ORONO — Four faculty- and staff-led innovation teams have been selected to participate in the seventh cohort of the University of Maine’s MIRTA accelerator program.
The 2024 projects will involve developing research innovations in environmentally-friendly advanced manufacturing, web privacy protections, water filtration for a group of chemicals known as PFAS, and accelerated soil carbonation to reduce carbon emissions from construction.
MIRTA, coordinated by UMaine’s Foster Center for Innovation, assists teams from research institutions throughout the state in advancing lab discoveries into public and commercial use. Teams work 20 hours per week for 16 weeks doing market research, intellectual property analysis and business model development to bring their inventions to market. Guiding them throughout the process are business incubation staff from the Foster Center.
Additionally, each team has an advisory committee of industry and technology experts who provide feedback and advice. The teams are eligible to receive up to $25,000 each to help develop commercialization implementation plans.
To kick off the program, this year’s cohort recently completed an immersive boot camp designed to introduce them to all aspects of the commercialization process.
Commercialization plans vary depending on the type of invention a team brings to MIRTA, and the result could be starting a new company or licensing to an existing one.
From the 26 teams in the first six MIRTA cohorts, eight new startups have been formed and the teams have collectively raised more than $6.4 million in external funding and prototype sales to support ongoing commercialization. Five MIRTA teams have been selected to participate in the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps, an immersive entrepreneurial training program that facilitates the transformation of invention to impact.
Companies that have been formed after participation in MIRTA include Neuright, winner of the $25,000 David Shaw prize at the statewide Top Gun accelerator program in 2019, and UNAR Labs selected to join the first cohort of the Roux Institute Startup Residency Program in 2021. In 2022, Waved Medical was the first runner up in the Greenlight Maine Collegiate edition and was also the winner of Maine Venture Fund’s “Maine Startup Challenge” for the collegiate tier.
MIRTA is made possible by support from the University of Maine System Research Reinvestment Fund and the Maine Technology Institute. RRF is a pool of competitive internal grants allocated to advance research projects along the path from discovery to becoming commercial products with public benefit. All projects are tied to Maine businesses or industries critical to the future of the state.
The MIRTA 7.0 teams are:
Continuous Forming Machine
This team aims to make manufacturing and construction more environmentally friendly by commercializing the Continuous Forming Machine developed at UMaine. The CFM is an advanced manufacturing platform designed to produce high-strength plastic composite components using a unique, nonreactive pultrusion process. This method allows the use of recyclable thermoplastics, reducing waste and minimizing harmful emissions. The machine can operate at high speeds, adapt to various thermoplastic materials, and integrate seamlessly with other advanced manufacturing techniques. This makes the CFM a significant innovation for producing customized, sustainable parts for multiple industries and applications.
The team is led by Cody Sheltra, project lead and R & D program manager with UMaine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center, and includes Sam Heathcote, Noah Pringle, Michael Hunter and Zane Dustin.
PriGen: Automated Privacy Generator
PriGen is a powerful tool designed to help developers integrate privacy protections seamlessly into their app development activities. Developers may lack the resources or expertise to effectively address privacy concerns. PriGen supports them throughout the entire development process. Before developers even start building an app, PriGen helps them outline the necessary privacy requirements to ensure they understand what needs to be done. During and after development, PriGen uses advanced machine learning to scan app code to identify where personal information is used. It then generates clear descriptions to inform users how their personal information is handled. In today’s world, privacy is not only expected by users, but is required by regulators and various app stores’ policies. With PriGen, developers can confidently create apps that prioritize user privacy, ensure compliance with regulations, maintain their reputation, avoid privacy breaches and fines and foster trust.
The team behind PriGen is led by Sepideh Ghanavati, UMaine assistant professor of computer science, and includes Vijayanta Jain, Sara Haghighi, and Wilder Baldwin.
Graphene-Enabled PFAS Water Treatment:
This project is about creating a new, advanced water filter that uses graphene to clean drinking water by removing PFAS, toxic pollutants found in many water sources that can be dangerous to human health. Graphene has unique properties that make it excellent for trapping these pollutants. The team’s goal is to design a filter that removes PFAS effectively and can be used repeatedly without having to be replaced. This filter is meant for home use but could be redesigned for larger-scale water systems like those in cities. By doing this, the team hopes to provide cleaner and safer drinking water, improving everyone’s health and the environment.
The team behind the project is co-led by UMaine Libra Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Onur Apul and postdoctoral research associate Manisha Choudhary, and includes Kenneth Mensah.
Accelerated Carbonization for Soil Stabilization
Chemical stabilization is when cement, lime or slag are mixed with soil to strengthen it. This universally adopted method supports infrastructure such as roads and buildings. Producing these materials, however, releases much carbon dioxide, contributing to about 8% of the world’s emissions. Reducing these emissions is essential for fighting climate change. An emerging alternative is accelerated soil carbonation. This method uses carbon dioxide to create a binder that cements soil particles together, achieving the same goal as chemical stabilization. Unlike traditional methods, which don’t capture carbon dioxide, accelerated carbonation can reduce emissions by 50-70 percent. Developing ways to use this new method on a larger scale offers a commercial opportunity and supports government efforts to reduce carbon emissions in construction.
The team behind this project is led by Aaron Gallant, UMaine associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, Team Lead), and includes Sebastian Montoya.
