Texas Emerging Technology Fund - Awards

Grants are awarded in the following three areas:

• Commercialization Awards: funds to help companies take ideas from concept to development to ready for the marketplace.
• Matching Awards: funds create public-private partnerships which leverage the unique strengths of universities, federal government grant programs, and industry.
• Research Superiority Acquisition: funds for Texas higher education institutions to recruit the best research talent in the world.

Commercialization Awards

The goal of the ETF Commercialization Awards is to grow new small businesses and existing businesses to accelerate new products and services to the marketplace. Through these investments, the goal is to ensure a vibrant economy for Texas and a global leadership position. Commercialization awards provide selected, early-stage investments in new, technology-based, private entrepreneurial entities that collaborate with public or private institutions of higher education in Texas, and which, if successful, may provide significant economic benefit to the state.

View Investments by Industry Cluster [PDF]

Biotech & Lifesciences

Computer & IT

Energy

Advanced Tech & Manufacturing

Research Grant Matching (E)

Alliance for Higher Education (Atomically Precise Manufacturing Corporation)
The award went toward developing the basic tools and techniques necessary to enable accelerated commercialization and market adoption of nanotechnology-enabled devices and systems, including bio-sensors, pharmacological processing, deep-tissue medical imaging and low-powered sensors for defense and environmental monitoring.

Carbon Nanotechnologies Inc
The project's goals were to create a robust business in micro-fuel cells that power portable and wireless electronic devices, and to supply single-wall nanotubes in broad enough numbers to support nano-electronic component development and commercialization efforts.

Center for Commercialization of Electric Technologies
The project involved the improvement of the Texas power grid, using innovative data processing technology to make it more reliable, secure and efficient than any grid in the nation.

Global Contours Inc
The company is developing its patented Smart ConcreteTM, a material capable of sensing infrastructure conditions when used to construct new buildings, bridges, highways, dams, levees and tunnels. For example, instead of embedding a sensory device in roads at weigh stations, future roads built with Smart Concrete will become the sensory mechanism. This technology also has the potential to detect infrastructure breaches in buildings and other major infrastructure.

Lynntech Inc
The company is developing hydrogen fuel cell technology, which will be used for electrical power generation in machines such as wheelchairs, forklifts, pallet jacks, and military and commercial aircraft support vehicles.

National Trauma Institute
The award went toward development of the next generation of intelligent medical care systems, including systems that allow medical personnel to remotely monitor and assess medical conditions in the field. Applications include military and first responder usage.

Sematech Inc
Sematech is developing the Advanced Processing and Prototyping Center, dedicated to prototyping new nano-scale manufacturing processes, accelerating the commercialization of new nano-electronics products.

Texas A&M University System (National Center for Therapeutics Manufacturing)
The center will be an international destination for research and development of medications to combat diseases such as cancer, diabetes and influenza, and will serve as a model for future national facilities that will protect the nation from bio-terror threats and attacks.

Texas Agricultural Experiment Station (Algae Biofuels)
The mission of this project is to demonstrate the economical production of algae-derived transportation fuels and commercialize the technology in Texas.

Texas Railroad Commission (FutureGen)
FutureGen is a public-private partnership. The funding went toward completing a proposal to establish the nation's first near-zero emission coal-fired power plant in Texas. The DOE eventually chose Illinois as the site of the plant.

The University of Texas System (SWAN)
The investment helped establish the Southwest Academy of Nanotechnology (SWAN), a prestigious nano-electronics research center funded by the National Science Foundation and the Semiconductor Research Corporation.

The University of Texas at Dallas (FUSION)
The funding went toward joining the Future Semiconductor Commercialization (FUSION) consortium, which focuses on promoting research and development of applications of semiconductor technology and accelerating resulting projects into the marketplace.

The University of Texas at San Antonio (CFAIR)
The investment went toward establishing a Comprehensive Facility for Animal Imaging Research, where scientists will use imaging to evaluate new drugs and medical devices prior to and during human trials.

Research Superiority Acquisition of Talent (F)

The ETF Research Superiority Acquisition goal is to bring the best and brightest researchers in the world to Texas. This enables our Texas academic institutions to continue to build expertise in key research areas, attract and encourage students to pursue advanced degrees in math, sciences, and engineering, and provide an invaluable resource to the community, especially fostering innovation and commercialization in our companies.

Texas A&M University System

Texas Institute for Preclinical Studies (TIPS)
The award was used to recruit researchers to TIPS to research and develop innovative advancements in biotechnology, helping new discoveries, particularly medical devices and therapies, move more quickly from concept to the marketplace to treat and prevent diseases.

Texas BioEnergy Alliance
The alliance was attracting superior talent to accelerate research and development of preferred feedstock for converting biomass conversion and production of biofuels and related bioproducts.

Institute for Regenerative Medicine
Regenerative medicine focuses on the functional restoration of damaged organs and tissues, through use of adult stems, rather than treatment to decrease or moderate symptoms through therapies such as dialysis, implanting replacement devices or organ transplant.

Texas State University System

Center for Multifunctional Materials
The award helped operate and staff a center for the research, development and commercialization of multifunctional materials. Uses include information processing and high-density, light-weight information storage, more efficient solar power generation and new approaches to computing and communication.

Texas Tech University System

ICE in Agriculture Genomics and Biotechnology
The center uses cutting edge genomics and biotechnology to develop new agriculture products that will serve as the foundation for new business ventures. The award helped lure Dr. Thea Wilkins, an acclaimed cotton geneticist, from the University of California at Davis to become the director of genomics.

Nanotechnology Center
The award went to recruit experts in nanotphotonics, which involves the creation and manipulation of advanced materials at the nanoscale that can produce and sense light. The research has significant implications in the fields of defense, telecommunications and homeland security.

National Institute for Renewable Energy
Texas Tech is partnering with the National Institute for Renewable Energy (NIRE), which will support the National Wind Resource Center (NWRC). NWRC is a nonprofit organization formed by Texas Tech that focuses on wind power research and education through collaboration with national laboratories, academic institutions and trade organizations.

University of Houston System

Texas International Center for Cell Signaling and Nuclear Receptors
Preliminary research will focus on the use of nuclear hormone receptors as therapies for an array of diseases, including cancer. The center is led by Dr. Jan-Ake Gustafsson of Sweden, working with longtime research partner Margaret Wernerm, also of Sweden, and a 10-member support staff from Sweden's Karolinka Institute.

Superconductivity Applied Research Hub
The hub's initial focus was to develop and commercialize a second generation superconducting wire that will improve the efficiency, security, stability and environmental compatibility of the electric power grid. The hub is led by Dr. Venkat Selvamanickam, a world-renowned expert in superconductivity.

University of North Texas System

Center for Commercialization of Fluorescence Technology
Fluorescence-based detection and fluorescence imaging are major areas of interest for commercial enterprises in developing new technology for use in optical sensing, enhanced security systems, biomedical diagnostics and tissue imaging.

University of Texas System

Southwest Academy for Nanotechnology
The award will enable the academy to attract globally-recognized researchers and their teams to Texas to develop breakthrough nano-electronics research, benefiting the semiconductor, energy, life sciences, aerospace and defense industries.

Neuroscience Imaging Center
The center is studying how the human brain goes about its activity. The award will help the center study how human brains interact with non-biological systems, such as information storage devices and computer systems.

Texas Analog Center of Excellence
The center will focus on research in analog and radio frequency technologies to meet the increased demand for electronics enabled by analog and mixed-signal chips and help address issues such as energy efficiency, health care and public safety.

Center for Inland Desalinization Systems
The award was to create a world-class research center, applying current desalination technology to address immediate water needs, as well as researching ways to capture and recycle the byproduct of the process. Desalination expert Dr. Thomas A. Davis was recruited from the University of South Carolina to lead the effort.

Integrated 3D Systems Technology
The award is helping establish a research and development center focused on 3D macro- and nano-scale systems development and integration, with particular application in the aerospace and defense industry.

Institute for Cyber Security Research
The award went to recruit Dr. Ravi Sandhu, a nationally recognized leader in cyber security. Dr. Sandhu became the founding executive director and chief scientist of the institute, the first in Texas designated as a National Security Agency Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security by the federal government.

Texas Allergy, Indoor Environment and Energy Institute (TxAIRE)
Funding went to the recruitment of researchers in the development of residential indoor environmental-quality technology and commercialization for the institute, which studies indoor air quality.

Alliance for Nanohealth
The alliance was created as an interdisciplinary, multi-institutional organization aimed at bridging gaps between medicine, biology, engineering, public policy and nanotechnology. The fund award provided support to hire Dr. Mauro Ferrari to head the alliance.

Center for Transitional Injury Research
The award went toward recruiting leading scientists and surgeons in trauma care and next-generation medical technologies to the center, which researches and improves the level of critical care patients receive in an emergency.

Texas Therapeutics Institute
The award went to the recruitment of researchers and the formation of a research pipeline between the Health Science Center at Houston, MD Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Texas at Austin. The institute will coordinate and oversee collaborative drug development at these three institutions.