New program gives small businesses a 'Jumpstart'

Westchester County Business Journal, Apr 16, 2007 by Woods, Lynn

Small companies have difficulty getting access to the research facilities that enable them to design and fabricate new materials, which helps them grow. But now there's a new program in New York state that not only allows small companies to work with the university professors who are doing the cutting-edge research relevant to their needs, but also provides matching funds to make it affordable.

The Cornell Center for Materials Research (CCMR), part of Cornell University, started its Small Business Outreach initiative three years ago. The program enables small and mediumsized companies to "get access to the same tools and equipment as large companies," said David Jung, Ph.D., CCMR's industrial programs manager. So far 15 companies have participated in CCMR's Jumpstart program.

Companies propose a project through a simple application process; those that are accepted participate in a 15-week semester at Cornell working with faculty at one of the nation's largest materials facilities. The cost of each project is $15,000, with the company kicking in $5,000 and the equivalent in in-time costs (such as the cost of having employees on-site at Cornell) and the remaining $5,000 contributed by the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research.

Jung provided an overview of the Jumpstart program at CCMR's second outreach presentation in the Hudson Valley on April 5. It was held at the Southern Dutchess Chamber of Commerce office in Wappinger Falls and hosted by the Hudson Valley Technology Development Center (HVTDC), a not-for-profit business resource center. Three other presenters described some of the state-of-the-art facilities and capabilities available to businesses, including the $250 million Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility (CNF) , as well as the exciting new materials and technologies under development.

SAVING TIME, MONEY

Attendee Sheree Wen, president and CEO of Wen Technologies Corp. in Hawthorne, said she was impressed. Wen said her company, which specializes in medical and electronic devices, had approached universities in the past, but had been flummoxed trying to find professors who were available and interested in working with a small firm. In addition, doing research at a university is expensive, with schools typically charging 20 to 30 percent of overhead, Wen said. In contrast, the CCMR charges only 5 percent, and Jung said he takes an active role in guiding a company to the right professor - another appealing aspect, saving a company a lot of wasted time and effort, according to Wen.

"The program and its approach are refreshing," she said after the session. "The university came to us, which is a very encouraging sign. They clearly want to help businesses out, and they're enthusiastic." Wen said she was considering "two or three" possible projects for the Jumpstart program.

Another attendee, Catalin Mihalache, quality engineer at Stewart EFI L.L.C., a metal-stamping and -tooling company in Yonkers, said his company is seeking to test its materials by a third party, since it often has disputes with its vendors about the test results. He was particularly interested in Cornell's capabilities for identifying and testing materials, noting this would be a valuable resource for his company. At the session, electron microscopy facility manager John Hunt described the 24,000-square-foot building where this is done and said companies can bring in a sample and have it imaged, analyzed and tested for impurities.

'A GOOD FIT'

Harrick Scientific Inc. in Pleasantville is the only company in the Hudson Valley that has so far participated in the Jumpstart program. It is developing a microscope sampling device through a research project with a Cornell professor who initially created the technology, said company owner Laurie Miller. "We're working to re-engineer the device and make it user friendly, and hopefully to bring it to market," said Miller, explaining that the device is an accessory for confocal microscopes, which are used by analytic chemists.

Initially, "we contacted Jumpstart to see if anything was a good fit for our company, and they came back to us with this project," she said. Harrick Scientific applied for the $15,000 project, was accepted, and is now midway through the semester. The company's area of expertise is spectroscopy, but this device relies on a different technology. "Learning about another technology we're not in the thick of is helpful," Miller said. "You're having your expert without having to get an expert.

The CCMR facilities available to small businesses represent a full range of cutting-edge, tools, expertise and processes. For example, the CNF, described by Michael Skvarla, manager of the user program, as "a machine shop with an attitude," has a staff of 700 representing the disciplines of physics, electronics, chemistry, biology and computation modeling. It fabricates materials on a nano scale, utilizing electron beam lithography, deep reactive ion etching and other state-of-the-art capabilities, for various applications, including many in biotech. These include the development of artificial retinas; a skullcap utilizing flexible neural electronics, which would enable a quadriplegic to control a computer just by thought; and intelligent bandages, containing electronic sensors that would automatically release drugs to the wound.