-on investment and job creation. To date, 10 companies have received N-STEP awards.
The four most recent awardees are PathOtrak, of Bethesda; Microbial Pulse Diagnostics, of Golden, Colo.; Graphene Waves, of Gaithersburg; and Parman Tech, LLC, also of Gaithersburg.