Courtesy / Maine Technology Institute
Brian Whitney, president of the Maine Technology Institute
Updated: September 1, 2020
MTI awards $2.16M to 10 innovation projects, funding 1,600 jobs across Maine
Photo / Tim Greenway
STARC Systems of Brunswick, whose founder and chairman Tim Hebert is a 2020 Mainebiz Business Leader of the Year, was awarded $307,500 in funding by MTI towards a $4.57 million project to invest in equipment for isolation solutions for hospitals during COVID-19.
The Maine Technology Institute on Monday awarded $2.16 million to 10 innovation projects in sectors from agriculture and forest products to aquaculture and precision manufacturing, and says the funding will help create or retain more than 1,600 jobs across the state.
That amount, which comes from a bond approved by voters in 2017 and $202,099 from MTI's core budget, will be matched by close to $32 million in funds from the private sector. Projects are in eight Maine counties and in all seven technologies targeted by the state for investment and other types of support.
“Given the extraordinary challenges facing Maine businesses and organizations during the pandemic, we are very excited and encouraged to announce these noteworthy awards,” said MTI President Brian Whitney in a news release. “The projects align well with the state’s newly adopted 10-year strategic economic development plan and have meaningful economic impacts, especially in rural Maine.”
He was referring to a plan unveiled by Gov. Janet Mills last December that called for boosts in wages for Mainers, the value of state's products and the employment talent pool as a way to combat "serious challenges" for Maine's economy.
Beneficiaries were selected out of 84 proposals from 15 Maine counties and six from out of state seeking about $25 million, and from companies from startups to mature enterprises.
Recipients include Brunswick-based STARC Systems, which was awarded $307,500 towards a $4.57 million project to invest in automated equipment for infection isolation solutions to help stop the spread of COVID-19 within hospitals. STARC founder and chairman Tim Hebert is a 2020 Mainebiz Business Leader of the Year.
With new demand for isolation panels on top of its existing renovation business, the company needs to invest in automated equipment to reduce machining bottlenecks, manage a larger, more complex product assortment and increase the availability of equipment and labor for R&D on isolation-specific solutions, according to MTI.
Other recipients are:
- Acadian Composite Materials, Limestone, awarded $280,000 (project cost: $912,000)
- American Unagi, Waldoboro, awarded $175,000 (project cost: $500,000)
- Eastport Port Authority, awarded $307,500 (project cost: $938,516)
- Farming Fungi, York, awarded $42,700 (project cost: $279,000)
- Lyman-Morse Fabrication, Thomaston, awarded $140,000 (project cost: $407,060).
- North Spore, Westbrook, awarded $164,418 (project cost: $438,670)
- Nyle Systems, Brewer, awarded $142,981 (project cost: $677,950)
- Springworks Farm Maine, Lisbon, awarded $300,000 (project cost: $4.06 million)
- Twin Rivers Paper Co., Madawaska, awarded $300,000 (project cost: $19.2 million).
Funding comes from the Maine Technology Asset Fund 2.5 program, a state-approved bond fund investment in research, development and commercialization to be used for infrastructure, equipment and technology upgrades so that organizations can hold onto and expand market share, increase revenues and create or keep jobs for Maine people.
Full details on projects receiving funding in the latest round are available here.
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