Los Alamos Reporter

Biodidact – The Community Lab In Los Alamos Receives One Of Four Awards To Local Science & Tech Startups

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BUSINESS NEWS

New Mexico Economic Development Department (NMEDD) Office of Science and Technology has announced that four New Mexico companies, including Biodidact – The Community Lab in Los Alamos, will receive Innovation Voucher Grants to help their businesses grow by covering eligible expenses at a state certified incubator, a business accelerator, or a state approved co-working space.

Biodidact, a biotechnology company located on DP Road, is focused on medical and environmental microbiology research in the diagnosis and monitoring of microbial pathogenesis, Alzheimer’s, and cancer pathways. The Innovation Voucher will be used to retain Arrowhead Center experts and increase the competitiveness of its Federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant application, which would infuse even more funds into the business.

“These grants help small start-up companies at a critical stage of growth,” Deputy Cabinet Secretary Jon Clark said. “We look forward to assisting these businesses as they mature and add high-tech jobs to the state economy.”

Innovation Vouchers are $2,000 competitive start-up grants. The four grantees are all great examples of New Mexico’s growing science and technology industries, key target industry sectors for NMEDD.

Other recipients of the awards are:

  • FidelityEHR, a small, new, women-founded, women-owned behavioral health technology company. It offers specialized electronic health record for populations with complex needs. FidelityEHR plans to use the additional funding to continue use of the facilities at the Santa Fe Incubator.
  • Jet Suit Racing Inc., which will use the Innovation Voucher award to support prototype development and R&D at the Arrowhead Center in Las Cruces. Jet Suit Racing’s unique jet-drone hybrid Sky Board uses a new thrust capture-generator system, dramatically extending lift and flight duration, particularly useful in defense and emergency response applications.
  • Polarly LLC, whose unique platform will be the “Linkedin” for professional gamers. It is building a web platform dedicated to connecting casual, high school, college, and professional gamers. As recent winners in the UNM Entrepreneurial Challenge, Polarly hopes to be able to use these funds toward software development services offered by Dev505 Co-working in Albuquerque.